State Auditor Shad White has proposed a bill that would require 50% of all new education funds to go toward teacher salaries, resulting in a $13,000 pay raise for teachers.
According to a letter written by State Auditor White to Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann, Mississippi currently spends a greater percentage of its K-12 budget on administrative costs than every other state in the South except Washington, D.C. The letter states, “To the best of my knowledge, we still have the highest-paid state superintendent of education in the country, but we have some of the lowest paid teachers, even if you adjust those teachers’ salaries for Mississippi’s low cost of living. We have local superintendents making more than the governor, but teachers in those same districts paying for their school supplies out of pocket.”
According to State Auditor White, administrative spending for K-12 increased from 2006 to 2021, while the amount of spending done within the K-12 classroom fell. In addition, the number of students enrolled in Mississippi K-12 fell during that time.
White wrote, “…In government, when we have a declining number of students and increased overhead costs, many policymakers ignore the problem. We must change this. Common sense says money spent in the classroom is what matters most.”
White’s letter noted that the state senate is expected to reopen the education funding formula statutes this year to make small changes to the language. White points out that this would be an ideal time to put his suggestions into law, and offers his assistance to ensure that the money will reach the classrooms and that, in his words, “less is wasted on administrative fat.”
