Each of the 1,735 school districts in twelve southeastern states (including Mississippi) was surveyed by the PEER staff. The results compared 1976-77 current year salary schedules rather than actual average salaries paid to teachers, since variations in experience and degrees held among the teachers would have made the average actual salary misleading. Current annual expenditures and average daily attendance figures for 1974-75 were obtained for each sample district.
Table I in the report compared average salary schedules of districts responding in Mississippi with the average salary schedule of the eleven other southeastern states surveyed. This table showed that Mississippi teachers with bachelor’s degrees, with master’s degrees, and with master’s degrees plus thirty hours were below the southeastern regional average. Classroom teachers with doctorates were very near or above the southeastern average, although most occupy administrative or supervisory positions. Average salary increments for years of teaching experience in Mississippi were consistently higher for all categories of teachers and increased at a faster rate than the southeastern average.
Table II compared average 1976-77 teachers salary schedules in Mississippi with southeastern districts that spent approximately the same amount per pupil in 1974-75 as did the average district in Mississippi during 1974-75. Average salary schedules for bachelor’s, master’s, and master’s plus thirty hours teachers in Mississippi were below those of districts with comparable current expenditures per pupil in the southeastern region.
For a paper copy of this report, contact PEER by telephone at 601-359-1226 or by e-mail at reports@peer.ms.gov.