The latest Tri-State Development news!

The Tri-State Development Regional Report

news & updates

MAY 2024 | Issue 18

Upcoming Events

MAY

21 Childcare Task Force Meeting, 2:00pm, Culver-Stockton College IDEA Center Conference Room

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29 Broadband Task Force Meeting, 2:00pm, Culver-Stockton College IDEA Center Conference Room

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JUNE

4 Rural Business & Ag Task Force Meeting, 2:00pm, Culver-Stockton College IDEA Center Conference Room

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5 Regional Health and Wellbeing Task Force Meeting, 2:00pm, Culver-Stockton College IDEA Center Conference Room

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6 Transportation & River Task Force Meeting, 2:00pm, Culver-Stockton College IDEA Center Conference Room

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As the school year comes to a close, new legislation requiring teacher pay raises has ignited discussions among educators, parents, and policymakers. While these changes are largely celebrated, they bring unique challenges and expectations, especially for small, rural districts.

Rural schools often operate on tight budgets. While raising teacher salaries is a very commendable goal, it puts a significant financial strain on these areas. The additional costs must be covered somehow, which might mean taking money away from other essential services or programs within schools. Rural districts may face tough choices, like cutting staff or scaling back extracurricular activities that are crucial for students' overall development.

On the bright side, higher salaries could help with the recruitment and retention of teachers in rural areas. Historically, these districts have struggled to attract and keep talented educators because they couldn’t offer competitive pay compared to urban areas. Better salaries could level the playing field, making these rural teaching positions more appealing and drawing more teachers to these communities.

With the pay increase, parents and students might expect more personalized attention, better educational outcomes, and enhanced programs. This adds pressure on teachers to up their game and on schools to deliver better results, even with possible financial constraints.

This month, we will explore some of the data on educator pay and spending that was recently published by the National Education Association.

October 2-3, 2024

Catfish Bend Convention & Event Center

Burlington, Iowa

Click here to register

REGISTRATION IS OPEN!

Plans are underway for the 2024 Tri-State Development Summit, which will be held in Burlington, Iowa, one of our region's most dynamic communities!

This two-day conference will provide all regional stakeholders with engaging break-out sessions, networking events, and insights into the economic development priorities being addressed by our task forces and community members.

Learn more about the Summit program by visiting our website.

Please consider sponsoring the 2024 Tri-State Development Summit. Your partnership helps fund the activities, meetings, tools, programs, and work of Tri-State Development all year long.

Sponsorship Levels can be viewed by clicking here.

Thank you for your consideration and support.

Evaluating Teacher Metrics

Let's take a look at the data recently provided by the National Education Association (NEA) in their report on 2024 Educator Pay Data. Understanding the compensation of educators can help shed some light on teacher shortages, state educator pay mandates, and the attraction and retention of high-quality teachers. The NEA 2024 Educator Pay Data Report provides an analysis of current salary trends, highlighting significant disparities and progress within the profession.

Source: NEA Educator Pay Data Report

Teacher Pay Gap: The gap in pay when compared to other college-educated professionals with similar experience.

Minimum Living Wage: Income needed for a family of one adult and one child to have a modest but adequate standard of living in the most affordable metro area, 2023 dollars.

ESP Earnings: Earnings for Education Support Professionals

HE Earnings: Higher Education earnings

Source: The State of Rural Schools, in Charts: Funding, Graduation Rates, Performance, and More

By Libby Stanford — November 20, 2023

Keep in mind that when we evaluate state-level figures, rural areas almost always reflect a lower average wage, spending, and earnings than the state average.

The State of the Teacher Workforce published July 27, 2023 https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/state-of-teacher-workforce-interactive

Data Insights

The national average public school teacher salary rose to $69,544 in 2022-23, a 4.1 percent increase over the previous year, according to the 2024 NEA Rankings and Estimates report.
Adjusted for inflation, however, on average, teachers are making 5.3 percent less than they did 10 years ago.
The national average starting teacher salary increased 3.9 percent to $44,530—the largest increase in the 14 years that NEA has been tracking teacher salary benchmarks.
In Iowa and Missouri, the average teacher salary is below the minimum living wage. All 3 of the regional states average starting teacher salary falls below the minimum living wage.
The % of state budgets that are allocated to rural school districts is disproportionate to the number of students served by rural districts.

TRACKING SUMMER STORMS AND FLOODING

Are you interested in keeping up with the significant weather events throughout the region? As we enter the critical period of spring and summer, marked by potentially severe weather events including storms and floods, it's important to stay informed and prepared.

Here are a couple of interactive maps that might help you stay up to date on the latest weather threats.

National Weather Service

Emergency and Disaster Info Service

Interesting Reading

Rural Population Grows for Second Consecutive Year

The Census’ most recent population estimates covering 2023 shows that rural counties gained population, but primarily in counties that are close to metropolitan areas.

Explore the data to see how Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri compared to the rest of the country.

April 2, 2024

The Daily Yonder

Sarah Melotte

Read the article here

How local governments can respond to the housing crisis

A new book by Charles Marohn and Daniel Herriges of Strong Towns encourages local officials to promote small-scale developments, even if it means using city financial tools to get them off the ground.

Is your Tri-State community implementing any of these ideas? Share with us what's working in your town.

May 6, 2024

Route 50

Daniel C. Vock

Read the article here

CHILDCARE NEEDS SURVEY

Local educational leaders have crafted this survey to better understand and support the dedicated individuals providing childcare services in our region, as well as those contemplating a career in this critical field.

Your experiences and challenges are important to us. Please click on the link below to share your perspective on the obstacles that make navigating a career in childcare challenging.

Thank you for taking the time to contribute. We look forward to sharing the findings with you, as we work together to enhance childcare services in our region by supporting those working in this invaluable career field.

Complete the Survey

Updates of Interest

Efforts to reform federal broadband subsidy gain traction

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have expressed support for tweaks to the Affordable Connectivity Program’s rules in a bid to keep it from sunsetting this month.

Read the article here.

Route 50

May 13, 2024

By: Chris Teale

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Tri-State Development and the economic prosperity of our region.

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To view all of our supporting community partners, please visit our website at : https://culver.edu/tsd

Catch up on the Tri-State Development Newsletters that you missed!

Tri-State Development at Culver-Stockton College supports the region by cultivating collaborative relationships, promoting interdisciplinary problem-solving, fostering the expansion of academic-organization-industry initiatives, and developing an environment for collective impact to address the current and emerging economic, and social challenges in the region.

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