PR Career Ladder Funding

Rep. Day Vows to Fight for Career Ladder

Funding for Educators

Jefferson City – State Representative David Day (R-Dixon) announced today that he will be fighting to maintain funding for the Career Ladder Program in the state budget. In a recent letter from the House Budget Chairman and the Senate Appropriations Chairman, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) was informed that funds may not be available for the Career Ladder Program in the coming year.

The Career Ladder Program is designed to give teachers supplemental pay, ranging from $1,500 to $5,000 annually, to teachers for extra educational instruction to students, such as tutoring and other after school activities. These funds are financed by the state and participating school districts. Currently over 340 school districts in Missouri participate in the program to include most school districts in the 148^th District.

“Missouri teachers are among some of the best in the nation, however their pay is not. As a matter of fact Missouri ranks about 45^th in teacher pay when compared to the other 49 states. I personally think we need to get our teacher’s pay up so we are comparable with other states, but until that happens this program is one way that teachers who can participate in the program earn extra money while at the same time, providing a huge benefit to our students” said Rep. Day.

Teachers must have five years’ experience before they can participate in the program. The first stage of the Career Ladder Program pays teachers $1,500 and requires a minimum of 60 additional hours of work in the district. As teachers gain more teaching experience they can enter into the second and third tiers that require 90 and 120 extra hours of instruction and provide $3,000 and $5,000 additional pay, respectively.

One of the leading organizations in Missouri fighting for the funding of the Career Ladder Program is the Missouri State Teacher’s Association (MSTA). “We are pleased that Representative Day has joined in the fight for Career Ladder funding. While a possible cut in funding will hurt teachers, the students would be the real losers as they will not be receiving all of the additional assistance to help them meet our high academic standards” said Mike Wood, Director of Governmental Relations for MSTA.

“Not every teacher is able to participate in this program, but for those that can it is a valuable tool for our children. Teachers are responsible for the most important part of our lives, our children. This is one small way that we can reward them for the extra hours they spend making sure our children are ready for the future. If your child has every stayed after school for tutoring or most other after school activities, it was probably because of the Career Ladder Program. I vow to fight to keep this funding in the budget, we owe this to our educators who do so much preparing our children for the future” Day concluded.