Before she served as a Missouri state representative and senator, Karla Eslinger worked in education for more than 30 years.
Eslinger was an elementary school teacher, principal and superintendent and also worked in the U.S. Department of Education.
Now, the Ozark Republican is the head of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. She took over the job in June.
St. Louis Public Radio’s Sarah Kellogg spoke with Eslinger about her goals for the department and what she believes are some challenges in education.
Eslinger also spoke on why she decided to take this new role instead of continuing her work in the Missouri legislature.
This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.
Karla Eslinger: I've been a school lady since 1982 when I graduated out of College of the Ozarks with a bachelor's degree to teach elementary ed. Started in the classroom there and then continued to work and continued to go to school.
I think schooling to school is my social outlet. I lived in the very rural part of the state, so I continued to go to school and continue to work full time. And I became a principal, did a little curriculum work, assessment work, continued to go to school and get encouraged by my colleagues and the work that we were doing and became a superintendent.
I retired from that, ended up working a little bit for the U.S. Department of Education. I loved that experience to see just, you know, education in Missouri is very, very good and then to look at how other states do the same kind of work that we do was very enlightening. I like to see the different aspects and the different ways that people do the same kind of job that we're asked to do.
So, I worked there for several years, and then I was encouraged to run and served two years in the House and four in the Senate.
Sarah Kellogg: You passed up a second term in the Senate to serve in this position. Why?
Eslinger: I've had that posed to me before. It's like, ‘Karla, you were a senator. You had an easy run back in, you did a good job. And so, why did you decide to cross the street and take this on?’
Because this is a huge, huge responsibility. And I guess it just comes down to, there comes a point in your life where you say, ‘Where can I truly have the biggest impact? Where can I really do the most good for the profession I love, for the state I love?’ And it looked to me like there was an opportunity here.
Margie Vandeven, our former commissioner, was a dear friend of mine, and she encouraged me to think about this, and she was telling me all the great things that we could be doing and the things that had happened before. And I just thought it was a good fit.
Kellogg: What do you believe are the biggest challenges facing public education in Missouri?
Eslinger: I think that one challenge, I won't say the biggest challenge, is that there are so many different opinions as to what a good education is.
I mean, everybody has their own idea of what they experienced when they went to school or became educated, and I think that plays into the idea of what is a good quality program.
To me, the things that we need to be able to do for all kids in our state is to be able to provide them high-quality programs, no matter what their ZIP code is, no matter what part of the state they live or their economic background. I want them to have high-quality, high-performing programs for them to be able to get the skills and to be able to do what they would like to do in their life.
A challenge would be, what does that look like? Because everybody has a different idea of what's good. I think just your basics. We need to make sure that we have the literacy piece. We have to make sure that our kids and our parents and families have access to high-quality early childhood programs, and that we also have an accountability piece of standard and an expectation of excellence. I think that's got to be there.
Those kinds of things, but really and truly, just a belief that all children need to have an opportunity to be successful.
Kellogg: What are some of your kind of short-term and long-term goals for the department?
Eslinger: Immediate short term is, I just want people to know me, to know that my goal is for them to be successful, whether that's a DESE person or a school person or a family.
Long, I would say, let's look at our strategic plan. Let's look to see where are we with the work that we have defined as what we need to do in this department.
And long term, I want the state to just knock the top off of everything. I want us to be the No. 1 state that has high ACT scores, high NAEP scores, high MAP scores. I want us to be very, very proud of the system that we have in educating our kids.
Kellogg: There were some changes made this year, but Missouri is near the bottom when it comes to teacher pay. What do you want to see to support Missouri teachers, whether it be pay or other resources?
Eslinger: All across the nation, we have problems with recruiting, with retaining, and making sure that we have lots of support around our educators in the classroom.
Teacher pay is one aspect, and I think we've made a good effort in some new legislation that passed where there is a minimum guarantee of at least $40,000, but when you look out across the, you know, the state line, just south to us, and their minimum guarantee is $50,000. So, we're competing. We're competing with those states for our high flyers, our teachers.
Money is one thing, but then again, also the environment, the culture, the system that you're working in. So, I think we have to look at it from both sides. We have to look at it from what is the experience that a classroom teacher is having as they're doing the job we ask them to do. And then are they able to make a living wage, and are they able to truly provide for their families and feel successful?
So, I think it's both. I don't think you can do one or the other, but you got to do all of that together. I want our teachers to be very well paid, and I want our teachers to love their jobs.
