JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri school officials are spending $700,000 on a new recruitment effort aimed at reversing a decline in the number of people training to become teachers.
The creation of the digitally based platform comes as the No. 1 problem in training and retaining teachers continues to be the state’s low pay for educators.
Although the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has outlined a plan to boost the state’s base pay for teachers above its current level of $25,000, lawmakers and Gov. Mike Parson have not earmarked the funding needed to bring the figure more in line with surrounding states.
