AN INDEPENDENT PROJECT BY DR. JON TURNER
Show-Me Missouri Schools
Thirty-five years of change in every Missouri school district — enrollment, teacher pay, funding, achievement, and the four-day week — mapped so color tells the story at a glance.
STEP 1 · START WITH YOUR OWN DISTRICT
All 516 districts — funding, pay, achievement and child poverty on one page, each against the typical district.
516 districts mapped
826,075 students (2024-25)
1991–2025 thirty-five years of data
ENROLLMENT CHANGE, 2010–2025 · EVERY DISTRICT IS CLICKABLE
Shrinking
Growing
Click any district for its full profile · DESE data
START HERE · THREE STEPS THROUGH THE SITE
A path through 35 years of school data
You don’t need to be a researcher to use this site. Start with the district you know, zoom out to the statewide story, then see what it could mean for Missouri’s schools.
1
Find your district
One page with the numbers that matter for the district you care about — each compared to the typical Missouri district, so every figure means something.
Look up a district →
2
See the statewide story
Six theme pages put your district’s numbers in context — enrollment, teachers, pay, funding, achievement, and the four-day week, each with maps and plain-English findings.
Browse the themes ↓
3
See what it could mean
The analysis pages connect the dots: the two Missouris rural students and teachers inhabit, what a dime of tax levy really buys, and why the four-day week spread.
Read the analysis →
STEP 2 · THE STATEWIDE STORIES
Six ways into the data
Each theme page pairs its maps with context, sources, and what to look for. If you came from your district’s page, these show where its numbers sit.
ENROLLMENT & DEMOGRAPHICS
Who the schools serve
District-by-district enrollment change since 1991, student diversity, and urban-to-rural enrollment patterns.
View maps →
TEACHER WORKFORCE
The people in the classroom
How the experience of Missouri’s teaching workforce has shifted by district — and where certification is thin.
View maps →
TEACHER PAY
What districts can offer
Starting pay, mid-career and career-ceiling salaries, and the state Baseline Salary Grant after SB 727.
View maps →
FUNDING & FINANCE
Where the money comes from
Per-pupil spending and local tax effort — plus an interactive “dime test” calculator for any district.
View maps →
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
How students are doing
The 2025 Annual Performance Report, which districts beat the odds poverty predicts — and how far COVID set students back, five years on.
View maps →
FOUR-DAY SCHOOL WEEK
A decade of spread
The year each district adopted the four-day week — the schedule Missouri now leads the nation in.
View maps →
STEP 3 · WHAT IT COULD MEAN
From maps to meaning
Three analyses that connect the maps into a story — with the evidence, the interpretation, and the caveats kept honestly apart.
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The Two Missouris: rural vs. suburban schools
Same degree, same years — a $39,000 career-ceiling gap. Benefits, pensions, tax effort, and the honest caveats, with an interactive pension calculator.
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The dime test: what a levy actually buys
A dime of school tax raises $716 per student in one district and $39 in another. Try the calculator on any district.
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The four-day week: a decade of spread
Missouri leads the nation. See when each district switched, what it pays, and what the calendar does — and doesn’t — change.
ABOUT THE DATA
Sources & how to read the maps
The interactive maps on this site come from Dr. Jon Turner’s Tableau Public workbook Missouri School District Change, 1991–2025, built on publicly available state and federal data. Visualizations are meant to reveal trends, not to serve as an official record.
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The Data Explorer — every view, one page
Dr. Turner’s full Tableau workbook with all tabs: for researchers, reporters, and anyone who wants the raw views.
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Missouri DESE — Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
District enrollment, staffing and certification, and finance data (MCDS portal).
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National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
Comparable federal data on enrollment, demographics, and school finance.
Reading the maps: unless a legend says otherwise, darker shading means a higher value and lighter shading a lower one. Hover any district for its exact figures, and use the tabs and toolbar on each map to change the view or reset it.
QUESTIONS OR DATA SUGGESTIONS?
Contact Dr. Jon Turner
Associate Professor of Educational Leadership · Missouri State University, Springfield MO