MO Public School Teachers Getting A Raise?

The state is developing a plan to give Missouri’s 70,000 K through 12 public school teachers a raise. The $320 million proposal would boost the base minimum pay for K through 12 public school teachers from $25,000 to $32,000 and give all teachers a $4,000 raise.

Paul Katnik with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education says workforce trends have pointed in a troubling direction…

“We just have this shrinking pool, and less coming into the pool, too many people leaving the profession, and we were also beginning to see this lack of interest in being in the profession among younger kids,” he says.

The plan also calls for creating a 75-million dollar fund to attract teachers toward hard-to-fill jobs, like in small, rural Missouri communities and very poor areas. Katnik could not say when the proposal would be ready for state board and legislative consideration.

The plan also calls for creating a $75 million fund to attract teachers towards extremely hard-to-fill jobs in small, rural, and very poor areas.

Missouri’s average teacher salary is one of the lowest in the nation.

“We’ve studied average teacher salary, which ours is about $42,000. That puts us somewhere around 42nd in the country,” says Katnik. “Then we studied average starting salary and we were 49th.”

When comparing teacher pay with Missouri’s eight surrounding states, Missouri comes in last. Katnik says the plan is to, at the very least, catch-up with our neighbors.