Missouri Policy Spotlight: Teacher Career Ladders
By: Dr. Alan Moss
Most Missouri schools determine teacher compensation based on years of experience and education. However, there are significant differences in how schools set these pay levels throughout the state.
Smaller schools, which are often rural, tend to pay teachers much less than schools with larger enrollments. Because schools are required by law to provide certain services, smaller schools often require higher staff-to-student ratios and cannot benefit from the same economies of scale as larger schools.
Additionally, because public education in Missouri is largely paid for by local taxes, lower-income communities tend to have fewer resources available for teacher compensation. Building size and enrollment levels can also influence school resources.
Research Highlight: A report by the PRiME Center at Saint Louis University found that, compared to large school districts in other states, St. Louis Public School’s average building enrollment was 245th out of 247 districts.
Missouri’s Career Ladder Program provides an additional funding source for teacher salaries.
The Missouri Career Development and Teacher Excellence Plan offers up to $5,000 of additional salary funding for teachers and other qualified school personnel who provide volunteer mentoring or coaching at schools, or participate in professional/academic development activities outside of school hours. Participation in the program—commonly called the “Career Ladder” — is optional and schools are mostly allowed to set their own program requirements.
Research Highlight: A large study of the Career Ladder Program in Missouri found small to no effect on student academic achievement.
Research Highlight: A study of a similar program in Arizona showed a positive impact on student academic achievement. However, due to the study design, it is not possible to determine how much of an impact that other school factors had on these results.
Missouri’s 2022–23 budget contains over $37 million for the Teacher Career Ladder Program.
The Missouri Career Ladder was funded as part of the state education budget between 1985–2011, but had not received state funds for the past decade. The 2022–23 state budget that Governor Parson signed this summer contains over $37 million for the Missouri Career Ladder.
The Career Ladder Program was also modified by legislation (Senate Bill 681) this year which lowered the number of years of teaching needed to qualify for the program from 5 to 2 and increased the state’s contribution from 40% to 60% with local school districts paying the remainder.
Missouri has one of the lowest starting teacher pay rates in the country.
The Missouri General Assembly last increased the statutory minimum teacher salary in 2005. During the Governor’s State of the State Address, Governor Parson cited Missouri as having one of the lowest starting teacher pay in the country and announced a goal of raising minimum teacher salaries from $25,000 to $38,000. This year’s budget also set up a grant program for schools to receive state funds to increase teacher salaries. The state will pay 70% with local districts paying the remainder.
Research Highlight: Teacher retention remains a major issue in Missouri. Half of Missouri teachers leave the profession after five years on the job.
Both the salary grant and Career Ladder programs are seen by some legislators as approaches to addressing low teacher compensation and retention. However, it is unclear how many schools will participate in either program. Since both are subject to yearly appropriation in the state budget, it is also unclear if schools will be willing to participate in programs without guaranteed long-term funding.
Learn More: For more information, please see our Science Notes about Teacher Career Ladders and Teacher Retention & Recruitment.
