The Warren County R-III School District is looking at ways to increase staff salaries as the district failed to meet its goal this school year of retaining 90% of staff.

The R-III district retained 82% of certified staff and over 77% of classified staff from last school year to the current school year. The district’s goal is to retain 90% of all staff annually. The district is also behind on its goal to offer a starting salary or hourly wage at or higher than that of the Wright City R-II School District. 

The Warren County R-III district starts salaries for incoming employees with a bachelor’s degree at $38,000. The district is providing $36,931 towards that salary, with the remaining coming from a state grant. The Wright City R-II district starts salaries for teachers with a bachelor’s degree at $42,276, with the entire funding coming from the district. Wright City increased its starting salary for teachers with a bachelor's degree by over $1,600 from last school year to the current school year. 

Warren County R-III Superintendent Dr. Gregg Klinginsmith conceded the Warren County R-III district’s wages are way behind the Wright City School District. 

“One of the big issues we’re going to have is Wright City’s going to receive a lot more revenue,” Klinginsmith said. “They have one of the larger projects in the state going in their school district. And so they’re going to continue to have more dollars to work with than we do.”

Klinginsmith noted Wright City’s local assessed tax value was about $2,000 more per student than in the Warren County R-III School District. With the addition of American Foods Group in the Wright City School District, Klinginsmith anticipates Wright City having more funds to work with than the Warren County R-III district. 

“They’re going to have more revenue than we are,” Klinginsmith said. “That is an absolute challenge for our district, is how do we have competitive salaries. What are we going to do to pay competitively. That’s something we definitely have to wrestle with. That really needs to be a top priority of paying our people as much as we can.”

Wright City R-II Superintendent Chris Berger said the Wright City district is hopeful the construction of American Foods Group will benefit the Wright City R-II district. He noted there is an anticipated increase in enrollment, which will lead to both more state dollars and more expense from the projected enrollment increase. There is also the anticipated increase in assessed value for the district in future school years. 

“I won’t say that we’re making plans for that money yet,” Berger said. “Their first taxing year right now, the best information we have is the second quarter of 2024. And so it’s not going to be put in the ‘23-’24 budget by any means. And really, whether we’ll put that in the ‘24-’25 budget, we’ll see. We just don’t know. When you’re talking about construction projects, they could experience delays or a variety of different things that could happen between now and then.”

Berger and Klinginsmith both think it is important for their school districts to be competitive with teacher salaries with other area districts. 

Berger said Wright City leads the way among all Eastern Missouri Conference schools with the certified salary schedule. When comparing Wright City with schools to the east, the district is in good shape in some areas and has work to do in other areas. 

“When we look to our east, we’re in pretty good shape on the front end,” Berger said. “On the front end, we’re really competitive. Even with our suburban counterparts to the east. If you start looking at the back of that schedule, that’s where we still have some improvements to focus.” 

Klinginsmith thinks it is important for the Warren County R-III district to be competitive with what the Wright City R-II district is offering for employees. 

“I think it’s important for us to compete with districts in our home county,” Klinginsmith said. “That is who we’re really battling for the best staff. We’re collaborative with Wright City. We’re not mean to them. We like them. We’re not saying anything negative about them. But we all want the best staff. And so to do that, we have to have the best salaries.”