Following the passage of Senate Bill 727, which mandates an increased minimum teacher salary across the board in Missouri, the Twin Rivers R-X School Board voted to Tuesday increase the minimum starting pay of teachers.
Twin Rivers Superintendent Rob Brown informed the board the state’s legislative session had ended, and the state passed the education omnibus bill which included the increased teacher’s pay. The bill calls for minimum teacher’s pay to eventually be $40,000 annually.
“I believe that figure will be official in the 2025-26 school year,” Brown explained. “I have presented you with a few options to help us get to that point.”
The option that drew the most discussion was one which would boost the starting pay to $35,000 while using state grant funds to make up the difference and increase the salary to $38,000.
“By doing this, we’re able to give all of our staff a nice raise,” Brown noted later. “The professional staff are looking at roughly a 7% raise, and the non-certified staff are looking at a 4% raise.”
Brown noted the increase in the minimum pay will account for an additional cost of $362,000 from the school’s general revenue per year.
“What this action will do, though, is help get us closer to the mandated amount reasonably in the time between now and the 2025-26 year,” Brown explained. “It’s essentially establishing a stair step process that will see our district in compliance with the mandate by the required time.”
Brown said the idea would be to see the salaries continue to increase at the same scale, while also using the state grant funds to supplement the difference.
“Of course, we don’t know how things will go in the future,” Brown informed the board. “We hope the grant money will continue to be available, but right now there isn’t anything saying definitely that it will.”
Brown informed the board of the importance of deciding what salary schedule to choose, as the board will have to approve a budget in the upcoming June meeting. The board unanimously voted to accept the salary schedule.
“I’m glad that we’re able to give our certified and non-certified staff a raise like this,” Brown said later. “Things may be a little tight for us moving forward financially, but I think this could be a good thing.”
Brown said he echoes the sentiment of other smaller districts in believing smaller school districts have a lot to offer certified staff in the way of having a stronger sense of community.
“I guess the new education bill does level the playing field, so to speak, concerning the salary,” Brown noted. “That could be a positive way of looking at it. I’m sure that some larger districts that can afford to pay more than the minimum will choose to do so, but I wouldn’t know that for certain. I’m just happy we can take care of our staff.”
The board agreed to set the next meeting for 6 p.m. Thursday, June 20.