Kansas City Public Schools superintendent addresses staff shortages

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Across the country, school districts are grappling with shortages in the classroom and getting students to school.

Kansas City Public Schools recently made two major announcements: raising teacher pay and the hiring of a new bus company.

KCTV5 anchor Sharon Chen sat down with superintendent Dr. Jennifer Collier to discuss how she’s banking on the multimillion-dollar investments to address the shortages.

Sharon: “Let’s begin with this, when it comes to teachers how bad are the shortages and in what areas are they?”

Dr. Collier: “Starting this school year I believe we started with about 30 vacancies, we see it at almost every constant area, at every level of elementary, middle and high school.”

Sharon: “To deal with that shortage one of the things you did was raising teacher pay, $4.7 million for 1100 educators in the district. It’s about a $2,000 increase for most of them, yet some are still saying it’s not enough.”

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Dr. Collier: “I do believe they deserve higher pay I think there are some things that have to be done at the state level also to increase funding around teacher pay because districts can only do so much.”

Sharon: “Missouri ranks at the bottom when it comes to teacher pay, so why come here when other districts can pay more?”

Dr. Collier: “I think it’s a challenge for districts across our city, across the state, across the nation really but, ultimately I would love to see the base teacher pay increase to at least $50,000 a year so districts can provide that liveable wage for our teachers who really want to see that happen.”

Sharon: “One other change you recently made is in transportation. What is the shortage when it comes to bus drivers in the district?”

Dr. Collier: “I believe we’re anywhere between 20 to 30 bus drivers daily? So, when you look at that that’s a significant number of children who may or may not be picked up for school.”

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Sharon: “The new contract with Zum Transportation is a $14 million 5-year contract, why did you decide to go Zum?”

Dr. Collier: “We are excited about the quality of service that we’ll see happening for our children for our families for our bus drivers.”

Sharon: “What about pay? Will the pay be higher with Zum for drivers?”

Dr. Collier: “It will be a higher pay for drivers, that is exciting as well yes.”

Sharon: “So, to a similar question with the teacher shortage. The bus driver shortage is nationwide, so how are going to combat that as opposed to other school districts who may be offering something better than KCPS?”

Dr. Collier: “I don’t know what will be the case next year with this new company. I will contend that we will probably be offering equivalent if not or more through this transportation service.”

Sharon: “These two major steps, teacher pay and a new bus company, do you feel confident that this is going to get ahead of the game in dealing with a problem that every single school district is dealing with nationwide?”

Dr. Collier: “I think it certainly puts us in a better position as we move into the next school year.”

Zum executives told KCTV5 that of the 14 states the company operates in, none of the locations are experiencing shortages in drivers.

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