AREA SCHOOL PAY SCALES IN STATE'S TOP 20 PERCENT

As a generation of teachers reach retirement age, school districts are being forced to decide whether to dedicate themselves to employing veteran teachers, beginning teachers, or a good mix of both.

A national teacher shortage is underway, caused in part by increased accountability, low pay rates, and the aging of baby boomers who flooded into the field some 30 years ago. Missouri ranked 36th in the nation for the 1998-99 school year with an average salary of about $34,800. While the average was up about 2.5 percent over the previous school year, it still fell some $6,000 short of the national average.

Employment has been stable in Southeast Missouri, largely because older teachers settled in the region and stayed in the region. But school administrators said as aging educators retire and the shortage begins to make inroads locally, Boards of Education have begun to openly compete for the types of teachers they want using their salary schedules.

"We started four years ago working hard on our teachers salaries," said Olin Parks, Caruthersville schools superintendent. "We predicted the shortage and decided we needed to be aggressive with our salary schedule in order to keep teachers." A salary schedule is a table used to establish pay rates based on years of experience and level of education. Teachers move vertically and horizontally to various steps on the schedule annually in addition to any raises that a school board might approve.

"It's difficult to add latitudely and longitudely (to the salary schedule) because you have to do a study of where teachers are," said Parks.

"Every step is a snowball that gets bigger every year, so you have to approach that slowly." According to research conducted by the Missouri State Teachers Association and Missouri National Education Association, a district's ability to increase salaries or add funding to its salary schedule depends on its student-teacher ratio, local tax levies and dedication to increasing staff salaries. Smaller, more rural Southeast Missouri school districts are paying a high price to attract good, young teachers to their schools. But only a few districts are doing what it takes to keep more experienced teachers on staff.

The MNEA ranked Missouri teacher salaries for the 1999-2000 school year and named nine Southeast Missouri school districts among the top 20 percent. The rankings were based on salary schedules from 483 of the state's 524 school districts. The districts excluded from the rankings did not submit their salary schedules for the study.

The top districts varied in size and included some, like Woodland and South Pemiscot County, that are extremely rural and have smaller enrollments.

But others, like Cape Girardeau, Sikeston and Jackson, are in growing, more urban settings and have larger enrollments. Other Southeast Missouri school districts named in the top 20 percent were Kennett, Caruthersville, Hayti and Fredericktown.

School officials were surprised to hear their salaries were considered among the best in the state. Most credited a lack of compression -- that is, increasing veteran teachers' salaries at a slower rate than beginning teachers' salaries are increased -- with the higher rankings. Most teacher organizations desire compression ratios in the 2.0 to 2.5 range.

Cape Girardeau and Jackson school districts had the lowest compression ratios for the region at 2.02 and 2.06, respectively.

They said districts in the region have to set high salaries, at least for beginning teachers, because there are so many options for teachers today.

The further in the Bootheel a school is located, the farther they are from educational and entertainment centers that increase a district's appeal to potential employees.

"We have to because we're in a rural area," said Kennett schools Superintendent George Byers, whose district paid entry-level teachers $24,002 last year.

In contrast, districts in Cape Girardeau and Jackson, larger districts which are in close proximity to Southeast Missouri State University, had starting salaries of $21,005 and $22,600, respectively.

School administrators said salaries are important, but benefits should also be considered because they might be more attractive to some teachers.

"We have what we think is a good, competitive salary schedule, but I also don't think there's a district in Southeast Missouri that has as good a tuition reimbursement program as we have," said Paul Kitchen, assistant superintendent of Sikeston schools. "We pay up to six hours annually at (Southeast Missouri State University's) rate for any sort of advanced education." Kitchen, whose district ranked 90th in the MNEA study, said the reimbursement program has helped teachers in the district to achieve administrative certification, counselor certification, or to move into other subject areas or grade levels. It provides flexibility and makes it easier for a district to hire staff in hard-to-fill areas, he said.

"Most young teachers coming to us realize even though they may not be making a big salary, that's a big part of how they'll get those salary increases," said Kitchen.

Area school officials agreed that all teachers should be paid more than they currently receive.

"We'll never pay them what they're worth," said Parks, whose school district ranked 63rd in the MNEA study.

"Like all schools, we'd like to pay our teachers $40,000 or $45,000 starting salaries if we could, but the money's not there," said Kitchen. "I don't know if society's ever going to get to the point where they feel comfortable paying teachers like they do the private industry."

SALARIES IN SCHOOLS

Following is a list of salary schedules in selected Southeast Missouri school districts during the 1999-2000 school year.

Name Min. Salary Average Salary Max.Salary *Rank

Jackson $22,600 $34,392 $46,620 59

Caruthersville $27,500 $30,257 $45,900 63

Hayti (3-way tie) $28,800 Unavail. $45,250 67

Kennett $24,002 Unavail. $44,574 76

Sikeston $22,859 $33,970 $42,926 90

South Pemiscot County $27,000 Unavail. $42,600 93

Cape Girardeau $21,005 $29,979 $42,488 95

Woodland $24,200 Unavail. $42,475 96

Fredericktown $23,200 $30,000 $42,400 98

* Numerical rankings by MNEA with 478 of 524 districts reporting. Above districts ranked among the top 20 percent in Missouri for their salary schedules.

Sources: 1999-2000 Ranking of Missouri Teacher Salaries, Missouri National Education Association; 1999-2000 Missouri Salary Schedule and Benefit Report, Missouri State Teachers Association