MO Department Of Education Is Asking For Some Of The State’s Surplus Money

Missouri’s Education Department says some of the state’s hefty budget surplus should be used to increase teacher pay.

The surplus was the driving force behind the recent tax-cut approved in a special legislative session, but education officials says there’s money still available at a time when it estimates there are over 3-thousand unfilled teacher positions in Missouri.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven is asking the General Assembly to tap the surplus funds to give educators a raise.

Vandeven says in a statement “Teachers do not work for the money, but they have to have a sustainable wage.” 

She notes that at 25-thousand dollars a year, mandated minimum teacher pay in the state is the lowest in the nation.

Vandeven says it should be raised to at least 38-thousand.