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鈥淚n the past, our district received multiple applications for open positions,鈥� says Oetterer, the principal and superintendent of Franklin County R-II School District, which serves one building of kindergarten through eighth grade students, just south of New Haven. 鈥淭he last year or two, we are lucky to get one or two.鈥�

While the exodus of teachers has been well documented since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a major hurdle Oetterer and other superintendents face is low pay. Missouri has the in the country.

According to state statute, the minimum starting teacher pay in Missouri is $25,000. The average starting teacher pay in the state, according to a recent National Education Association survey, is $33,234. Missouri鈥檚 overall average teacher pay, ranking 47th in the nation, isn鈥檛 much better.

That鈥檚 why Oetterer took advantage of a one-time state grant to increase pay this year for some of her 17 certified teachers. The district鈥檚 pay for starting teachers had been $34,000, and Oetterer and her board planned to raise it to $35,000. But then the Missouri Legislature added the grants, taken from the influx of federal money to help states recover from the pandemic. With a grant of $7,130 from the state, and district taxpayers pitching in another $3,000, all of Oetterer鈥檚 teachers will make at least $38,000 this year.

鈥淏y taking part in the grant, it was a great opportunity to give our teachers the raise they rightly deserve,鈥� Oetterer says. 鈥淚t helps us bridge the gap until we can get there on our own.鈥�

It鈥檚 a step in the right direction. But when state lawmakers brag that they raised teacher salaries this year, that鈥檚 not really true, says Cameron Anglum, an assistant professor of educational studies at St. 香港三级片 University. That鈥檚 because there鈥檚 no guarantee the raises will be permanent.

鈥淚t鈥檚 better than nothing, surely, but it鈥檚 not what it was touted to be,鈥� Anglum says. 鈥淚 have concerns that some districts will be able to pursue this, and some won鈥檛 absent of a state pledge that it will become permanent.鈥�

According to records from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 350 of Missouri鈥檚 566 school districts have applied for the one-time grants, for a total of $13.9 million. Nearly all of the school districts are rural; almost none of them are from the state鈥檚 major urban areas in St. 香港三级片, Kansas City, Springfield and Columbia.

That鈥檚 a concern to Paul Ziegler, the chief executive of , a nonprofit that provides training and services to 54 school districts in the St. 香港三级片 region.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 begrudge our rural districts from being able to access this funding,鈥� Ziegler says. 鈥淐ertainly, when I look at programs that the state rolls out, I like to see the St. 香港三级片 region included in such efforts.鈥�

Anglum studied a similar infusion of federal money to school districts after the Great Recession in the late 2000s. The fear is that by making the grants temporary, recruiting and retaining teachers will only become worse a few years down the line. Teachers who get a bump in pay this year might be out of luck next fall.

鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 in the immediate aftermath of the Great Recession that we saw big declines. Fast forward two or three years, and we could be in a very different circumstance,鈥� Anglum says. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want us to wake up in two or three years and find out we鈥檝e given up all the gains we made in one year and perhaps more.鈥�

The one-time grants come as the Republican-led Legislature is looking to use a large part of its federal bounty to cut taxes in a state that already has some of the lowest state-level tax rates in the country. Ziegler sees the connection between Missouri鈥檚 longtime status as a low-tax state and its stubbornly low teacher pay.

If the grants go away after one year, and the state鈥檚 tax base is reduced even more, what happens to teacher pay?

That fear, and their already higher teacher salaries, is why so many districts in the St. 香港三级片 region didn鈥檛 apply for the grants.

In Wright City, which straddles the urban-rural divide, teacher pay is already higher than the state average, at $42,276. But it鈥檚 still difficult for Superintendent Chris Berger to attract teachers as he competes with other urban districts.

鈥淒istricts already over the $38,000 baseline were largely disappointed the Legislature could not come up with a plan for all districts,鈥� he said. 鈥淒istricts participating have got to be leery of a one-time grant.鈥�

So it is in Fredericktown, about 90 minutes south of St. 香港三级片, where Superintendent Chadd Starkey applied for the largest of the one-time grants, at $190,361.

鈥淥ur tax base isn鈥檛 super enormous. We鈥檙e behind on our starting teacher pay,鈥� Starkey said.

Starting pay in the district last year was $31,000. With a young staff, Starkey had many teachers below the state average for starting teachers. 鈥淲e thought here鈥檚 an opportunity to help our staff. Definitely it would be better if it were guaranteed for a longer time period.鈥�

In that regard, Anglum鈥檚 hope is that lawmakers look at a recent poll taken by SLU. Among other items, the poll found that believe the teacher raises should become permanent. About 85% of Democrats and 65% of Republicans supported such an extension of the one-time grants.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 a big number,鈥� Anglum says. 鈥淭ry finding 71% of Missourians that agree on anything.鈥�