Most Mississippi public school teachers are in the middle of a six-week payday gap.
Their last payday was on Dec. 19, before winter break and amid several holidays. A bill authored by Rep. Zakiyah Summers, a Democrat from Jackson, would add a payday in early January, giving teachers financial relief before the end of the month.
House Bill 1420, or the Spring-Step Teacher Pay Bridge Act, has bipartisan interest, she said. The fight to improve teachers’ quality of life has a direct impact on student success, she said.
“We know that when we’re positioning our teachers to be successful, we’re also positioning our schools to be successful, our districts, and of course our communities to be successful as well,” Summers said.
The bill is with the House Education and Appropriations committees. There is no guarantee that it will progress.
“We’re looking into it,” said Rob Roberson, chairman of the House Education Committee and a Republican from Starkville. “We’re trying to find an option that doesn’t necessarily include having to change a law, but works with MDE (the Mississippi Department of Education) to help alleviate some of the stress on teachers.”
“I understand the problem she’s trying to solve,” Roberson said of Summers. “I want our solution to be one that we can get districts to buy into as well.”
In a Facebook post announcing the bill, Summers said teachers are “the soldiers in the classrooms” and critical to schools’ success.
“Teachers should not have to struggle financially just because of how the calendar falls,” Summers wrote.“This bill recognizes the reality of educators’ lives and provides stability when it’s needed most.”
Summers’ bill would split teachers’ monthly salary in half for January, with one payment on Jan. 7 and the other at the end of the month. For now, the stretch between mid-December, which includes the winter holiday season, is particularly stressful for teachers, said Nick Johnson, a teacher in Grenada.
State Rep. Zakiya Summers, D-Jackson, speaks at a press conference in front of the Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson on Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, to discuss introducing a state version of the Voting Rights Act. Credit: Katherine Lin/Mississippi TodayThe time between December and January pay is a reminder “that passion pays the heart, not always the bills,” Johnson said. What many assume is a relaxing time for teachers, is actually the more stressful, he said.
“So while the calendar says ‘break,’ the bank account says ‘budget carefully,’ and the mind says, ‘you’re still on,’” Johnson said. “That gap is when you really learn how to budget, how to stretch a check, and how much you do this job for purpose, and not pay.”
Educators have told Mississippi Today about discouraging colleagues from frequenting payday loan stores in January. Administrators, including former Greenwood-Leflore Consolidated School District Superintendent Mary Johnson, have said biweekly paydays for teachers help with retention.
Biweekly pay is doable, but with challenges
State law has allowed Mississippi public school districts to pay teachers semimonthly, or every two weeks, since 2022.
Four school districts — Lowndes County, Greenwood, Holly Springs and Harrison County — adopted biweekly pay in time for the 2025-26 school year.
Gulfport School District adopted biweekly pay but reverted to monthly pay. Processing more payments required more staff, Superintendent Glen East said. Officials from six other districts shared similar concerns with Mississippi Today.
Chris Chism, superintendent of Pearl Public School district, has researched whether it was possible to pay teachers later in December to shorten the gap between their January pay. However, state law requires school districts to pay employees on the last working day of December.
“If they would just rescind that law, then you could actually just pay at the end of December, and that would solve the problem,” Chism said.
Banks routinely hold paychecks until the end of the month for companies, and can easily do so also for school district employees, said Paige Bromen, chief financial officer of Pearl schools.
Paying employees in mid-December could also strain district finances, Bromen said, because the state pays school systems’ funding allotment the third week of each month. The state Department of Education can only provide school districts with their monthly funding allocation “two business days prior to the last working day of each month,” according to state law.
Raising teacher pay, which proponents say could help with recruitment and retention, is already on the agenda for state legislators this session. Some educators say closing the winter pay gap could help too.
What may seem to be a small change could make a big difference with attracting people to the profession, said Ebony Rice, president of the Jackson Federation of Teachers.
“Our teachers work extremely hard in the classroom. The expectations that they are faced with on a daily basis are more than ever before,” Rice said. “Teaching is … a lot more complicated than it used to be. It’s a lot more demanding than it used to be.”
Closing the winter pay gap, she said, could help current teachers “feel more comfortable with staying here in the state of Mississippi as opposed to leaving.”
A former teacher inspired HB 1420 bill and, Summers said, made her aware of a burden that’s likely unknown to non-educators.
“Teachers are the true champions in the classroom that make the difference between whether or not we’re at the bottom of the education ratings or where we are now,” Summers said. “This is one thing we can do for them.”
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