My husband and I are Mississippi teachers: Pay so low we can't afford to start a family

Alexandra Melnick
Guest columnist

Several bills the Mississippi legislature is set to review this session propose increasing teacher salaries. I applaud this but can’t stop thinking about the educators, many of whom I know, who’ve left the profession and will  never benefit from these changes. 

Two of my friends worked as waiters after school to make ends meet and then came home to lesson plan and grade until midnight, then taught a full day sleep deprived. They loved their students and openly cried when they had to finally leave. They just couldn’t survive on a beginner teacher’s average salary of $28,079 per year.

Alexandra Melnick

One of my friends was universally beloved by her students; they speak of her frequently, and whenever they have a big success or academic accomplishment, they ask me to FaceTime her so that they can tell her all about it. My friends had to give up doing what they loved but the impact on their students’ learning is even more drastic.

Many of my students wistfully say to me that they wish they had a math teacher or an ACT prep teacher. They speak often of their former teachers who left and keep in contact with them. Many of my students reflect that they have missed years of English instruction because their teachers left mid-year. Imagine the academic gains these children could make if they had these committed teachers still in their classrooms.  

These educators should have never had to leave the classroom, or be forced to put their own needs against the needs of a school district. Teachers deserve to make a living wage, and the state of Mississippi needs to ensure equitable pay for talented, committed young professionals dedicated to educating our children.

According to a recent report, "Nothing in the Pipes: Educator Crisis in Mississippi," a $3,000 across-the-board pay raise would produce a living wage for teachers looking to pay off student debt and raise a family. 

All teachers have earned undergraduate degrees and most have advanced degrees. The legislature has proposed a  $1,000 pay raise ($1,100 for teachers with one to three years of experience). While I welcome this small step, it would not help entice new teachers into the profession or prevent current ones from leaving.

A $1,500 pay raise this year and another $1,500 pay raise next year would begin to make Mississippi teachers’ salaries on a par with other states. This, however, is just a start. In order to make teachers’ salaries truly equitable, legislators need to consider inflation, cost of living, and the other costs like student loans that teachers incur. 

My husband and I are both teachers yet we do not make enough to ever hope to have children. How can we accept for our education system to pay its employees so little that it impacts their ability to have a family? 

Mississippi cherishes its tradition of family values, but so many teachers who support the families of Mississippi cannot afford to start their own.

We need great teachers in Mississippi all the time but this is especially critical as a result of the pandemic, when we must make up for lost learning and ensure all our children make progress.

When students return to the classroom, we need to ensure teachers are there and are emotionally, physically and mentally prepared to give them their very best. This can only happen with equitable teacher pay.

We need our teachers to remedy the learning losses caused by COVID-19 and teachers can only be in the classroom if there is a renewable workforce that is adequately paid. 

Alexandra Melnick teaches English Language Arts at Leland High School in Leland. She is a 2020-21 Teach Plus Mississippi Policy Fellow.