WEBSTER GROVES, Mo. – The Webster Groves School District has kept a close eye on its budget for a decade.
The school board met Thursday to discuss a potential teacher buyout, paying long-serving teachers to retire early and hire new teachers on starting salaries.
The district reportedly saved around $400,000 in 2016 during their last teacher buyout.
Superintendent John Simpson said the decision comes down to timing. The buyout plan requires a 45-day waiting period, meaning new teachers could not be hired until March or April, and Simpson said teachers may already have signed other contracts by that time.
The district’s budget planning committee is now looking at other cost saving methods after already reducing budgets in some departments.