Special education tutor job FAQ for Mississippi teachers

A part-time, remote W-2 job with SpecialEdResource: live, one-on-one online tutoring for students with IEPs, 504 plans and learning differences, one student at a time. See the full job

Yes. Mississippi is one of the 15 states where SpecialEdResource can currently employ tutors: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. Where you live is what counts, not which state issued your license. This site’s listing is for Mississippi; teachers in the other 14 states use the same application. What you need to apply

All subjects, from pre-K through 12th grade, plus adult learners. SpecialEdResource hires special education teachers of any subject and grade level.

Students with IEPs, 504 plans and learning differences. Our students attend public, charter and private schools or learn at home. Some students are nonspeaking and communicate with AAC or other supports, and some have multiple or more significant disabilities.

You have subscribed online resources and SpecialEdResource-created resources to work with, plus a full team that supports teachers and families. You also have a real person you can text or email when something comes up. We are truly a family that works hard to support one another.

SpecialEdResource handles info gathering. You handle your own scheduling, which is flexible. Once you take on a student, sessions recur at the same times each week. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit. You also handle most of the communication with families, by email. Planning is your part too: you choose and adapt materials for each student, because every child differs.

Yes. You decide which students you want to work with. Before a match, you see the student’s age, grade, disability category, recent work and the family’s goals, plus the student’s availability and deep details of their interests. If a match doesn’t work, SpecialEdResource rematches.

How many students you start with is very flexible and mainly up to you. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit.

No. You don’t write IEPs or attend IEP meetings.

Only if requested.

Zoom. You provide:

• a laptop or desktop with a webcam and microphone (your own; SpecialEdResource does not provide one);
• internet of at least 25 Mbps download;
• a quiet room; and
• a USB headset, which SpecialEdResource strongly recommends.

This is tutoring, not classroom teaching: you work with one student at a time, in live online sessions that usually last 30 minutes, 45 minutes or 1 hour, as a part-time W-2 employee of SpecialEdResource. Training is paid, and licenses and special education certification from any US state are welcome.

Starting pay: $23/hour, W-2. All tutors can earn a 10% performance bonus in any pay period when they tutor at least 10 hours and turn in session notes on time. Notes count as on time when they’re turned in within 48 hours after each session. Pay and schedule

Twice a month, on the 5th and 20th, by direct deposit.

W-2. You’re an employee: SpecialEdResource withholds federal income tax, Mississippi state income tax (for tutors who live in Mississippi) and your share of Social Security and Medicare, pays the employer’s half (7.65% of your pay) and carries workers’ comp. You get a W-2 each January and don’t file quarterly estimated taxes for this job.

You're paid for tutoring time. Prep and notes are not paid separately; the session rate covers them. For the notes, SpecialEdResource provides AI summary tools that make note-writing mostly copy and paste.

Yes. No-shows are always paid.

Yes. Training and onboarding are both paid. Platform training takes about an hour.

Raises above the starting rate are based on performance, going above and beyond, and results with your students.

No. Health insurance isn't provided for part-time roles at these hours.

Our greatest need is weekdays, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Central (9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern). Evening and weekend tutors are welcome too: tell us when you can teach. You don’t need to cover every grade, subject or time. Once you take on a student, sessions recur at the same times each week. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit.

At least 5 hours of weekly availability. Tutors with us work 5 to 25 hours a week. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit.

No. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit.

Sessions usually last 30 minutes, 45 minutes or 1 hour. On average, a student meets with their tutor 2 to 3 times a week.

Most students keep meeting through summer and school breaks.

Yes. Tell us as far ahead as you can (usually a week is plenty). Occasional time off carries no penalty.

Four things. You need to:

• hold a special education certification;
• hold a current teaching license from a US state, or one you’ll renew before you start;
• live in one of the states where we can currently employ tutors (Mississippi is one; the full list is above); and
• be comfortable with the role’s $23/hour W-2 pay terms.

No. The requirement is special education certification and a current teaching license, both from any US state. Your license doesn’t need to be from the state where the student lives. We check licenses before the first interview.

MDE (the Mississippi Department of Education) calls them endorsements, each with a code. Its endorsement lists include these special education areas: Mild/Moderate Disability K-12 (221); Mild/Moderate Disability K-8 (223) and 7-12 (224); Severe Disability K-12 (222), which can only be added to a 221 license; Special Education Birth to Kindergarten (211); Emotional Disability K-12 (206); Hearing Disability K-12 (208); and Visually Impaired K-12 (218). This is MDE’s list. Our application asks whether you hold a special education certification. We check licenses before the first interview. Mississippi special education license guide

Use MDE’s public license lookup, the Public Search page of its MECCA licensing system. Anyone can search it by first name, last name or Educator ID. A printed Mississippi license also carries a QR code that opens the same public lookup. Looking up a Mississippi license

You can still apply, as long as you’ll renew it before you start. The application’s license question says:

Answer Yes if your license is current, or if it has expired or is inactive and you’ll renew it before you start. We check licenses before the first interview.

In Mississippi, bringing back an expired five-year standard license is called reinstatement, and MDE lists four ways to do it on its renew or reinstate page: a one-year reinstatement on the application alone (it can’t be issued twice in a row); reinstatement with the continuing education units or college hours your license class needs for renewal, completed within or after your last renewal cycle; reinstatement with a valid standard license from another state; and, if you retired from a Mississippi public school, reinstatement with an official retirement letter from PERS, dated in the year you submit it. With the one-year route, you meet the renewal requirements during that year, and MDE’s Guidelines for Mississippi Educator Licensure K-12 (August 2026) say: “When renewal requirements are met, educators must submit a licensure application to obtain the remaining four years of the standard renewable five-year license”. For your own case, contact MDE’s Division of Educator Licensure at 601-359-3483 or teachersupport@mdek12.org. Renewing or reinstating a Mississippi license

Online in MECCA, MDE’s licensing system (mecca.mdek12.org). A standard license is good for five school years, and MDE’s Guidelines for Mississippi Educator Licensure K-12 (August 2026) say: “All licenses expire on June 30th of the year of expiration.” To renew a Class A (bachelor’s level) license, you need 10 continuing education units, 6 semester hours of college coursework, or 3 semester hours plus 5 continuing education units. A Class AA, AAA or AAAA license needs 5 continuing education units or 3 semester hours. Completing the National Board process counts for either. One continuing education unit is 10 contact or clock hours, and the work must be in your content area (for a special education teacher, special education) or a job- or skill-related area. The guidelines add: “Only credits earned within the renewal cycle indicated on the educator’s official Mississippi educator license may be used for licensure renewal.” In the license’s final year, a valid standard license from another state, or a PERS retirement letter dated in the year you submit it, if you retired from a Mississippi public school, can also renew it (MDE’s renewal options). You upload certificates in MECCA; college transcripts must be sent by the college itself. MDE’s guidelines and licensure pages print no renewal fee. Ask MDE whether one applies. Questions: MDE’s Division of Educator Licensure at 601-359-3483 or teachersupport@mdek12.org. Renewing a Mississippi license

Not for this job. Licenses and special education certification from any US state are welcome. If you want a Mississippi license as well, MDE’s Guidelines for Mississippi Educator Licensure K-12 (August 2026) say: “The department shall grant a standard five-year license to any individual who possesses a valid standard license from another state” and that it does so “within a period of twenty-one (21) days from the date of a completed application.” The other state’s license has to match a license area, grade level and degree level that Mississippi offers. You apply online in MECCA. Licenses from other states

You can apply on the same terms as everyone else (what you need to apply). How the rules of PERS, the Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi, apply to your retirement benefit is for PERS to decide.

If you would start any job in your first 30 days after retiring, ask PERS first: Regulation 34 describes the 30-day break as “the absence of any employment in any capacity, including service without pay”, and we found no PERS sentence that says whether that reaches private work. As we read PERS’s rules, W-2 tutoring for SpecialEdResource is work for an employer not covered by PERS. PERS’s guide “Thinking of Returning to Work?” (revised September 9, 2024; its break period and options are out of date since July 1, 2026) says: “Taking a job with a non-PERS-covered employer is permissible for PERS retirees, but taking a job with a PERS-covered employer while remaining retired has stipulations that must be thoroughly understood by the retiree and the employer.” Those stipulations are about PERS-covered employers, which are public employers such as Mississippi public schools, state agencies, universities and community colleges. Work for a PERS-covered employer still counts when you do it through a private company, a staffing agency or as a contract worker; to work for one as a true independent contractor, PERS must approve it first. PERS’s rule says “Whether a retiree has been reemployed with a PERS covered agency, directly or indirectly, is a question of fact to be determined by PERS.” If you are a PERS disability retiree, different rules apply. Until your disability benefit converts to a service retirement benefit (at age 60 under the Age-Limited Plan, or at the end of the temporary period under the tiered plan), PERS limits what you may earn from all work, not only work for PERS-covered employers, and you must send PERS a copy of your federal income tax return each year, within 30 days after it is due. PERS’s guide also says: “Disability retirees cannot be reemployed in the same general position from which they retired or in a position with similar job requirements.” Ask PERS before you take any job. Confirm your own situation with PERS at 800-444-7377.

Our PERS return-to-work guide

It is PERS’s break before you go back to work for a PERS-covered employer, such as a Mississippi public school. Since July 1, 2026, if you are a service retiree, PERS requires you to take a break of at least 30 consecutive days from your effective retirement date before you work for a PERS-covered employer in any way, and you may not have a pre-arranged agreement to go back. If you work for a PERS-covered employer during the break, or under a pre-arranged agreement, PERS’s rule says the payments you received must be repaid and the retirement is negated. Before that date the break was 90 days, and some older PERS handbooks and guides still say 90. If you worked on a school contract of less than 12 months and retired at the end of the school year, PERS’s rule for service retirees is later: you may not go back to work with a PERS-covered educational institution until 30 consecutive calendar days after the next school year begins. After the break, you may work for PERS-covered employers and keep your retirement benefit under one of three options, chosen once each July–June fiscal year: (a) up to half of the position’s normal working days (or hours) in the year, at no more than half of its salary; (b) as long as you earn no more than 25% of your average compensation; or (c), new since July 1, 2026, for as long as you and the employer agree, at no more than 80% of the position’s salary. Option (c) needs a written agreement signed after the 30-day break and is not open to elected officials, K-12 superintendents or college administrators, or to retirees whose benefit was reduced for early retirement. You and the employer must tell PERS in writing within five days of the reemployment, the employer must tell PERS again within five days after the job ends, and Form 4B, signed by you and the employer, is filed each fiscal year. Work for a PERS-covered employer done through a staffing agency or other company, or as a contract worker, still counts, and working for one as a true independent contractor needs PERS’s approval first. PERS’s rule says “The limitations on reemployment while in receipt of a retirement allowance may not be circumvented by contracting to perform services through a third party” and “Whether a retiree has been reemployed with a PERS covered agency, directly or indirectly, is a question of fact to be determined by PERS.” PERS’s guide tells retirees to “seek counsel from PERS before starting such employment”. These rules are in Mississippi law (§ 25-11-127, as amended by House Bill 4073 of 2026) and PERS Board Regulation 34, amended effective July 1, 2026. If you are a PERS disability retiree, different rules apply. Until your disability benefit converts to a service retirement benefit (at age 60 under the Age-Limited Plan, or at the end of the temporary period under the tiered plan), PERS limits what you may earn from all work, not only work for PERS-covered employers, and you must send PERS a copy of your federal income tax return each year, within 30 days after it is due. PERS’s guide also says: “Disability retirees cannot be reemployed in the same general position from which they retired or in a position with similar job requirements.” Ask PERS before you take any job. Confirm your own situation with PERS at 800-444-7377.

Going back to a PERS-covered employer

As we read PERS’s rules, substitute teaching for a Mississippi public school district is work for a PERS-covered employer (we found no PERS document about retirees who substitute teach). So the rules in the 30-day answer above apply: the 30-day break, the later date for teachers who retire at the end of a school year and the three earnings options, and work done through a staffing agency or other company, or as a contract worker, still counts. If you are a PERS disability retiree, different rules apply. Until your disability benefit converts to a service retirement benefit (at age 60 under the Age-Limited Plan, or at the end of the temporary period under the tiered plan), PERS limits what you may earn from all work, not only work for PERS-covered employers, and you must send PERS a copy of your federal income tax return each year, within 30 days after it is due. PERS’s guide also says: “Disability retirees cannot be reemployed in the same general position from which they retired or in a position with similar job requirements.” Ask PERS before you take any job. Confirm your own situation with PERS at 800-444-7377.

Substitute teaching after you retire

For this job, the license rule is the same for everyone. The application’s license question says:

Answer Yes if your license is current, or if it has expired or is inactive and you’ll renew it before you start. We check licenses before the first interview.

In Mississippi, if you retired from a Mississippi public school, MDE accepts an official retirement letter from PERS to renew a standard license in its final year or to reinstate one that has expired. MDE’s Guidelines for Mississippi Educator Licensure K-12 (August 2026) say: “Documentation for use of this option shall only be submitted for renewal during the final year of the valid license.” They add: “The official letter must bear a date that reflects the current year the documentation is submitted for licensure renewal.” PERS’s phone number is 800-444-7377. As we read MDE’s guidelines, they do not say that retiring ends a license, and we found no lifetime or retired-teacher license in them. After you retire: your Mississippi license

If you are under full retirement age for all of 2026, SSA’s limit is $24,480 for the year. Above it, SSA withholds $1 in benefits for every $2 you earn over the limit. If 2026 is the year you reach full retirement age, a higher limit applies: $65,160, counting only earnings in the months before you reach full retirement age, and SSA withholds $1 for every $3 above it. Either limit counts your wages from every job, not only this one. The earnings test applies only before full retirement age, and it is not for Social Security disability benefits: if you get Social Security disability insurance, or a widow(er)’s or child’s benefit because you are disabled, ask SSA before you take any job. These are SSA’s 2026 figures. In your grace year, a monthly test may apply instead of the yearly limit. SSA’s operating manual says “Do not count bona fide pension payments.” As we read SSA’s rules, that covers a PERS service retirement benefit. At $23 an hour, $24,480 is about 1,064 hours of tutoring in a year; at $25.30 an hour, the rate in a pay period when you earn the bonus, it is about 968 hours. The $25.30 figure holds only if every pay period earns the bonus; in a pay period that does not, every hour is paid at $23, so the real figure falls between the two. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit. Check your own case with SSA. Mississippi teachers and Social Security

The U.S. Department of Education lists Mississippi among the states where public school teachers are covered by Social Security. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) notes on its teacher Social Security map that a teacher’s coverage depends on the state and school district they work in. PERS’s State Social Security Administrator page says: “The Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) is the State Social Security Administrator (SSSA) for the state of Mississippi’s Section 218 Agreement.” The Social Security Fairness Act (Public Law 118-273), approved January 5, 2025, repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset for benefits payable for months after December 2023. To check your own earnings record, ask SSA. Mississippi teachers and Social Security

On SpecialEdResource’s hiring site, hiring.specialedresource.com, where every Apply button on this site leads. The application takes about two minutes, and a resume is required (PDF or Word, up to 10 MB). Apply now

If your answers meet every requirement, your next step is a short phone call with our AI assistant. You get a phone number and a personal code right after you apply, on screen and by email, and the call takes about 10 minutes. Prefer to talk with a person? Press 0 when the call starts. The call is recorded, and a person on our hiring team reviews it and makes every decision. The steps after that: team review, two interviews, a short mock lesson and the hiring decision. Your first interview is with Erin, and the second is with Luke Dalien, one of SpecialEdResource’s founders. How hiring works

Yes. Hiring includes a background check, paid by SpecialEdResource. License and background checks usually take 3 to 5 business days.

From hire to your first session could be a week or two.

studentsuccess@specialedresource.com