CPS teachers to benefit from passed tax levy

CPS superintendent Peter Stiepleman said the tax levy passed by Columbia voters on Tuesday is necessary to recruit and retain high-quality employees and voters answered the call.

More than 11,000 residents voted for a 65cent tax levy, 31 cents of which would go to raising teachers’ salaries.

“Sometimes it’s hard to keep that minimum teacher’s salary in line with the cost of living, and right now, there’s certainly, $25,000 as a starting salary is not in line with the cost of living,” said Todd Fuller with the Missouri State Teachers Association.

The Missouri State Teachers Association said surveys show the state’s teachers are close to the bottom of the list when it comes to pay — somewhere between 41 and 47 in the U.S.

In Boone County, the minimum salary is $32,131 for teacher with a bachelor’s degree. MSTA administrators said at their job fair they saw half the number of students interested in teaching from last year.

“Spending a number of years, the same number of years of that someone might spend if they’re working on say a business degree and those individuals are making 2. 3 .4 times as much as a teacher in some of the districts in our state,” said Fuller.

The tax levy is expected to bring in more than $14 million for CPS. The school district plans to use the funding on everything from new buildings to ending deficit spending.

“That’s really important to us to make sure that we can continue to provide the programs that we’ve laid out in our plans. We’ve got a lot of repairs that we need, a number of our schools — we want to make sure that we do that,” said Jim Whitt, president of the school board.

Fuller said administrators were in front of a House committee earlier this week testifying about teacher salaries.

Fuller said over the past decade the state Legislature has increased teacher pay but it’s difficult to keep pace with the raising cost of living.