Fewer class periods at Cape aims to boost teacher pay

Editor's note: This story has been changed from its original version to correct the first name of school board president Kyle McDonald.

Editor's note: This is the first of two stories examining the primary reasons behind a proposal by the Cape Girardeau School District to eliminate a class period at the junior high and high schools. The second story will examine districtwide collaboration and prep period time.

Parents, teachers, students, school-board members and administrators debated during a meeting in late November the merits of eliminating a school period at Cape Girardeau's public junior-high and high schools.

The meeting grew intense at times.

Arguments, mostly opposing but some in favor, were presented by about 35 people, many of whom reasoned fewer school periods meant fewer options for electives and dual-credit courses for college.

Students fill a classroom Wednesday afternoon at Cape Girardeau Central Middle School. (Glenn Landberg)

A.J. Cook and Kendra Gosche, students at the high school, presented two petitions with a combined 406 signatures in favor of keeping the eight-period day.

The district's proposal to create weekly, districtwide collaboration time for teachers, to increase teacher salaries and to shift the school day for students and teachers at the secondary level from an eight-period day to seven is a significant shift in how education will be delivered and how teachers prepare for classes.

The plan involves long-term goals the district has been working toward for years and, after many discussions, one of the most significant driving forces behind it, school officials say, is to raise teachers' salaries.

Several decisions still are required so the plan officially can be rolled out later this year.

Kyle McDonald, president of the Cape Girardeau School Board, said this is an administrative decision, so the school board will not vote on the issue. But its members can give feedback.

Once the proposal is more solid, the board will make a recommendation, and the district administration has the final say on whether to proceed.

One of the primary motivations behind the proposal, according to superintendent of Cape Girardeau's school district Jim Welker, is to increase beginning-teacher salaries and produce an appropriate pay schedule for existing teachers that is more competitive and consistent with neighboring districts, such as Jackson.

Welker has proposed cutting a preparation period at the secondary level (junior high and high school) and gradually reducing the number of teachers at both schools through attrition.

The Missouri State Teachers Association's salary schedule and benefits report for 2015-2016 was released Tuesday. The average beginning salary for the southeast region of the state (which extends as far north as Franklin County, as far west as Pulaski County and through the lower southeast corner of the state) is $30,619. Missouri's average sits at $31,240.

The county's average minimum salary is slightly higher at $31,850, and the Cape Girardeau School District's standard is higher than that, at $32,500 for all beginning teachers. Although Cape Girardeau's district is higher than the statewide average, it remains lower than several similar districts throughout the southeast region.

In 2010, the minimum salary for beginning teachers in Cape Girardeau was $29,463. Since then, the Cape Girardeau School District has increased its minimum salaries for teachers by $500 annually. This increase is similar to Jackson, which has been increasing its minimum salaries by $500 the past three years. Jackson's minimum salary for beginning teachers, however, remains $1,500 more than in Cape Girardeau.

"If a young teacher had a choice between going to us and to a school district where they're going to make $1,500 more, you know, I think that is an issue," Welker said.

Data provided by the Cape Girardeau School District shows in a comparison last year among 25 similar districts with 3,000 and 5,000 students and a free and reduced lunch rate between 35 percent and 75 percent, among other parameters -- including Cape Girardeau and other districts such as Jackson, Sikeston and Farmington -- Cape Girardeau ranked 24th in average overall teacher salary at $39,615, above only Sikeston by $780.

Also, in comparison with Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Poplar Bluff and Sikeston, data from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) show the average teacher salary for 2015 at Central Junior High School was $38,670, with the difference between highest (Poplar Bluff, $41,668) and the Cape Girardeau junior high being nearly $3,000.

DESE's high school average for Cape Girardeau -- which differs slightly from the school district's information -- was reported at $40,564, higher than Sikeston's average salary of $38,894 but lower than those in Jackson, Farmington and Poplar Bluff.

To create funding to raise salaries, Welker said the district's plan is to reduce through attrition the number of teachers at the Cape Girardeau Junior High by six or seven and at the high school by eight or nine, ideally eliminating about 15 positions eventually.

"The reason we basically can't get our salaries up is that we have more people than resources," Welker said.

All teachers at the school are expected to teach six of the eight standard daily school periods. If the schools shifted to seven-period days, one preparation period would be eliminated, and teachers would continue teaching six periods. Therefore, there would be a lessened need for teaching staff, allowing for several teachers to leave the school through retirement or attrition.

In following with attrition rather than termination, it could take several years to reach the target number of teachers at both schools. Welker said the district is considering offering one year of free health care as a separation incentive for teachers who may be eligible to retire in an effort to speed up the process.

As the number of teachers at both schools is reduced, funds from those salaries (which could amount to around $600,000 to $800,000, according to Welker) will be funneled back into the teacher salary fund and eventually would allow the district to increase its pay scale and create a more competitive schedule to neighboring districts. This would not only benefit teachers at the junior high and high school, but also the teachers at every other public school in the district.

At this point, the district has two salary schedules -- an old version, where a portion of teachers (95 remaining) are at a higher rate than the revised, and a new schedule that has a higher starting salary and reduced yearly pay increases.

Welker said the district kept the old schedule for certain teachers because they already were making more than they would on the new schedule, and the district did not want to cut existing salaries. He also said the district needed to create the new schedule to have a more reasonable and manageable yearly pay scale for incoming teachers.

"That was the first step we took to address the salary gap; now it's just a matter of finding the revenue to increase the base salary on the new schedule in order to get our teachers up to a competitive level," McDonald said.

Raising salaries is needed to attract good teachers, which ideally leads to improved education for students. McDonald said there is no evidence the school district doesn't have quality teachers; in fact, graduation rates have increased in the past five years by around 15 percent to reach 87.8 percent completion. McDonald said the changes are being made with a proactive mindset.

"Our intention is to get the best, most qualified teacher in the position to teach our students, to help them succeed," McDonald said.

Some community members have criticized the school district for looking at cutting personnel, when in 2013 the district launched a huge technology project known as the 1:1 initiative that paired students at the high school with laptop devices. Since then, the project has been implemented at the junior high as well, and Welker said it will spread to the middle school later this year, although he said the devices may be attached to classrooms rather than allowed to be taken home by students.

The total cost for implementing the technology throughout the district could amount to between $300,000 and $400,000 every year for device replacement, repair and maintenance. Welker said the investment was necessary because the district has placed a priority on providing current technology for students and creating the best learning environment possible to help prepare them for college or a career.

"This district and our school board have made a commitment to providing that technology, and so that's why we spend money on 1:1," Welker said.

When compared to Jackson, Poplar Bluff and Sikeston, Cape Girardeau's junior high and high schools have the lowest average student-to-classroom teacher ratios. Once the junior high and high schools reach the target number of teachers, the ratio will rise proportionately.

With 600 students enrolled at the junior high and 50 classroom teachers, the average student-to-teacher ratio is 12-to-1. If the number of classroom teachers was to dip to around 45, the ratio would increase to a little more than 13 students per teacher. At the high school, which has about 1,030 students and 94 teachers, the average student-to-teacher ratio is 11-to-1. If the number of classroom teachers is lowered to about 85, it would raise class sizes by only one student, to 12 per classroom.

Considering the increases are not major in either case, Welker said he does not believe the changes will have an effect on learning outcomes.

National studies have shown academic gains typically occur when the classroom size contains fewer than 20 students per teacher.

"As we make changes, we'll continue to make sure that we keep our class sizes reasonable. ... We will continue to use the standards put out by DESE in terms of class size and try to keep our class sizes at a good level," Welker said.

A large portion of the district's funding comes from local property tax -- 60 to 65 percent of it, according to Welker, and much of the rest comes from the state and is allocated through the state funding formula. At this point, Welker said the local property tax amount the school receives annually is leveling out because of a decrease in real-estate property development in the Cape Girardeau area, creating the need to find revenue elsewhere.

Editor's note: The school district's policy requires employees to obtain administrative permission before talking with journalists. The Southeast Missourian, not bound by the district's policy but sensitive to potential consequences to teachers, sought perspective from teachers -- independently of the district's gatekeeping process -- to get their opinions on some of the issues addressed in this story. Several teachers contacted directly and indirectly by the newspaper elected not to comment, even when given the option to maintain anonymity.

lyoung@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3632

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Missouri salary schedule report

The entire Missouri State Teachers Association Salary Schedule and Benefits Report for 2015-2016 can be found at msta.org/ wp-content/uploads/2015/ 12/salary-book-20161.pdf.

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Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education data

2015 average teacher salary for junior high schools:

Cape Girardeau $38,670

Jackson $40,415

Poplar Bluff $41,668

Sikeston $39,362

2015 average teacher salary for high schools:

Cape Girardeau $40,564

Farmington $48,431

Jackson $40,711

Poplar Bluff $42,771

Sikeston $38,894

2015 average administrator salary for junior high schools:

Cape Girardeau $79,969

Jackson $77,448

Poplar Bluff $79,728

Sikeston $65,778

2015 average administrator salary for high schools:

Cape Girardeau $79,984

Farmington $83,364

Jackson $82,690

Poplar Bluff $82,217

Sikeston $81,844

2015 average years of teacher experience at junior high schools:

Cape Girardeau 11.5

Jackson 12.1

Poplar Bluff 11.6

Sikeston 11.7

2015 average years of teacher experience at high schools:

Cape Girardeau 14.8

Farmington 13.3

Jackson 11.5

Poplar Bluff 12.6

Sikeston 12.9

Considering school populations fluctuate often, the following information about student ratios may differ slightly from reported numbers.

2015 average students per classroom teachers at junior high schools:

Cape Girardeau 15

Jackson 19

Poplar Bluff 19

Sikeston 18

2015 average students per classroom teachers at high schools:

Cape Girardeau 17

Farmington 21

Jackson 21

Poplar Bluff 24

Sikeston 21

2015 average students per administrators at junior high schools:

Cape Girardeau 298

Jackson 388

Poplar Bluff 407

Sikeston 177

2015 average students per administrators at high schools:

Cape Girardeau 283

Farmington 291

Jackson 270

Poplar Bluff 359

Sikeston 195

Funding

Local tax revenue percentages per district:

Cape Girardeau 63.04

Farmington 47.98

Jackson 54.06

Poplar Bluff 46.09

Sikeston 47.00

State tax revenue percentages per district:

Cape Girardeau 23.92

Farmington 40.72

Jackson 39.67

Poplar Bluff 41.96

Sikeston 42.78

Federal tax revenue percentages per district:

Cape Girardeau 13.04

Farmington 11.30

Jackson 6.27

Poplar Bluff 11.95

Sikeston 10.22