The Missouri State Teachers Association (MSTA) recently released its 2015-16 Missouri Salary Schedule and Benefits Report, which accumulates data from the 518 school districts in the state. The report reflects how districts compare to one another and also assesses where Missouri stands in the national ranking.
"For yet another year, Missouri still lags behind when it comes to teachers' salaries," MSTA Executive Director Bruce Moe said in the press release. "Missouri ranks 42nd nationwide for average classroom teacher salary. That translates to $8,896 less than the national average. If you multiply that over a typical 30-year career, that's a difference of $266,880."
Multiple factors influence how a district decides on a pay schedule. According to the report, "a school district's ability to pay staff depends on its pupil-teacher ratio and its ability to concentrate spending in the classroom. Over the past decade, salaries might also have depended on local property taxes. ... Under the current formula, school districts will draw state revenue based on student enrollment."
"We're currently looking at how to increase salaries and stay competitive," said Jacque Cowherd, superintendent with Fulton 58 School District. Cowherd has been preparing information to present at the upcoming school board meeting concerning salary schedules and a potential increase in teacher pay.
Currently, 81 percent of the district's Fiscal Year 2016 operating budget goes to personnel salaries. A starting teacher with a bachelor's degree earns $32,555 with a $510 step increase for each additional year he or she is with the district. A teacher with a master's degree begins at $34,230 with a $535 bump up for each additional year worked. If teachers increase their education level by taking further classes, their pay will also increase across the schedule.
Comparatively, the Fulton schools are competitive with other regional schools of their size. At Mexico 59, where enrollment numbers top Fulton by approximately 400 students, the introductory salary for a bachelor's degree is $33,300. At Boonville R-1, where there are approximately 600 fewer students, that salary is $30,000.
"We also pay 100 percent on health insurance," said Cowherd of the district's benefits. "We don't pay for dental or vision, but teachers can add their family members to the health insurance plan." Cowherd said the district offers health insurance not only to its teaching staff, but to all staff members.
The other school districts in Callaway County are attempting to stay competitive across the board despite some hits in local economy.
The South Callaway School District is maintaining the larger compression ratio comparative to other central Missouri schools its size. The district's salary schedule allows teachers to gain $700 for each additional year they spend with the district - that's added on to a bachelor's degree starting salary of $31,700, or with a master's degree that starts at $34,500.
Cole Camp R-1 has 87 fewer students than South Callaway and starts new teachers with a bachelor's at $31,250, according to the data. Iberia R-5, also with approximately 87 fewer students than South Callaway, offers $29,400 for teachers with a bachelor's degree.
"The base salary tells you only one thing," South Callaway Superintendent Kevin Hillman said.
Adding into the base salary is the amount of revenue the school generates from local, state and federal taxes. South Callaway is one school that benefits from the local revenue generated from the Ameren Missouri Nuclear Power Plant.
"We're not a rich school system, but we are well-off," Hillman said. "The advantage of that is that things happening on the state and federal level, which affect school funding, won't have as much of an effect on us as it does other schools, but then we become extremely dependent on that local revenue."
Last year, when the assessed value of the power plant dropped, revenue for South Callaway also dropped and state and federal revenue didn't increase to fill in the deficit, Hillman added.
The North Callaway School District, on the other hand, doesn't have the benefit of a local revenue source that puts the district at an advantage, Superintendent Bryan Thomsen said.
The starting salary for teachers with a bachelor's degree in North Callaway sits at $29,500 while teachers with a master's degree can count on a $31,500 minimum, according to the data. At a minimum, that's $3,000 and $3,500 respectively less than schools relative in size.
"Our goal is to be as competitive as we can on all levels of the salary schedule, but the last seven years, we've seen a fall in revenue and have had trouble adding money to our base salaries," Thomsen said.
Sixty-five percent of the district's budget is allocated to its salary schedule and DESE data shows 52 percent of the district's teachers have master's degrees.
Thomsen believes positive revenue trends following the recession will help Missouri schools fill in the gaps for teacher salaries and improve the state's ranking nationally.
"As a state we need to compensate teachers for educating the youth of our state and do our best to be more competitively nationally," Thomsen said.
In New Bloomfield, the district offers $28,500 to new teachers with a bachelor's degree and $31,800 to teachers with a master's degree. Relative to Cole Co. R-5 and Fayette R-3, that's $777 at a minimum.
"Missouri hasn't been able to provide the funding to schools that other states have in the past several years," Superintendent David Tramel said in an email. "If the state revenues are lower, local districts have to pick up the slack and in small, rural districts, many times we simply don't have the tax base necessary to produce the additional revenue needed. A good measure of a district's relative wealth is our assessed valuation per pupil. In New Bloomfield, it's about $62,000 per pupil while Jefferson City has approximately $147,000 per pupil. This disparity is reflected in local tax revenues for the districts, and unless the state can fill the gap, the districts with less local revenue fall short."
Compared to other districts in the county, New Bloomfield has a reduced number in years of import sitting at 5, while North Callaway and South Callaway offer at least 10. Tramel agrees it's not ideal, but said changing the years of import would require the district to grandfather in the current teachers, which isn't feasible on the district's budget.
The salary schedules are assessed annually and include many factors which can positively or negatively affect a district's ability to pay a competitive wage for its teachers. Callaway County school districts continue to work on staying competitive to provide its educators with comparable benefits and salaries.
Salary schedule definitions:
• Compression ratio: The salary schedule maximum divided by the bachelor's degree minimum. Also considered the range of a district's salary schedule.
• Steps: The number of salary increases granted for each additional year of experience for a given level of education.
• Years import: The maximum number of years of experience outside the district that may be used to determine a teacher's salary. The salary schedules listed begin at zero years of import.