Mississippi education officials told the State Board on Dec. 18 that teacher vacancies increased across nearly every category, with elementary and special education positions accounting for almost half of reported shortages.

Courtney Van Cleven of the MDE Office of Educator Continuum summarized two statewide surveys showing an uptick in actual vacancies compared with past administrations. The department cautioned that multiple factors — licensure testing disruptions during COVID, teacher pay, and the pipeline from teacher assistants — make isolating a single cause difficult. "According to recent national data, Mississippi ranks 46 out of 49 states for teacher pay," Van Cleven said, adding teachers themselves consistently cite pay as a major driver of attrition.

MDE presented policy and program responses: amended licensure criteria (including a two‑year provisional reciprocity pathway), a redesigned TeachMS site, and investments in leadership development. Agency leaders described a coaching model that embeds literacy and math coaches directly in schools for job‑embedded support and reported average gains where coaching and high‑quality instructional materials were implemented.

The agency asked the legislature for $9,000,000 to expand adolescent literacy supports and said it would add 25 literacy coaches (raising that cadre to 86) and 20 math coaches (to 30) if funded. Board members and staff emphasized that coaching is long‑term, relationship‑based work that pairs coaching with local leadership and high‑quality instructional materials.

MDE officials said they will continue to provide legislators with data and policy options to address teacher pay and shortages; board members urged urgency, noting that sustained academic gains require a stable classroom workforce.