Kathy Steinhoff is unopposed for the state House seat she won two years ago, but she’s knocking on doors anyway to support her party.
Steinhoff, a Democrat who was born in St. Louis but has lived and worked in Columbia for years, is entering her second term in the legislature.
After 33 years of teaching in Boone County public schools, Steinhoff’s focus has steered toward education issues. She served as the president of the Columbia Missouri National Education Association for six years.
Steinhoff said she would like to increase educators’ salaries to mitigate the teacher shortage in Missouri.
“Missouri … is a state that falls last on teacher pay, and just a state that hasn’t really supported education to the levels that other states have,” Steinhoff said. “It has really impacted our students, our communities and then the profession overall in the state of Missouri.”
Starting salaries for public school teachers in Missouri are the lowest of any state, according to the National Education Association. The average teacher salary in Missouri is not much better, ranking 47th nationally.
Steinhoff noted that teacher salaries are determined primarily by property taxes in each school district. State salary allocations can be increased in districts with higher property values, so an “issue of equity” results when wealthier districts with higher taxes are able to pay teachers more, she said.
Steinhoff also advocates for greater gun control, both in the House and through advocacy groups like Moms Demand Action.
Last session, she sponsored a bill that would have required the safe storage of firearms when there is reasonable expectation of a child accessing them. The bill did not pass.
Steinhoff expressed frustration with legislation that addresses the effects of gun violence without mitigating the root cause, which she said is access to guns.
“There are too many guns in our community and that’s what makes our schools have to become fortresses,” Steinhoff said. “Until we address those guns, all we’re going to be doing is figuring out how we’re responding to an issue that’s just completely gotten out of hand.”
As a Democrat and a woman in a legislature that is two-thirds Republican and over 70% male, Steinhoff said getting legislation passed can feel like an uphill battle. She hopes to fill more seats with Democrats to break the Republican supermajority, and get more women involved in the legislature.
“We can see that right now we aren’t really accomplishing much in the state of Missouri because the power is so balanced to one side,” she said.
Because she’s an unopposed incumbent, Steinhoff has been promoting fellow Democrats by campaigning door to door in Columbia.
“I think (electing more Democrats) would force Republicans to have to work a little bit more with Democrats than they do right now, and honestly, it would force them to have to work a little bit better with each other,” Steinhoff said.
