Mississippi teachers have some of the lowest pay in the region, analysis shows [View all]

K-12 public school teachers in Mississippi are paid lower starting salaries than their peers in 15 other Southern states, according to a new analysis of pay rates across the region.

The Teacher Compensation Dashboard released by the Southern Regional Education Board, an Atlanta-based nonprofit studying how to improve education, shows starting pay for a first-year teacher in Mississippi averaged around $36,500 during the 2019-20 school year.

The only state paying teachers less than Mississippi was Arkansas, where average starting pay was about $35,200. Maryland had the highest starting wages in the 16-state region, where teachers averaged pay of over $47,000 their first year.

In Mississippi, first-year teachers took home just $26,581 after standard deductions, including retirement and health care costs.

Read more: https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2021/11/22/mississippi-teacher-pay-among-lowest-region-new-analysis-shows/8717988002/