HARRISBURG — Several education bills take effect Wednesday, including raising the starting salary for Missouri teachers from $25,000 to $40,000. The law is intended to help more people choose teaching as a career amid a nationwide teacher shortage.

However, the law does not provide for guaranteed funding of teachers’ salaries by the state.

If the state stops allocating direct funding to schools, districts will have to pay for the higher salaries.

Some Mid-Missouri educators say the change is helpful, but more needs to be done.

“When I was a principal, you might get 10 or 20 applications for a job opening,” says Steve Combs, Harrisburg school superintendent. “Today, you’re lucky if you get three or four.”

The Harrisburg School District already offers its teachers a starting salary of $44,000. Combs says this is a priority for the school board to make the district more competitive.

“We came in this year and filled all of our positions,” Combs said. “There is still a major teacher shortage in the region, in the state, across the country.”

According to the National Education Association, Missouri ranked 50th in the U.S. in base pay for teachers last year. Only 43 districts in Missouri started their new teachers at a base salary of $40,000 or more, so most districts will need to increase their base pay next year.

“The amount of work that teachers do emotionally and personally for their students,” said Anna Thompson, a third-year student at the University of Missouri. “They don’t get paid nearly as much as they should.”

Thompson, an education major from Boonville, plans to teach middle school after graduation. Despite her love for Missouri, she hopes to teach elsewhere.

“I think it has a lot to do with pay,” Thompson said.

Still, both Thompson and Combs said there’s one simple reason they love their jobs so much: the students.

“That’s why I became a teacher, to make a difference for the kids,” Combs said. “But it’s also nice to make some money while doing it.”