Missouri’s 21st Century Public School Personnel Boom (Show-Me Institute, August 2026)

BOULDER, CO (November 5, 2026) — A new Show-Me Institute report contends that Missouri public school districts and charter schools have added teachers and administrators faster than student enrollment since 2000, and attributes this “Personnel Boom” to shifting perceptions of student needs and expanded regulatory responsibilities. The report suggests that teacher salaries could be more than $10,000 higher had staffing remained at year-2000 levels. However, the report’s evidence for why staffing increased is less convincing than its evidence that it did.

Christopher Redding of the University of Florida reviewed Missouri’s 21st Century Public School Personnel Boom. He found that the report’s analyses provide a descriptive picture of trends in teacher and administrator staffing and salary levels in Missouri, and that it makes a valid point that educators continue to be underpaid. However, the indicators used in the report to assess student need provide only a partial picture of the challenges schools face, and its calculation assumes that all savings from reduced staffing would have gone towards higher teacher salaries, which is unlikely. For these reasons, he concludes, the report is not useful as a guide for determining whether Missouri schools currently employ too many teachers and administrators.

Find the review, written by Christopher Redding, at:
https://nepc.colorado.edu/review/personnel

Find Missouri’s 21st Century Public School Personnel Boom, written by Avery Frank and Cory Koedel and published by the Show-Me Institute, at: https://showmeinstitute.org/publication/education/missouris-21st-century-public-school-personnel-boom/

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