The De Soto School District will increase salaries next school year for occupational, physical and speech-language therapists in an effort to offer competitive pay and avoid outsourcing for those positions, Superintendent Ron Farrow said.
“Comparing salaries with six neighboring districts shows De Soto’s therapists earn $7,071.37 less than the average (of six other districts),” Farrow said in board documents. “The district currently employs several therapists to provide occupational, physical, speech and language therapy, but relies heavily on contracted services due to noncompetitive salaries.”
Contracting with companies to provide therapists for the district is more costly, he said.
“A proposed new salary schedule for 2025-26 aims to attract more employees and reduce reliance on contracted services,” Farrow said.
Currently, the starting wage for a therapist is $44,000, which is lower than the pay at the Dunklin R-5, Festus R-6, Grandview R-2, Hillsboro R-3 and Northwest school districts, as well as the Special School District of St. Louis County, which was the highest at $55,878. Under the new salary schedule, therapists would start out at $51,250, according to the board documents.
The De Soto Board of Education voted 6-2 on March 20 to approve the new therapist salary schedule. Board members Trish Coleman and Tarrole Milfeld voted against it, and board member Jonathan Cook was absent.
Coleman said she did not fully support the proposal as recommended, and Milfeld said in a written statement to the Leader on Tuesday, that she had a couple of reasons for voting against it.
“I voted against the adoption of a separate salary schedule for related service employees due to two primary concerns: the significant pay increase given to therapists compared to the rest of the staff and the impact on service delivery for students,” she said.
Milfeld said this issue has been discussed since last May, and she is still unconvinced the change is in the district’s best interest.
“First, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are required to complete a master’s plus 30 (hours) program, whereas classroom teachers can enter the profession with a bachelor’s degree,” she said. “However, our current salary schedule does not provide additional compensation (for therapists) for the first five years of service with your master’s degree or beyond. This means that SLPs and other similarly qualified employees are not being adequately compensated for their additional education, as these early salary steps remain unavailable to them.”
Milfeld said she also has concerns about accountability, efficiency and service delivery.
“Our therapists currently operate under a three-to-one model, in which they provide direct services to students for three weeks and use the fourth week for paperwork, IEP meetings, assessments, goal setting, etc.,” she said. “When the board initially inquired about this model, we were told most districts followed it.”
However, she said board members learned only Special School District uses this approach.
“Given this, I believe that is insufficient accountability in tracking service minutes and documentation,” she said. “If managed more effectively, we could potentially meet student needs with fewer therapists than we currently outsource services.”
However, she said the most important issue is that district teachers are paid less than many other teachers in the county.
“(De Soto district teachers) would welcome the kind of salary increase that therapists are receiving,” Milfeld said. “While I recognize the need to attract and retain qualified professionals, I am concerned that the proposed salary structure does not adequately address broader salary disparities within our district.
“If our teachers were getting a sizeable increase in salary, my vote may have been different. I also understand that therapists can earn more in the private sector, but they want private-sector pay, they should also accept the trade-offs that come with it, just as teachers do.”
In a report to staff members, Farrow said the adjustment in the therapist pay is not coming at the expense of teacher salaries.
“In fact, we remain committed to staying competitive and gaining ground on our starting teacher salary next (school) year, even amongst the financial barriers the district is currently under with declining enrollment and deficit spending,” Farrow said.
He said in his report that the De Soto School District currently is paying teachers on average $1,756.71 less than Dunklin, Festus, Grandview, Hillsboro, Northwest and the Special School District.
Farrow said the decision to adopt the new therapist salary schedule is good for the district as a whole.
“This decision was made to ensure long-term sustainability, improved student services and a more equitable pay structure for all employee groups,” he said. “By investing in in-house staff through this adjusted salary schedule, we reduce our reliance on costly contracted services and instead reallocate those funds into direct, consistent support for our students – while still being fiscally responsible stewards of public resources.”
Farrow said the district currently has two in-house, speech-language pathologists and one certified occupational therapist assistant, and school officials plan to hire four more speech-language pathologists and three more occupational therapists, as well as one full-time and one part-time physical therapist next school year.
He said the positions require advanced degrees and certifications beyond a master’s degree, as well as specialized licensure.
Farrow said on Tuesday that it has been almost impossible to recruit and retain therapists because of the De Soto School District’s lower pay.
“This causes inconsistencies in staffing for students in an area where it is so important to build relationships and truly learn about the students they are servicing to provide the very best for each child,” he said. “As these are required positions to service mandated special education minutes, this also forces the district to outsource these positions from a third party with a cost that is two to three times the cost of this new salary schedule. This salary schedule will help us become more competitive in the county and will save the district on average over $36,000 per employee that we are able to hire on this new salary schedule from our current contracted services cost, while at the same time providing better, more consistent supports for our students.
“An in-house employee would need to be at step 26 (on the salary schedule) to match what we are currently paying contracted providers.”