Most South Panola school teachers will receive an extra check next month, trustees of the district learned at its regular meeting this week. David Rubenstein, director of finance, told board members the business office will disperse about $350,000 to 226 teachers in salary supplement provided by the state Department of Education.

The money is part of Mississippi’s School Recognition Program and was earned by the district because each of the Batesville schools improved a letter grade in the state’s accountability ratings during the 2016-17 school year.

Rubenstein said the money will be released for eligible employees on Nov. 15. The bonus pay is subject to normal FICA withholdings, but teachers aren’t likely to complain, considering the windfall has no other strings attached.

The state program awards each school in the state that improved a letter grade during that accountability period. Each school’s amount of funds was based on $100 per average daily attendance at the schools.

Additionally, the rules of the program state that no administrators are eligible  and only certified teachers may receive the money. The program also required each school to choose a committee from among the eligible teachers to decide how the money would be split. Administrators could not choose the committee members, and could not be in the room when the teachers decided how to divide the money.

Teachers alone decided how to split each school’s funds. Some of the schools split their total evenly, some chose to assign different amounts to teachers based on who was actually working at the school during the time period, and some chose to allow teachers who were at the school then, but gone now, to participate.

Pope School was already a “B” school and did not improve a letter grade during the 2016-17 period. All of Batesville’s schools improved at least one letter grade and became eligible.

A breakdown of the money by schools follows:
Batesville Elementary teachers voted to award $1,459.63 each for employees at the school during that year, and $125 for current teachers who were not at the school in 2016-17.

Batesville Intermediate teachers awarded $1,874.94 for eligible teachers.

Batesville Middle school teachers voted to award $2,015.01 for eligible employees there during that year, $750 for eligible employees who were at another school in the district, $500 for teachers who came to the school for the 2017-18 year, and $200 for certified teachers who joined the staff for the 2018-19 year.

Batesville Junior High teachers divided their money with $1,644.49 for employees during the 2016-17 year, and gave $395.10 to current teachers who were not at the school during the improvement year.

South Panola High chose to award $1,712.86 each for teachers who were at the school during the 2016-17 graded year.