teacher shortage

Teachers at Kansas City Public Schools will soon be paid the highest starting salaries in the region — but just by a smidge. The school board approved a new union contract in the middle of a widespread teacher shortage that's making districts across the region compete to recruit and retain educators.

Superintendent Brent Yeager, who oversees the second-largest school district in Kansas, told state lawmakers that a major reason for resignations among teachers was the negative portrayals of educators as unprofessional and unworthy of respect.

Nearly 100 teachers at the Ewing Marion Kauffman School are unionizing in an effort to reduce teacher turnover and raise their pay. If they win recognition, they will be only the second charter school in Missouri to unionize.

Missouri's average teacher salaries are among the worst in the U.S. Last year, a temporary solution raised pay for some teachers. This year, educators are asking for a permanent increase.

A group of education deans from public universities in Kansas say the state needs to raise teacher pay, elevate the profession and offer student teachers a paycheck — rather than just another tuition bill — while they work in classrooms.

Missouri ranks near the bottom of the country for its teacher pay. Faced with staffing shortages, school districts and education leaders are doing what they can to raise salaries.

Students in the Independence School District will only be in class four days a week next year. It's the largest school district in Missouri to make the switch amid chronic teacher and staffing shortages.

Families in Independence say they struggle to get information from their school board, and it's gotten more difficult since the board started enforcing a policy limiting public comments.

Missouri's state treasury has a large surplus after 28 months of double-digit revenue growth and federal payments tied to COVID-19 relief and recovery. The extra money should help smooth any economic downturn while also allowing for new spending initiatives.

The Government Accountability Office has released a report analyzing the nationwide teacher shortage in the US. The report lists low pay and a growing negative perception of teachers as the top reasons for dropping retention rates within the profession.

Missouri state law sets the base salary for a beginning teacher at $25,000, the second-lowest in the nation. A Blue Ribbon Commission on teacher recruitment and retention found that raising salaries would cost the state around $29.5 million.

Charlie Shields, the state board of education’s president, said Missouri is at a "point of crisis" as a state commission tries to come up with solutions for its chronic teacher shortage.