Missouri ranks near the bottom in teacher pay; only 5 other states fare worse
Missouri ranks low when it comes to paying teachers, and lags far behind national averages.
Teachers in Missouri make made on average $50,817, which ranks 45th in the country for teacher pay, according to 2019-2020 data from the National Education Association, the most recent report. Early-career teachers, who are just starting out, fair even worse compared to those in other states. For the years 2019-2020 they made on average $32,970, which was the second lowest starting salary reported, with Montana ranking last in the country.
The National Education Association collects data from public schools across the country each year. Their report keeps track of teacher salaries, student enrollment and investments from different state departments of education.
In the group’s most recent report, salaries for teachers across the country were shown to stagnate over the last decade. Average pay rises increased by just over 1% each school year since 2009. And in the 2021 school year, the National Education Association projects Missouri teachers will see a pay bump of 1.4%, which is less than the projected increase nationwide.
The increase will raise Missouri teachers’ average salaries to $51,557 in the 2020 through 2021 school year, which is still over $10,000 lower than the projected national average.
Although the 2019 through 2020 school year brought starting teacher’s their largest pay raise, nearly 2.5%, since the Great Recession, those in Missouri still rank among last nationwide for average starting salaries.
“As The nation’s public schools struggle with a looming teacher shortage that has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the best indicators of attracting and retaining teachers is looking at the starting and average salaries for the profession,” said Becky Pringle, the National Education Association’s president in an April news release.
Boosting pay could prevent an exodus from the profession following the pandemic, she said in the statement.
The group advocates for early-career teacher salaries to start at $40,000, which is less than $10,000 higher than that of Missouri’s teachers.
Over 75,466 teachers work in Missouri school public districts and compared to other professional with the same amount of education, they make 76 cents on the dollar, according to 2020 data from the Economic Policy Institute. Many early-career teachers have to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet.
Kansas teachers who are just starting out got paid around $5,000 more on average during the 2019-2020 school year than those in Missouri. Illinois teachers made even more, ranking 22nd in the nation for early-career teachers and 12th for average teacher salaries. Neighboring states to the north like Iowa and Nebraska are also ranked higher than Missouri for average teacher salaries at 24th and 30th nationwide, respectively.
Pringle said she is unsure how COVID will affect this data, since the pandemic has completely changed public education.
“We are still in a funding hole that was dug decades ago. The country cannot afford to take its foot off the pedal of progress,” she said in the statement.
This story was originally published December 12, 2021 at 12:40 PM.
