New legislation to raise teacher pay hasn’t quieted calls in Memphis for better compensation for all educators

The recent passage of a teacher pay raise by the Tennessee General Assembly hasn’t quelled calls to improve the compensation for Memphis educators.Multiple teachers and social workers appeared at last week’s Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) Board of Education meeting to demand better compensation and higher salaries for their work.“It’s terrible. Like the terrible pay I’ve endured for 40 years,” said MSCS teacher Liz Merrible. “I love this district and I love these children, but you have built this district on the back of teachers, and we are tired. We don’t have a teacher shortage. We have a shortage of teachers that want to teach because they have to go to the Board of Education to make enough money.”During the pandemic, full-time teachers in Tennessee were scheduled to receive a $1,000 bonus. While some teachers did see this bonus, the funds were absorbed into the overall school funding and critics say not all teachers got it.State lawmakers approved a historic pay raise last month that will begin phasing in next school year with a new base salary of $42,000. That base will continue to rise each year until it reaches $50,000 by the 2026-27 school year, potentially making Tennessee among the highest for teacher salaries in the county.Memphis teachers told school board members they want the new pay scale to become a priority and they weren’t the only ones asking for better pay either.Mental health professionals feel their work is not being valued due to the low wages they receive for the work they do every day. Social workers and mental health professions were originally on the teacher salary scale, but that’s no longer the case.“As social workers, we advocate everyday for students and families and love doing that. But there comes a time we have to advocate for ourselves. I have been told by many people in our district ‘oh, you’re just a social worker’, clearly not understanding what we are and what we do. Well, during my 17 years, this ‘just a social worker’ has saved countless numbers of students lives while they were either planning suicide or in the middle of attempting suicide. Who do you think it is called every time a child expresses, they want to hurt themselves or others? It’s us in mental health,” said social worker Laura Strong.During the MSCS State of the District address, interim Superintendent Tutonial “Toni” Williams said that they are already looking at that option and plan to start investing $27 million dollars to teacher salaries.