The Northwest R-1 Board of Education has approved salary increases for teachers and other certified staff members for the next two school years. The school board also approved pay raises for support staff for the 2025-2026 school year.
School board members voted 6-0 on Feb. 20 to approve the pay increases for the certified staff, which also includes counselors and librarians. The board members voted 6-0 on March 13 to approve the raises for classified staff members, including food service staff, maintenance workers and custodians. Board member Retta Tuggle was absent from both meetings.
Northwest school officials said that each year district administration meets with district staff members, school board members and district NEA representatives, who represent certified staff, to develop the employee compensation packages focused on fiscal responsibility and commitments to staff. They said the salary increases will help the district attract and retain high-quality staff members to support student learning.
Certified staff salaries
According to the new two-year economic package for certified staff members, they will receive an approximately 4.1 percent pay raise for the 2025-2026 school year and an approximately 3.9 percent increase for the 2026-2027 school year.
Mark Janiesch, the Northwest district’s chief operating officer, said the salary increase will affect approximately 440 certified staff members.
“In general, we review salaries annually to assess raises; we assessed raises for two years this time,” he said. “For 2025-2026, we are estimating that it will cost the district $1,235,000 for a 4.1 percent increase. For 2026-2027, we are estimating this will cost the district $1,212,000 for a 3.9 percent increase.”
As part of the economic package, the base pay for teachers and other certified staff members will increase by $1,500 next school year and then another $1,500 the following year. Currently, the base pay is $42,000, so that will increase to $43,500 next school year and to $45,000 the following school year, Janiesch said.
In addition to the base pay increase, all certified staff members will receive salary scale step increases, which are based on years of experience and educational level.
For example, next school year a teacher with a master’s degree who is in his or her 10th year as an educator will be paid $56,456.68. The following year, that teacher will earn $58,403.46.
A teacher at the top of the salary schedule, one in his or her 30th year with at least a master’s degree plus 30 additional college credit hours, will make $90,608.11 next school year and $93,732.53 the following school year.
Support staff salaries
The Northwest district has nearly 360 support staff members, also known as classified staff, and they will receive a 4.4 percent pay increase next school year, Janiesch said.
“We review classified salaries on an annual basis after we have calculated the certified staff salaries. We then apply a similar percentage increase to classified staff wages that is calculated over all classified departments and schedules as a whole,” he said.
Janiesch said that pay increase will cost the district about $2.3 million next school year.
“The additional costs will be approximately $2.6 million for all support salaries and benefit categories,” he added.
According to the new pay scale for classified employees for next school year, a food service cook or cashier will be paid between $14.25 an hour and $24.15 an hour depending on his or her years of experience. The pay range for a general maintenance worker is $19.05 an hour to $28.95 an hour, and for a lead custodian, the range is $17.25 an hour to $27.15 an hour.
The pay raises for support staff include market adjustments to the food service and custodial positions due to Missouri minimum wage increases, as well as market adjustments for paraprofessional position wages due to critical shortage, school officials said.
Next school year paraprofessionals without a college degree will be paid between $16.75 an hour and $26.65 an hour, depending on their years of experience. One with a bachelor’s degree will earn between $18 an hour and $27.90 an hour, depending on their experience.