Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann issued the following statement.
The
Senate today passed two bills helping teachers enter the profession—and
stay in the profession—in Mississippi. The legislation next heads to
the House for consideration.
Senate
Bill 2267, authored by Education Chairman Dennis DeBar, requires the
State Department of Education to issue
a Mississippi license to any teacher who has a valid out-of-state
license within 14 days of receipt of the application. Teachers
receiving reciprocity would still be subject to a background check
before being hired by a district under a separate statute.
Senate
Bill 2305, authored by Senator David Blount, provides annual grants to
new teachers to pay down student
loan debt. The grants would increase incrementally over a three-year
period and would be paid directly to the teacher’s loan provider at the
end of their contractual teaching year, with those teaching in a
critical needs shortage area receiving a larger amount.
In
all, teachers in a school district not designated as a critical needs
shortage area could receive up to $10,500.
Teachers in districts designated as critical needs shortage areas could
receive up to $16,500. The average student loan debt in Mississippi is
about $36,000.
“Last
year, we made it easier for students to enter teacher education
preparation programs at our universities.
This year, we are tackling pay and licensure hurdles,” Lt. Governor
Delbert Hosemann said. “These are targeted efforts aimed at ending the
teacher shortage in our state.”
Chairman DeBar agreed.
“Attracting
more properly trained people to the profession and then keeping them in
the classroom is imperative
to continuing to improve academic achievement, especially as we recover
from the pandemic,” he said. “We want our educators in Mississippi to
know we value them by reducing unnecessary barriers to becoming a
teacher.”
To view Senate Bill 2267, visit
http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.
5 comments:
FIRE CAREY WRIGHT!
The teachers would rather have a change of culture where they are respected, and disrespected students are rapidly banished more so than a raise, or any nickel and dime loan repayment gimmick. Wouldn't cost a penny....but the "leaders" don't want to explain to the useless parents that they haven't prepared their precious child for formal education where you have to follow the rules.
Most real solutions don't involve money....that's a politician's game - don't play it.
A bill like 2267 was proposed and needed from 1978 for years.
You could have won national teaching awards and had a PhD and the cost to be licensed here would still be tantamount to starting over.
Other professions were discouraged for years as well...lawyers and licensed social workers and clinicians of all sorts.
Can't have qualified people competing with Bubba's youngster who barely got out of college with a degree in geography but was in social work or a law review and experienced lawyer from a top law school who'd passed three bar exams competing with the bottom grads from Ole Miss... that finally changed...thank you Baptists .
But, dumb and undereducated...even delusional... is becoming fashionable so who knows if this will pass?
12:19 - Your longest paragraph makes absodamnlutely zero sense. Please come up for air and try again.
What has the state of Mississippi got to do with college loans? I could be mistaken, but don't think the state loans money to students. The Feds do, through the Dept of Education, but the Mississippi legislature has no authority to affect those loans.
Both of my kids had college loans but with no state interaction. What am I missing?
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