Teachers and other Oxford School District employees on the certified pay scale will see a bump to their pay starting this school year.

During their regular meeting on Monday, the OSD Board of Trustees approved a request from incoming superintendent Bradley Roberson to increase the local supplement for staff members paid on the teacher salary scale by $1,000, beginning with the 2021-22 school year.

The increase of $1,000 locally by OSD is on top of the $1,000 increase to teacher pay approved by the Mississippi Legislature in March. Oxford teachers and staff will received a total of a $2,000 pay raise starting this school year.

In a memo from Roberson to the OSD Board it states data released by the Mississippi Department of Education in 2019-20, the increase will move the average teacher salary of OSD teachers to the fourth highest in the state. The same data showed OSD was ranked 11th in the state in 2019-20 regarding the district’s teacher salary average.

“This has been an incredibly difficult year for a lot of us, probably none more in the education profession than our classroom teachers,” Roberson told the Board. “Our teachers have really been the backbone that have held our school system together this year. We could not be where we are today without their work and their effort.”

Roberson noted during the meeting that he had met with each Board member individually prior to Monday’s vote and none of them “blinked an eye” when considering approving the $1,000 increase for teach pay.