A new report on Missouri schools just put hard numbers on something every parent and teacher in Springfield already feels in their gut: the money isn’t reaching the classroom. Compared to 2015, the Springfield Public School District (SPS) today has 4% fewer students — but 6% more teachers and 61% more administrators (principals, assistant principals, program directors, and the like). The News-Leader laid out the numbers this morning, drawing on a new statewide report, “Missouri’s 21st Century Public School Personnel Boom.”
Here’s the number that should make every taxpayer in Greene County sit up: if SPS simply operated with the same number of teachers and administrators it had in 2015 — back when it served more students — it could afford to give every teacher in the district a $7,500 raise. Run it back to year-2000 staffing levels and that number becomes $14,000 per teacher.
And it’s not just Springfield. Statewide since 2000, Missouri’s public schools have hired 13% more teachers and 35% more administrators while student enrollment fell by 4% — roughly 8,000 more teachers and 1,500 more administrators serving 36,000 fewer students. Meanwhile the average Missouri teacher’s salary, adjusted for inflation, has fallen 10%. The student-to-teacher ratio is down to 12-to-1, well below the national average of 15. The number of students per administrator has collapsed from 220 in 2000 to 156 today.
I’m not a lawyer. I’m a cab driver running for Congress. But I can do math, and this math tells a story: the money is there — it’s just not going to teachers or kids.
Follow the Money
Every budget is a values statement. When a district hires 61% more administrators while enrollment shrinks, that’s a choice. When teacher pay falls 10% in real terms over the same stretch, that’s a choice too. Nobody voted to shortchange teachers — it just happened, year after year, hire after hire, while nobody was watching the books.
This isn’t a left-versus-right issue, and I won’t pretend it is. Republicans and Democrats have both run these districts while the bureaucracy grew and teacher pay shrank. This is a 99% issue: working families pay the taxes, teachers do the work, and the administrative layer in between keeps getting thicker and more expensive.
What Accountability Looks Like
I’m running for Congress, not the school board — but the principle is the same everywhere your tax dollars go, from Springfield to Washington:
One — audit it publicly. Every district should publish, in plain English, where each dollar goes: classroom instruction versus administration. If the numbers are defensible, sunlight won’t hurt them.
Two — pay the teachers first. The people doing the actual work of educating our kids shouldn’t be taking a 10% real pay cut while the front office triples.
Three — cap the bloat. Tie administrative staffing to enrollment. Fewer students should never mean more bosses.
The report’s authors put it plainly: districts have “consistently chosen to hire more teachers and administrators” instead of raising pay. That’s backwards. A great teacher with a full classroom beats three administrators with a spreadsheet — every time.
Springfield’s teachers show up every day for our kids. They deserve the $7,500 that’s already sitting in the budget. The 99% deserve to know where their money goes.
I’m Alexander Heidenreich. I’m for the 99 — and for every dollar reaching the classroom.
Paid for by Alexander J.S. Heidenreich for Congress.