Avery Frank and Cory Koedel;
- Since the turn of the century, growth in teaching and administrative staff in Missouri has greatly outpaced growth in student enrollment.
- Growth in FTE teachers: +13 percent
- Growth in FTE administrators: +35 percent
- Growth in student enrollment: –4 percent
- Personnel growth has exceeded growth in student enrollment in urban, suburban, and rural areas, and more broadly, in about 85 percent of school districts statewide.
- While staffing has increased disproportionately, teacher and administrator salaries have declined in real terms since 2000.
- If school districts had maintained their staffing levels from the year 2000 (when they had more students than today), and used the savings to raise teacher salaries, the average teacher salary in Missouri could be $10,000 higher today, which amounts to a 17 percent raise.
- Even a partial unwinding of the Personnel Boom (e.g., back to 2015 conditions) would free up resources to substantially increase teacher salaries.
