Missouri
National Council on Teacher Quality Report Card: Missouri Teacher Policy
Legend
 | Best practices. |
 | State meets goal. |
 | State nearly meets goal. |
 | State partially meets goal. |
 | State meets a small part of goal. |
 | State does not meet goal. |
| Full Report – National Council on Teacher Quality | |
Meeting NCLB Teacher Quality Objectives: D
| Goal A Equitable Distribution of Teachers |
| Goal B Elementary Teacher Preparation |
| Goal C Secondary Teacher Preparation |
| Goal D Veteran Teachers Path to HQT |
| Goal E Standardizing Credentials |
| Goal A Defining Professional Knowledge |
| Goal B Meaningful Licenses |
| Goal C Interstate Portability |
| Goal D Teacher Prep in Reading Instruction |
| Goal E Distinguishing Promising Teachers |
Teacher Evaluation and Compensation: C
| Goal A Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness |
| Goal B Using Value-Added |
| Goal C Teacher Evaluation |
| Goal D Compensation Reform |
| Goal E Tenure |
State Approval of Teacher Preparation Programs: D
| Goal A Entry Into Preparation Programs |
| Goal B Program Accountability |
| Goal C Program Approval and Accreditation |
| Goal D Controlling Coursework Creep |
Alternate Routes to Certification: C
| Goal A Genuine Alternatives |
| Goal B Limiting Alternate Routes to Teachers with Strong Credentials |
| Goal C Program Accountability |
| Goal D Interstate Portability |
Preparation of Special Education Teachers: D
| Goal A Special Education Teacher Preparation |
| Goal B Elementary Special Education Teachers |
| Goal C Secondary Special Education Teachers |
| Goal D Special Education Teacher and HQT |
Political contribution statistics from 2004 political cycle.
Union Political Contribution Totals
| Amount | Union |
| $ 33,575 | Missouri Education Assoc/mea |
| $ 13,420 | Missouri State Teachers Assoc/msta |
| $ 9,100 | Missouri State Teachers Assoc |
| 1.79% experienced (3+ years) teacher firing rate |
0.46% teacher firing rate |
9.8% |
Data obtained from the Department of Education's 2007-2008 Schools and Staffing Survey.
Statewide Unions
Missouri Federation of Teachers
Total Revenue: $ 373,550
Total Expenses: $ 370,769
Total Assets: $ 82,638
Missouri National Education Association
Total Revenue: $ 7,517,695
Total Expenses: $ 7,470,623
Total Assets: $ 3,134,956
Data obtained from the Internal Revenue Service's Master Data File 2005-2006.
Largest Non-Statewide Unions
| Union Name / District | Affiliation | Total Rev. | Total Exp. | Total Assets |
| Kansas City Federation of Teachers Kansas City, MO Public Schools |
AFT | $ 1,168,879 | $ 1,082,271 | $ 179,200 |
Other Unions
| Name | City | Total Rev. | Tax Period |
| Missouri National Education Association | Jefferson City | $ 7,517,695 | 2003 |
| American Federation Of Teachers St Louis Local 420 | St Louis | $ 1,297,389 | 2003 |
| American Federation Of Teachers | Kansas City | $ 1,168,879 | 2003 |
| Missouri National Education Association | Valley Park | $ 758,547 | 2003 |
| Missouri National Education Association | Manchester | $ 527,098 | 2003 |
| Missouri National Education Association | Jefferson Cty | $ 523,741 | 2003 |
| Missouri National Education Association | Jefferson Cty | $ 420,338 | 2003 |
| Missouri National Education Association | Gladstone | $ 382,007 | 2003 |
| Missouri Federation Of Teachers | Jefferson Cty | $ 373,550 | 2003 |
| Missouri National Education Association | Jefferson Cty | $ 67,995 | 2003 |
For this massive new project, the Center for Union Facts filed freedom of information requests with dozens of America’s major school districts.
From the stacks of paperwork that ensued, we have calculated a variety of statistics that document how teachers unions – and the laws and policies they defend – keep bad teachers in classrooms. Read on to discover just what all that dues money pays for in many cities around the country.
Kansas City Federation of Teachers: Protecting Bad Teachers
How We Discovered These Facts
This information comes from the Kansas City (Missouri) Metropolitan School District's response to a public information request filed by the Center for Union Facts, which asked for teachers who were terminated.Click here to read our full letter to the Kansas City Metropolitan School District.
The Kansas City Federation of Teachers and School-Related Personnel (KCFT) is the exclusive bargaining agent for teachers from the Kansas City, Missouri School District. According to school district records, however, policies defended by the KCFT and its parent unions (AFT-Missouri and the American Federation of Teachers) mean that practically no teachers are ever fired by the school system after they work for five years and thus acquire tenure.
In the Kansas City, Missouri School District, there are approximately 1,308 teachers with tenure (called "permanent teachers" in Missouri). Records procured by the Kansas City school district for the Center for Union Facts indicate that, between the 2003-04 and the 2006-07 school years, only 14 tenured teachers were fired. Put another way, the Kansas City, Missouri, School District fires about 0.27 percent of its tenured teachers annually.
It's easy to believe that the vast majority of Kansas City's public schoolteachers are doing a good job, but it's a near-impossibility that fully 99.73 percent of its tenured teachers deserve to be in front of kids; any group of people that size is bound to have at least a few more bad apples than the ones noted above.
The best explanation for these numbers, in our opinion, is that the Kansas City Federation of Teachers and AFT-Missouri are protecting bad teachers with an outmoded employment system. At the state level, AFT-Missouri safeguards the law that turns tenured teacher termination cases into equivalents of a criminal trial, and at the local level the Kansas City Federation of Teachers helps bad teachers use this system to protect themselves.
Source: Kansas City, Missouri School District
Data current as of November 30, 2007
© 2010 Center for Union Facts