School districts nationwide are struggling to meet student needs with a teacher shortage made worse by COVID. The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education reports the number of vacant positions or those held by unqualified personnel is more than 35 hundred. Economists point to the teacher wage gap where teacher pay is calculated against similarly educated, similar-age peers. The Economic Policy Institute research says in 1979 teachers made 7 percent less than similarly educated peers, but in 2022 that pay gap has grown to 23 percent, a record high. Citing 300-thousand public education vacancies nationwide EPI president Heidi Shierholz says the issue boils down to two factors.
In addition to schools having to do more work with fewer people, teacher turnover is expensive with recruitment, hiring, and training estimated to cost between 9-thousand and 21 thousand dollars per teacher.
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