JEFFERSON CITY – Missouri politicians are talking about improving teacher pay, and for good reason.
Missouri ranked 40th of 50 states in average teacher pay in 2017-2018, according to National Education Association data, and state education officials spent the past year studying ways to change that.
Those officials now back a proposal to give all public school teachers raises and start new ones at $32,000, up from $25,000.
That would mean a lot in southwest Missouri, where self-reported data indicates half the districts start teachers at less than $32,000. That would also mean writing big checks – it would take $4.4 million to get everyone to $32,000 and more than $300 million for $4,000 raises for everyone.
The Republicans who run the state aren’t ready to commit to that. Here’s what they’re saying instead:
To read the full story shared by the Springfield News-Leader, click here.
