Another MS Coast school district proposes more workdays for low-paid teacher’s assistants
The Biloxi School District is considering extending workload for teacher assistants by 6 days, district spokesperson Jennifer Pyron said in an email to the Sun Herald.
Teacher’s aides in the state will get a $2,000 salary increase for the 2022-23 school year as part of a pay raise bill that recently passed in the Legislature.
Pyron said the Biloxi proposal, which has not been approved by the school board, was in the works before the pay raise bill was signed by Gov. Tate Reeves and would bring assistant teachers’ workloads to an annual 187 days.
She said the purpose of the proposed change is to include assistant teachers in the district’s teacher professional development training program.
“In addition to the $2,000 pay increase that our assistants are receiving, we are increasing their pay to compensate for the additional 6 days,” Pyron wrote in the email.
Biloxi is the second school district on the Coast proposing more work days for aides, who typically make less than $20,000 per year in Mississippi.
John Strycker, the Jackson County School District superintendent, is also proposing more workdays for assistants and planned to use funds from the raise to pay for the extra days of work.
Strycker’s proposal was criticized by lawmakers who supported the teacher pay raise bill. The superintendent said in a release it’s unlikely the Jackson County School Board will pass the proposal.
