teacher shortage

Independence adopted the shorter school week two years ago to attract and retain more teachers. More than 61% of voters decided on Tuesday that the school district can continue its four-day week.

The Independence board of education first approved a four-day school week in December 2022 to help recruit and retain teachers amid a chronic shortage across the state. Whether the district can keep its shortened week, though, will be decided by voters on Tuesday.

A new Missouri law requires certain school districts to get voter approval to start or continue the four-day week. The Independence School District, which is by far the state's largest district on the shortened week, will put the issue before voters on Nov. 4.

A new report from St. Louis University researchers found that many Black teachers in Missouri faced employment termination or other forms of classroom displacement as a result of integration between 1954 and 1970.

With more school districts adopting a four-day school week, educators and parents are grappling with a question that isn’t easy to answer: What trade-offs come with a shortened school week, and are those trade-offs worth it? It depends who you ask.

School districts in the Kansas City area are holding hiring fairs and offering incentives for hard-to-fill roles before students head back to school next month.

A new report shows Missouri's teacher retention slightly improved after the pandemic drove more educators out of the field, but is still at record highs.

Overwork, underpay, student behaviors and a lack of administrative support were the top reasons for leaving the field, according to a recent survey of mostly Missouri teachers.

As the ongoing teacher shortage persists, school districts like Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools are using virtual teachers to get by. The number of students learning from remote, on-screen instructors has more than doubled, despite the move being intended as a stopgap.

Missouri Department of Secondary and Elementary Education officials said the data signals a turning point in a teacher shortage the state has struggled to address in recent years.

The Independence School District transitioned to a four-day week with the hope to attract and retain more teachers. Applications skyrocketed after it made the switch, but a new Missouri law may do away with the shortened schedule.

The budget approved by Missouri lawmakers for the fiscal year that begins July 1 is $1 billion less than the current year’s appropriation. It might not cover all the costs of a wide-ranging new education law signed by Gov. Mike Parson.