Missouri schools dropped to 41st in the state rankings for 2017 average salary, according to a Missouri Salary Schedule and Benefits Report published recently.
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“Attracting and retaining good teachers starts with providing adequate salaries, which Missouri does not,” said MSTA Executive Director Bruce Moe.
For first-year teachers, there is a $19,428 difference between the highest paying district and the districts paying the state-mandated minimum starting salary, according to the annual report released recently featuring data from 100% of the state’s public school districts.
The 2018-19 MSTA Missouri Salary Schedule and Benefits Report offers a comprehensive picture of salaries for Missouri teachers. Again, this year, all 518 school districts responded to the survey. Participating districts completed a salary questionnaire and supplied a copy of the district’s salary schedule to the MSTA Salary and Research Department.
The salary book offers statistics that break down teacher salaries throughout Missouri, with comparisons by region, county, district and size of district.
Below are some statistics from the report regarding the Northwest District and Daviess County Schools in particular.
Salaries and student enrollment
A district’s student enrollment is a powerful determinant of a district’s ability to pay its teachers, according to the report. Generally, districts serving fewer than about 700 students must employ more teachers to meet MSIP standards and have lower pupil-teacher ratios, which reduces their ability to pay individual teachers. School districts with smaller enrollments tend to be located in rural areas of the state.
This holds true for Daviess County schools, all of which have less than 700 students — Gallatin 655; Pattonsburg 205; Winston 180; Tri-County 160; North Daviess 84.
Daviess County is included in the Northwest District, which pays its teachers the least of the seven districts.
This chart noting the distribution of average minimum and maximum salaries for bachelor’s and master’s degree by region:
Minimum Maximum
Central
$31,769 $52,955
Kansas City Metro
$37,117 $74,498
Northeast
$31,408 $50,776
Northwest
$31,262 $49,609
Southeast
$31,621 $53,057
Southwest
$31,800 $51,245
St. Louis Metro
$39,242 $84,286
State Averages
$32,465 $55,329
The Salary Schedule and Benefits Report breaks down teacher salaries from bachelor’s degree minimum through master’s degree to the salary maximum, the highest salary that may be assigned to teachers using the salary schedule.
So the bachelor’s degree minimum represents teachers with no years of experience and who hold a bachelor’s degree with no additional college credit hours, to salary schedule maximum which would include teachers holding a specialist or doctorate degree.
The complete salary steps may be viewed at https://www.msta.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/salary-book-2018-19-web.pdf.
For our purposes, we have included only the minimum and the maximum salaries.
(Rank places salary schedules in order compared to other school districts.)
Salary Schedule Provisions
Minimum Maximum
Gallatin R-5 Rank 26
$31,500 $50,100
North Daviess R-3 Rank 54
$25,350 $40,350
Pattonsburg R-2 Rank 43
$28,950 $41,200
Tri-County R-7 Rank 38
$29,467 $55,717
Winston R-6 Rank 34
$30,500 $43,730