The Clarion Ledger over the last month has met with major candidates for governor on multiple issues, including education and teacher pay. Each candidate was asked about the same issues. (Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves did not confirm an interview date until after this published. He will be included in the series after his interview.)

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Hood said the recent $1,500 teacher pay raise approved by the Legislature is insufficient, and he would push for salary hikes over the next several years until the state's average teacher pay aligns with the Southeast average.

To pay for the raises, he suggested Mississippi legislators eliminate corporate tax breaks handed out in recent years, and slash what he said was "wasteful," "buddy-buddy contracts" elected officials have doled out, especially for the state's prison and Medicaid agencies.

The small pay raise passed earlier this year "made teachers mad, and rightfully so," the attorney general said in a recent interview with the Clarion Ledger. There's more attention on the issue of teacher pay and education funding — thanks to teachers organizing on the issue — than at any time since the early 1990s, Hood said.

"It's the disrespect that they're getting," he said of the state's teachers. "Yes, they want more pay, they're upset about the measly (raise legislators) offered them. But really, they're upset about the disrespect. And then, the gall of the leaders down here, that beat their chest about, 'Oh, test scores are up.'" Well, those teachers raised those numbers, in spite of the cuts the Legislature has made to education."

CANDIDATES FOR GOVERNOR: What they say about teacher pay, education

To address Mississippi's teacher shortage, Hood suggested trying to draw some retired teachers back into the classroom, at least temporarily, by suspending retirement benefit rules that would otherwise penalize them financially for returning to work. Meanwhile, he said, the state should seek to encourage more Mississippi community college students to enter the teaching field by offering tuition forgiveness if the young person stayed and worked in the state for at least five years.

"We're going to have to take some emergency measures" to attract more teachers, Hood said, because many are leaving for higher-paying jobs in surrounding states.

Contact Luke Ramseth at 601-961-7050 or lramseth@gannett.com. Follow @lramseth on Twitter.