Fox C-6 School District teachers and nurses will receive pay raises each of the next two school years.
Board of Education members voted unanimously at a May 19 special meeting to approve collective bargaining agreements with the two groups.
According to board documents, 97 percent of members of FEA, the Fox district’s National Education Association, voted to ratify the agreement, while 3 percent of the members voted against it. All 18 nurses who voted approved their deal with the school district, board documents show.
The FEA has 466 members and represents teachers and other certified staff members, such as counselors, librarians, diagnosticians, behavior specialists, SLPs, social workers, therapists, interventionists, curriculum coordinators and instructional coaches, said James Mueller, former Fox Middle School American history teacher and Missouri National Education Association UniServ director.
Teacher and certified staff salaries will increase by an average of 13 percent over the next two school years, with teachers receiving an average raise of 7 percent for the 2025-2026 school year and an average of 6 percent for the 2026-2027 school year, according to district officials.
Salaries for the district’s registered nurses will increase by an average of 17 percent over the next two years, and licensed practical nurses’ salaries will rise by an average of 22 percent over the next three years, the district reported.
Registered nurses will receive an average raise of 10 percent for the 2025-2026 school year and an average raise of 7 percent for the 2026-2027 school year. Licensed practical nurses will receive an average raise of 14 percent for the 2025-2026 school year and 8 percent for the 2026-2027 school year, according to district officials.
Kelly Bracht, assistant superintendent for human resources, said district officials anticipate spending $3,329,682.20 more on teacher and certified staff salaries and benefits for the 2025-2026 school year. The district spent $65,652,836.80 for teachers and certified staff salaries and benefits this school year, which ends June 30, and anticipates spending $68,982,519 for the 2025-2026 school year.
Bracht said the district will spend $85,608 more on nurses’ salaries and benefits for the 2025-2026 school year. The district paid $1,075,188 for nurses’ salaries and benefits this school year and expects to spend $1,160,796 for the 2025-2026 school year.
Bracht said the Fox district employed 870 certified staff members this school year and anticipates employing 875 next school year. She also said the district employed 21 nurses – 18 registered nurses and three licensed practical nurses – this school year, and it anticipates having 21 nurses next school year.
School board president April Moeckel said the board members’ main objectives when negotiations began was to make sure the district was financially able to pay for the raises and to recruit new teachers and nurses while also rewarding veteran employees.
“When we got into (negotiations) and looked at information for our state and local funding, we found our assessed valuation will increase, and that is providing a slight bump in revenue,” she said. “We were able to put that into salaries and benefits, which we are really happy with. This all goes into our CSIP (Comprehensive School Improvement Plan) goal to recruit and retain quality teachers.”
Along with the salary increases, the new deals will increase the school district’s cost for employee benefits by $90 per employee over the next two years, and the district will begin paying the employees $90 instead of $70 for each unused sick day, Fox C-6 officials said.
Fox C-6 also agreed to update the process for involuntary reassignments, including which criteria should be considered and the order in which the criteria should be considered, according to district officials.
Some teachers, students and community members were unhappy after 25 teachers were reassigned to different positions and different buildings based on their certifications for the 2023-2024 school year. Those reassignments were part of the district’s effort to eliminate teaching positions through attrition in a cost-cutting move.
“The recent contract agreement between the district and the Fox Education Association represents progress toward ensuring the district can attract and retain outstanding educators,” FEA bargaining team members said in a written statement. “However, compensation alone isn’t enough. As Missouri and the nation continue to face teacher shortages, FEA believes district policies and working conditions must also improve to recruit and retain quality staff who inspire students to achieve their best.
“Moving forward, we’ll keep advocating for better policies and processes that allow educators to remain fully focused on their students.”
Bracht said the agreements with the teachers and nurses was for two years instead of three, like the deals struck in 2022, due to uncertainties for future state and federal funding.
“The district didn’t feel comfortable making extensive financial commitments more than two years in the future,” she said. “That being said, if the financial situation becomes more stable and predictable for schools again down the line, perhaps we could go back to three-year agreements in the future.”
Teacher pay
Fox C-6 officials said the district’s teachers will be among the top two in terms of pay per day worked and pay per hour worked when compared to eight similar districts, including the Northwest R-1, Lindbergh, Mehlville, Parkway, Ferguson-Florissant, Fort Zumwalt, Francis Howell and Hazelwood school districts.
The agreement said newly hired teachers will work a total of 183 days a school year, and other teachers will work a total of 179 days during a school year. It also said a regular teacher workday will be seven hours and 35 minutes.
Fox C-6 increased its salary for first-year teachers with a bachelor’s degree from $44,027 to $47,137 for the 2025-2026 school year, and that salary will rise to $49,070 for the 2026-2027 school year. District officials said first-year teachers will be the second highest paid per day and third highest paid per hour among the comparison districts.
The salary for teachers with a master’s degree and on the 15th step of a 30-step salary schedule increases from $65,846 to $68,956 for the 2025-2026 school year, and that salary will rise to $71,783 for the 2026-2027 school year. District officials said that group will be the second highest paid per day and third highest paid per hour among comparison districts.
The highest paid teachers – those with a doctorate on the final step of the 30-step salary schedule – increases from $103,110 to $103,720 for the 2025-2026 school year, and that salary will rise to $107,973 for the 2026-2027 school year. The new deal also pays teachers with a doctorate or a master’s degree with an additional 45 graduate-level semester hours of coursework on the same salary schedule. District officials said that group will be the highest paid per day and second highest paid per hour among comparison districts.
According to the agreement, teachers with a bachelor’s degree moving from step 1 to step 2 on the pay scale will receive a 9.2 percent raise next school year, with their salary increasing from $44,027 to $48,083. Those teachers will receive a 6.2 percent raise in the 2026-2027 school year, with their salaries rising to $51,062, which is step 3 on the salary schedule.
Teachers with a master’s degree who were paid a salary of $64,414 on the 14th step of the salary schedule will receive a 7.1 percent increase with their salaries rising to $68,956 on the 15th step. Those teachers’ salaries will rise by 6.4 percent for the 2026-2027 school year when they are paid $73,377 on the 16th step.
The highest paid teachers will receive a 0.6 percent raise in the 2025-2026 school year and 4.1 percent raise in the 2026-2027 school year.
Nurse pay
First-year registered nurses, who were paid $37,677.68 this school year, will receive a 12.2 percent raise as their salaries rise to $42,256 when they move to the second step on a 20-step pay schedule in the 2025-2026 school year. Their salaries will increase by 8.3 percent in the 2026-2027 school year when they are paid $45,776 on the third step of the salary schedule.
Registered nurses moving from step nine to 10 for the 2025-2026 school year will receive a 10.1 percent raise as their salaries rise from $45,574.72 to $50,163, and they will get a 7 percent raise in the 2026-2027 school year, with a salary of $53,671.
The highest paid registered nurses are receiving a 6.4 percent raise, with their salaries rising from $56,446.90 to $60,047 for the 2025-2026 school year, and they get a 4.2 percent raise in the 2026-2027 school year when their annual salary will be $62,567.
First-year licensed practical nurses this school year will receive a 14.3 percent raise per hour as their hourly rate goes from $20.84 this school year to $23.83 on step two of a 25-step salary schedule next school year. That rate will rise by 9.8 percent when it goes to $26.17 per hour on step three in the 2026-2027 school year.
Licensed practical nurses, who are paid $27 per hour this school year on step 12, will get an 11.1 percent raise when they are paid $29.99 per hour on step 13 in the 2025-2026 school year. That rate rises by 7.8 percent when they are paid $31.77 per hour on step 13 in the 2026-2027 school year.
The highest paid licensed practical nurses, who are paid $29.78 per hour this school year, will receive a 23.3 percent raise when they are paid $36.71 per hour for the 2025-2026 school year. That rate increases by 4.8 percent for the 2026-2027 school year when they will be paid $38.49 per hour.
Bracht said Fox C-6 officials are pleased with the two contracts.
“The district is extremely committed to its efforts to attract and retain quality teachers and nurses,” she said. “A focus throughout the negotiations process was to make the contract as attractive to current and prospective staff as possible, while also staying within our budget and being fiscally responsible.”