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Candidates for 135th House district consider teacher shortages, budget priorities

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In the 135th District of the Missouri House of Representatives, situated in northeast Springfield, incumbent Betsy Fogle, a Democrat, is seeking a third term on Nov. 5, but she faces a challenge from Republican Michael Hasty.

Prior to her first run at the statehouse, Fogle worked in public health. She was director of program advancement for Jordan Valley Community Health Center, according to her official bio on the Missouri House of Representatives website. Today, she is the AFL-CIO community service labor liaison, employed by United Way of the Ozarks.

Hasty is a U.S. Army veteran, serving 2005-09, and his career experience includes work in marketing and sales. His campaign website notes he has an MBA in finance and supply change operations.

The two answered an identical set of five questions posed by the Informed Voter Coalition, a voter education project, of which Springfield Business Journal is a member. The complete video of their interviews can be found at SBJ.net/election2024.

Across the state, school districts serve as large employers in their communities. What steps, if any, do you think should be taken to address the teacher shortage in Missouri?

Fogle: So that is an issue that in the four years in the General Assembly I’m proud of the work that we’ve done on both sides of the aisle to recruit and retain good, qualified educators in our public school systems. Here in Springfield, I represent the state’s largest public school district, and I’m very proud of that, but we have to have good, qualified teachers that want to come into that field, and we do that through several different mechanisms. First and foremost, we need to continue to be unified in our pursuit of increasing teacher pay across the state. Coming into this legislative session, the base teacher pay here in Missouri was $28,000. We were able to raise it through Senate Bill 727 to $40,000, but in 2024, when most sectors are paying more than that, it still seems like there is a lack of people going into the education field and retention in our public school systems is something that we need to continue to focus on. When you look at the surrounding states in Missouri, every state that borders us pays significantly more than that base rate of $40,000 – so I think that that is one component of how do you recruit and retain qualified educators. Second to that, I think we need to go back to a time when our communities supported our public schools. In my time in the General Assembly, we now have twice voted to send public tax dollars to private schools, something that I’m very much against, but that is done under the guise that our public school systems aren’t meeting the expectations of our constituents. And I disagree with that. You know, public schools are one of the things that makes this country the greatest country in the world – that every child, regardless of income, regardless of learning ability, has access to free and quality public education, and we need to bring professionalism and support back into the classrooms.

Hasty: I actually spoke on this to the school board here in Springfield just over a year ago when they were doing away with what was called the annualized pay plan, and it eventually led to the loss of 60-something teachers. And I feel that we should listen to the union here that represents I believe 80-plus percent of Springfield teachers, and they do a very good job of advocating for those teachers, and I have quite a few friends and community leaders and contacts that do work for SPS and wish that the school board would listen to the teachers and have a better working relationship with the board, the superintendent and the union so that the teachers can be more heard.

What are your budget priorities for the upcoming year, and what would you like to see funded for your district?

Fogle: So, I have the pleasure of serving on the Appropriations or Budget Committee; I’ve served there for the last four years. When I reflect on my time in the General Assembly, I think those are some of the wins that I’m most proud of as a legislator – bringing home dollars for nonprofits in Springfield, for infrastructure programs and projects and for things like investments in teacher pay. When I look to what do I want to walk into the building next year and do, I want to continue to make sure that we have educational systems that serve the needs of all kids. I came from a meeting this morning with a mom who had a child with severe autism, and listening to her talk about navigating the system for her child with disabilities definitely made me want to reengage and recommit to focusing on that in the next legislative session. My sister recently adopted a 12-year-old out of the foster care system, and that gave my family firsthand experience with the gaps that exist within our Children’s Division and wanting to make sure that I go back to Jefferson City and help close those gaps. When we talk about who in this state needs funding, needs support, needs budgetary assistance, my mind always goes to the most vulnerable – to the kids that are stuck in these situations that that without the funding to help get them out, we’re going to continue to see kids go missing in the foster care system, kids that are living in hospitals because they have no safe place to go, a Children’s Division team that is one of the lowest paid in the country, and I think that’s where I’ll continue my efforts in the General Assembly, if I’m fortunate enough to be reelected.

Hasty: I would like to see more funding down here – and Springfield as a whole, not just the 135th; we’re just a piece of Springfield – for more, like, parks and stuff for kids. Again, I’m very family-centered man. And we have a lot of great parks, but some of the parks and equipment stuff have kind of gone downhill since COVID and haven’t been upkept.

Anything that I stand for and believe in, it’s family oriented, and I’m a family man, at my core, and anything that could get the families more engaged in our community, help the kids and get people out is kind of where I would be with that.

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