Kansas City-area school offering $60K to first-year teachers
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Salaries for first-year teachers in Missouri rank second-to-last in the nation.
One public charter school in Kansas City is raising the bar, offering what is said to be the highest starting salary for first-year teachers in the state.
Administrators with Frontier Schools are giving their best shot at solving this problem, raising their salary for first-year classroom teachers to $60,000 annually.
It’s now the best paycheck of its kind in Missouri. Last week, Kansas City Public Schools announced first-year teacher salaries would climb to $48,000.
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“We’re trying to take that burden away from our teachers,” Resul Geyik, principal at Frontier Stem High School, said.
Geyik has seen thousands of teachers in his industry quit within the first five years. He believes providing better pay, like this eight percent increase, can keep more of them on the job.
‘You have that same teacher staying in the classroom. Having that relationship with students is very important, so they can relate and understand each other,” Geyik said.
Missouri’s average first-year teacher salary is still somewhat low at $33,000. The Frontier Schools pay hike excites longtime teachers, too. Tricia Kissinger, who has taught algebra at the high school for 12 years, believes this suggests teachers are finally getting some respect, and new people may begin to show interest.
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“More people are going to start thinking — hmmm — especially, maybe parents who have young children who want the same hours as their children. They can have their summers off to be with their own kids,” Kissinger said.
Geyik also points to the estimated 600,000 American teachers who left the industry during the pandemic. Educators here hope better paychecks will help replenish the workforce.