Education Bill Faces Skepticism Over Pay Raise Sustainability

BY EMMET JAMIESON

Missouri Digital News

A broad House education bill earned support at a Senate hearing Tuesday although some questioned the long-term effectiveness of its funding proposals.

House Bill 497 seeks to address two critical issues with Missouri public schools: that Missouri ranks last in the nation for teacher pay and is among the lowest for public school expenditures per student.

Rep. Ed Lewis, R-Moberly, the bill’s sponsor, told the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee Tuesday that HB 497 is an education omnibus that includes provisions from about 10 bills.

Among its provisions, HB 497 would:

Raise the minimum teacher pay from $25,000 to $38,000 in the 2024-25 school year.

Allow the funding formula, which calculates state aid to school districts, to gradually grow over the next nine years.

Expand scholarships for new teachers in “hard to staff” schools or subject areas.

Allow school districts to exceed established salary schedules for teachers in hard to staff schools or subject areas.

Require schools to develop traumatic blood loss protocol, supply a bleeding control kit and designate personnel to receive training in using the kit.

Expand who school districts could designate as a school resource officer eligible to carry a concealed gun on school grounds.

Lewis said the provisions in the bill have been “well-vetted and well-received” and noted that it cleared the House floor with a decisive mandate of 145-5.

Lewis said two core provisions of the bill, the teacher salary raise and funding formula increase, work in sync. The bill provides for a “Teacher Baseline Salary Grant Fund” to assist school districts with 70% of the salary increase until 2027. After this point, Lewis said, the funding formula increase would make up the difference.

The funding formula increase mirrors the content of HB 529, sponsored by Rep. John Black, R-Marshfield. Lewis said he expected it would add about $30 million to the state’s pledge to public schools.

Nobody testified in opposition to HB 497, but many of those who testified in support or for informational purposes voiced concerns about the long-term sustainability of the bill’s method of boosting minimum teacher pay.

Mike Lodewegen, associate executive director of government affairs for the Missouri Association of School Administrators, said his organization believes anywhere between 35% to 40% of school districts “are not going to see additional resources” from the funding formula boost and will struggle to keep up with the salary increase.

Sen. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg, said many of the rural schools in his district would likely be “adversely affected” by increasing minimum teacher pay. Hoskins and Lodewegen both said they would like to see simulations to test out the plan the bill contemplates.

“I think the intent’s good, obviously our teachers will make more, but I don’t want there to be a cliff and all of a sudden there’s no more money coming from the state to help boost up those salaries,” Hoskins said.

Mike Wood, a lobbyist for the Missouri State Teachers Association, said he supported raising teacher salaries but was not sure this was the right way to do it. He criticized the lack of a built-in increase and a dedicated funding source.

“We would like to see an approach where maybe the state board of education each year makes a recommendation to the governor, the governor includes that in the budget recommendations,” Wood said. “That way it stays fluid dependent upon the availability of funds.”

The provision that would triple scholarships for prospective teachers in hard to staff schools or subject areas received broad support. The “Teacher Recruitment and Retention State Scholarship Program” would cover 100% of eligible tuition and fees.

Lauren Kreisel, a lobbyist for the Associated Students of the University of Missouri and a student at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, said HB 497 would ensure Missouri “does not lose future teachers.”

Margie VanDeven, the commissioner of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said the state board of education’s top priority is teacher retention and recruitment because “teachers remain the number one school-level factor for our students’ success.” She said both the teacher salary increase and the scholarship expansion would further this goal.

Lawmakers contemplate ending teacher tenure in Missouri

Missouri's lawmakers introduced a bill that would eliminate teacher tenure and change the way teachers are evaluated and paid. Currently, it takes a Missouri teacher five years to gain tenure, which is longer than any other state. Once a teacher is given tenure, he or she cannot be removed from a school district without a legitimate reason for termination. According to teachers and administrators, teacher tenure provides greater protection for teachers. Rep. Scott Dieckhaus, R-Washington, sponsored the bill that would ultimately eliminate teacher tenure in Missouri. Dieckhaus and the bill's supporters said this bill would prevent districts from having to keep ineffective teachers in their schools because of tenure. According to Todd Fuller, the spokesperson for Missouri State Teacher's Association, the five-year period before a teacher gains tenure is crucial. He says during this period administrators evaluate teachers and then determine whether they should be given tenure. "What happens in that process or during that time is teachers have already, No. 1, decided if want to stay in that particular district or, No. 2, they and the administration have decided if that district is a good fit for that particular teacher," he said. Another major change under this bill would be the way teachers are evaluated. Student performance would determine 50 percent of a teacher's evaluation score, and the teacher's pay would change accordingly. Russell Smithson from Warrensburg has been a third grade teacher for 12 years. He said basing pay on student scores stifles teacher collaboration. "If their pay is going to be based off of that, Susie down the hall is not going to share with Jim across the hall what she's doing in her classroom that works really well," Smithson said. Missouri lawmakers expect to continue this debate over education reform throughout the legislative session.