Kansas City Public Schools teachers will receive a 5% base salary raise after the school board approved a new collective bargaining agreement with the Kansas City Federation of Teachers, the district鈥檚 teachers union. 

Superintendent Jennifer Collier called the raise 鈥渉istoric.鈥� 

鈥淭his is the highest pay increase for KCPS teachers in recent memory and brings our starting teacher salary to a competitive $50,558 annually, maintaining our position as one of the highest-paying school districts for teachers in our region,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his reflects our commitment to attracting, retaining and supporting exceptional educators.鈥�

The board also approved 5% raises for classified and child nutrition staff even though it wasn鈥檛 their normal time to negotiate. 

Carter Taylor, an elementary teacher and legislative chair for the local union, said the raises feel like a 鈥渕assive win鈥� in the current climate of threats to school funding from the local, state and federal levels. 

鈥淚t did feel a bit like a miracle, just because it feels so difficult to ask for anything, especially knowing all the economic uncertainty, knowing all the different cuts that are being thrown our way,鈥� Taylor said. 

Like other Jackson County districts, KCPS faces , a state budget and . 

On June 10, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that inflation for the 12 months ending in May was 4.2%. Inflation affects both schools鈥� expenses and how far teachers鈥� salaries stretch. 

Taylor said there was a sense of agreement between the union and the district that teachers needed more support. The new pay agreements affect more than 1,000 teachers and hundreds of classified and nutritional services staff members.

鈥淣obody disagreed that there needed to be more resources, and there needed to be more pay,鈥� Taylor said. 鈥淚t was just a matter of actually finding a number we could agree on.鈥�

The agreement lasts until July 1, 2029, but it specifies that the union can return to negotiate salary increases annually. 

鈥淲ith the speed at which the financial situation changes, it鈥檚 going to be important that we鈥檙e there to back up our teachers and that we鈥檙e not bound by a contract that was out of date six months earlier,鈥� Taylor said. 

What鈥檚 included in the agreement 

Among other changes, the district agreed to share more information with the union, including about contractors and about noncertified staff filling certified positions. The new agreement also contains many clarifications and small changes. 

For example, it describes teachers鈥� responsibilities for remote learning days and how compensation for extra duties works in more detail. 

Under the agreement, the base salary for a teacher with only a bachelor鈥檚 degree will go up 5%, from $48,150 to a bit more than $50,558. 

鈥淚t will probably put us near, if not leading, districts in our region on the Missouri side,鈥� said Charnissa Holliday-Scott, the KCPS chief human resources officer who presented the agreement to the board. 鈥淲hen budget and finance gave us the OK that we can do it, it is very exciting for us to do.鈥�

That increase to the base also bumps up the salaries for teachers with more experience or education. 

For example, a highly educated beginning teacher could earn close to $53,000 while a very experienced teacher with only a bachelor鈥檚 degree could earn nearly $69,000. A teacher with the maximum experience and education accounted for on the chart would earn about $99,000. 

Resource teachers, librarians and counselors are included in the certified staff agreement but have separate salary schedules. They earn more but also work more days. 

According to a fiscal impact document, the salary and benefits for certified staff 鈥� such as teachers, counselors and librarians 鈥� will cost KCPS an estimated additional $5.6 million compared to the 2025-26 salary schedule. The document says KCPS had 1,138 full-time-equivalent certified staff, including more than 1,000 teachers, as of June 4. 

Overall, KCPS is projected to spend more than $110 million on certified staff salaries and benefits for the upcoming school year.

鈥淥ur teachers are the foundation of student success 鈥� as we just talked about when we saw the academic presentation 鈥� and it鈥檚 important that their compensation reflects that value, their expertise and the dedication that they bring to our classrooms,鈥� Collier said. 

She also noted that the district will be increasing certain stipends, 鈥渋ncluding those allocated for our longest-serving staff members,鈥� and that noncertified staff members will also see a 5% increase to their base pay. 

The district also anticipates spending about $53.9 million 鈥� about $2.8 million more than the previous year 鈥� on salaries and benefits for 730 classified staff members such as paraprofessionals, interpreters, school nurses, secretaries and security staff. 

Many of those positions are paid hourly, ranging from a beginning rate of $17.12 for Head Start teaching assistants with the lowest level of education to $44.57 for a lead interpreter. Other roles, including for some health professionals, are salaried. 

Finally, the district estimates it will spend about $600,000 extra on salaries and benefits to increase the base salary for child nutritional services workers by 5%. 

Pay rates for cafeteria managers will start between $21.16 per hour and $24.68 per hour depending on the size of the school.  

Teacher and board member response to pay increase

The board unanimously approved the changes, but member Jamekia Kendrix asked for future monitoring. 

鈥淧art of the goal (of the agreement) is to help to improve the staff experience and retention, and to ultimately impact student outcomes,鈥� she said. 鈥淎s we make these changes, what evidence is the administration monitoring to determine whether or not the changes that we made were successful in moving us closer towards those ends?鈥�

Holliday-Scott said the district would continue surveying staff, monitoring student achievement and tracking staff attendance. 

Board member Josh Jackaway said he was excited by the changes. 

鈥淚 do think that that鈥檚 going to have a huge impact on our ability to attract and retain the very best educators,鈥� he said, 鈥渁nd that鈥檚 going to lead to those increased results in our students.鈥�

Taylor partially attributes the gains in the agreement to teachers telling their stories. 

鈥淲e had a very clear and dedicated push this year to actually be out in the public and talking about the issues that we were dealing with,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here were a lot of community groups and members of the media who were willing鈥� to tell our stories and discuss what it鈥檚 actually like in a way that we haven鈥檛 been able to do before.鈥� 

One example was The Beacon鈥檚 story on for teachers, Taylor said. 

鈥淭he biggest takeaway people took from that, when you go into the comments on social media and look at it, was, 鈥楬ey, why don鈥檛 we just pay teachers more?鈥� 鈥� she said.听

Threats to public education, while creating a difficult environment, have also bonded the union and district officials, Taylor said. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 not union versus district right now,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 us versus everything that鈥檚 coming our way. Attacks on education have not stopped. If anything, they鈥檝e gotten louder and more pervasive.鈥� 

Taylor said there is more work to be done to support teachers, but that the raises make a real difference in their lives.

In 2024, the Economic Policy Institute found that the between public school teachers and other college graduates had hit a record high. 

鈥淭his isn鈥檛 like it鈥檚 trying to make us live large, it鈥檚 more like it鈥檚 closer to breaking even,鈥� Taylor said. 鈥淚 think that we still need a lot more because we were already so desperately underpaid, but this gets me closer to being able to actually get my head above water.鈥�

After decades of plunging enrollment, Kansas City Public Schools is setting a new trend. The number of students is ticking upward.

For the third year in a row, the district鈥檚 enrollment count in late September ran higher than the previous year. Preliminary figures show KCPS added 570 K-12 students since the official count day last year, about a 4% increase.

That leaves it with more than 14,000 students for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic helped bring enrollment to a low point. Including pre-kindergarten students, it has more than 15,000.

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With growth come changes in whom the district serves.

Black students, who made up about 58% of the district during the 2024-15 school year, dipped below the majority this year to about 46% of pre-K-to-12 enrollment. Hispanic students represent an increasing share of the district, more than a third this year.

Much of the recent growth has been fueled by families moving into schools that feed into Northeast High School and students who need help learning English.

But growth doesn鈥檛 necessarily pause even after students are counted, and the year is in full swing. During the last school year, KCPS between early September 鈥� before the count day 鈥� and mid-April.

That鈥檚 happening again, said Deputy Superintendent Derald Davis. 鈥淲e continue to enroll new students each and every day.鈥�

Where enrollment growth is happening

Northeast area schools have led the way in increased enrollment, adding hundreds of students both this year and last year.

This year, East High School feeder schools also added 150 students, and the Central High School region added almost 90. Only the Southeast High School area lost students.

Many of those new students are still learning English. The 430 additional English language learners compared to last year account for about two-thirds of the total pre-K-to-12 enrollment growth.

Overall, make up nearly a quarter of the district. The biggest group of them were born in the U.S., Davis said.

鈥淭hey may have families that originated from elsewhere,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f English is not spoken in the home, we still could have many students who arrive at kindergarten with limited English proficiency.鈥�

Hundreds of other students come from Honduras, Mexico and Tanzania.

The growth comes as KCPS prepares to finalize a building plan meant to improve learning and address deferred maintenance issues in a district built for a higher number of students.

A involves opening, closing and moving schools to different buildings. It isn鈥檛 as focused on paring down the number of schools as the plan the district unveiled in 2022.

Enrollment growth makes it easier to justify keeping buildings open and helps bring in the state tax dollars needed to maintain them. But the plan hinges on voter approval of a bond in April 2025.

A district strategic plan calls for KCPS to enroll at least 15,000 K-12 students by 2025, a goal it could hit with about 5.5% enrollment growth over the next year. By 2030, KCPS wants to have 17,000 students.

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If you drop into an elementary reading lesson, you might see kids learning about the long U sound, building their vocabulary or practicing how to read aloud without sounding like robots.

And if you visit Kansas City Public Schools this fall, you should see all students in the same grade learning the same thing.

After all, a push is underway in KCPS to standardize reading lessons and anchor them in evidence about how students learn best.

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Around the state, schools are retraining thousands of teachers, replacing outdated reading lessons and identifying students who need extra help.

Missouri is the latest in a string of states to put money and the force of law behind an effort to teach more kids to read.

The strategy hinges on the idea that some teaching methods weren鈥檛 working very well. Kids struggled to , though they were capable of learning. Research 鈥� often known as the 鈥渟cience of reading鈥� 鈥� pointed to a better way, but wasn鈥檛 always heeded.

鈥淭eachers that are coming into the profession just don鈥檛 have that science of reading background from universities,鈥� said Connie Moore, director of elementary curriculum at KCPS.听

Evidence-based teacher training is 鈥渁ssisting those brand new teachers, even veteran teachers, that have students come with reading deficiencies or specific needs around reading,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e getting students to read on grade level, because that鈥檚 the ultimate goal.鈥�

Missouri law changes

A Missouri adopted in 2022 requires that all public school elementary students get reading instruction that has proved 鈥渉ighly likely to be effective.鈥�

That means the teaching techniques must have been studied by looking at the outcome for large numbers of students, and that they include five key components of reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.

Previously, science of reading proponents say, many students weren鈥檛 getting enough phonics instruction. Most kids need to be explicitly taught about sounds, how they relate to letters and how to use that knowledge to decode words.

Meanwhile, students that many now see as damaging 鈥� things like using pictures and context to guess words rather than sounding them out.

What a student learned in class could be the luck of the draw, said Megan Mitchell, a K-5 English language arts curriculum coordinator at KCPS.

One teacher might spend most of their time on foundational phonics skills while another might focus on comprehension, she said. But students need systematic instruction in all five areas.

Teachers also need to know how to work with students who need extra help.

鈥淏efore, I may have heard the (student鈥檚) error, but just didn鈥檛 really have a concrete way to understand where that was coming from,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 going on that is causing this student to make this error, and how can I work with them to correct it?鈥�

The law is meant to push schools toward proven strategies.

include standards for . The law also gives the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education power to recommend curriculum, offer more teacher training and closely track how well young students can read.

Students who don鈥檛 score well on reading tests are supposed to receive intensive help.

But putting new education laws into action can be harder than getting them passed, said Torree Pederson, the president and CEO of Aligned, a nonprofit coalition of business leaders pushing for education reform.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e handing it off to an agency that鈥檚 already stretched and asking them to do more,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not an easy task to retrain all the teachers in Missouri.鈥�

Implementing the law

The state doesn鈥檛 have the power to mandate curriculum or teacher training, but it is nudging districts in a certain direction.

With $25 million in state dollars and $35 million in federal relief money, the state education department is willing to pay for specific intensive reading training for at least 15,000 teachers.

The , called LETRS and pronounced 鈥渓etters,鈥� emphasizes the science of reading and the five reading components Missouri law supports. It can take up to 168 hours over the course of at least two years.

The state also offers grants to replace old curriculum with evidence-based materials. Schools that don鈥檛 qualify for the grants can use the state鈥檚 as a guide.

About 11,000 teachers have at least started the training under the . Heather Knight, the state鈥檚 literacy coordinator, said several thousand more have been trained since 2021 through other state or local programs.

The state originally targeted K-3 and preschool teachers, but opened the training up to fourth and fifth grade teachers as well.

More than 480 of the roughly 550 school districts and charter schools in Missouri are participating. But even districts that appreciate LETRS training aren鈥檛 embracing it at the same pace.

KCPS has required the training for early elementary teachers, reading specialists and others, seeing it as a way to comply with the law on evidence-based instruction, Moore said. Practically all teachers in those groups have at least started the training.

North Kansas City Public Schools took a slower, more cautious approach, said instructional coordinator Lisa Friesen.

The training is now encouraged but not required for most teachers, Friesen said. About a third of elementary teachers have registered.

Some of the lessons from LETRS have made their way into the district鈥檚 reading curriculum, which is designed in-house and updated yearly.

Momentum to change

Mitchell, the KCPS curriculum coordinator, thinks it was about four years ago when she started to hear about the science of reading.

The news came through research for her job, but also from a science of reading Facebook group and from American Public Media podcast 鈥�,鈥� which has helped and inform a wider audience about reading research.

Although much of the research on reading there鈥檚 new momentum behind evidence-based teaching. But Missouri is far from the first to try it.

A 2013 law gets credit for the 鈥淢ississippi miracle,鈥� where that state鈥檚 reading scores dramatically increased. All school districts saw improvement, though . Several other states have seen notable gains as well. And Florida, whose 2002 reading legislation inspired Mississippi鈥檚, has among the best reading scores.

In early 2024, reported that 37 states and the District of Columbia had passed reading legislation in the past decade, most within the past five years, and 17 of them within 2023 alone.

A January 2024 from ExcelInEd, a nonprofit founded by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, shows nearly all states have adopted some reading policies. Missouri now checks most of the think tank鈥檚 boxes.

Those lists don鈥檛 include which Gov. Laura Kelly signed in April.

New curriculum

Companies that produce curriculum and other classroom resources are taking note.

Education company Learning A-Z knew schools would be looking for materials based on the science of reading, in part because of state law changes, President Aaron Ingold said.

So the company, which had focused on supplemental resources, recently got into creating a comprehensive curriculum called Foundations A-Z. It鈥檚 on Missouri鈥檚听 list of recommended resources.

Learning A-Z has changed some of its thinking, Ingold said. It no longer includes 鈥渃ueing,鈥� an out-of-favor strategy that encourages children to look at context such as pictures and sentence structure to figure out words rather than sounding them out.

Instead, the program includes more phonics instruction and books known as 鈥渄ecodables鈥� that contain words and spelling patterns students have learned.

Moore said the science of reading is an example of how research doesn鈥檛 always 鈥渢rickle down to us in a timely manner.鈥�

But with training and curriculum companies on board, and the expectation that teachers will see gains in the classroom, she thinks it鈥檚 more than a passing fad.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 something that鈥檚 going to come and go in education,鈥� she said.

This first appeared on and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.