Missouri education leaders continue teacher recruitment efforts amid shortfall

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMOV) – Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education officials are continuing to address an education worker deficit of roughly 3,500 full-time equivalent positions, representing roughly 5% of the state’s public education workforce.

Dr. Paul Katnik is leading the department’s recruitment and retention efforts to fill those vacancies, which he describes as a task vital to Missouri’s education system, and in turn, vital to the state’s future.

“There will come a day when our children grow up and are the main engine for this state and it’s going to be the health, the success of this state really hinges on their future and what they’re able to do,” Katnik said. “For every one of them, it starts somewhere in K-12 education.”

Katnik said the recruitment challenges continue to be more a competitive pay structure on average in Missouri’s bordering states, but other industries are also cutting into the candidate pool.

“We’re not only competing against other states’ teacher pay, but we’re competing against industries and what they pay,” Katnik said. “We don’t do well at that industry is by by far pay more than we do in education.”

The department has several efforts in the works to bring more teachers into the state.

The Grow Your Own grant program brings together current high school teachers who are actively helping encourage their students to consider the career.

The department will soon be launching a new landing page to provide the public with more access to these jobs.

“It’s a navigation page that says, ‘tell us what you want to know. And we’ll show you where to go next,’” Katnik said.

The page is set to go live later this year, according to DESE.

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