MISSOURI -- The head honchos of Missouri's House Budget Committee and Senate Appropriations Committees warn that the state's Career Ladder Program could fall victim to the budget axe.
St. Sen. Gary Nodler (R-Joplin) and State Rep. Allen Icet (R-Wildwood) notified education officials earlier this summer that the program may not be fully funded for the current school year.
The Career Ladder Program provides extra pay for extra work teachers do outside regular school hours to help students thrive.
State Rep. Rebecca McClanahan of Kirksville told KTVO that the two legislators don't represent her viewpoint, and she will do her part to protect funding for public education once the new legislative session starts in January.
“That's not the place to start when cutting funds. We need to protect teacher pay. We need to protect funding for public education, and I'm confident that if we need to make additional cuts in this next budget year, that we will find other places to do that," said McClanahan.
Falling state revenue means lawmakers will likely have to make more cuts in various areas of state government, but those hard decisions have yet to be made.
"We know we're in tough budget times, and we know there are going to be tough decisions that are going to be made this next budget year, but let's allow Career Ladder to go through the regular budget process for consideration rather than just an announcement coming out from a couple of people warning teachers that their extra pay may not get funded,” said McClanahan.
The state pays either 40 percent, 50 percent or 60 percent, and each participating school district picks up the rest of the tab.
Nodler said when lawmakers created the Career Ladder Program in 1985, 63 school districts, representing 2,400 teachers, participated. The cost to the state at that time was $2.6 million.
In the 2007-2008 school year, 342 districts, representing 17,980 teachers, took part in the Career Ladder Program, costing the state $36 million.
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