Short answer
How do Kansas teachers renew a license and move up the salary schedule?
A Kansas professional teaching license runs five years. Renewal takes 120 professional development points if you hold an advanced degree, or 160 points with at least 80 from college credit if you don't, under a plan approved by your local Professional Development Council. Column moves follow your district's negotiated agreement.
Source: Kansas State Department of Education, License Information and Applications. Checked .
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How do you renew a Kansas teaching license?
The Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) lists the renewal routes for the professional (five-year) license on its license information and applications page. You submit the renewal application and fee with proof that you met one of these options during your current license term:
- Professional development points. With an advanced degree, 120 points under an approved Individual Development Plan (IDP) filed with your local Professional Development Council. Without one, 160 points, "including at least 80 points from college credit."
- College coursework. Eight credit hours in an approved program, or completion of an approved program.
- National Board. Completing all components of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards assessment, or earning National Board Certification.
- Accredited experience. For advanced-degree holders only: three years of recent accredited experience during the license term. KSDE limits this option to two renewals.
KSDE also says educators "in a Kansas or other state educational retirement system" complete half the professional development points. Every plan must be approved by your local council, and you keep your own documentation of points, coursework or experience in case it is checked.
How points and credit convert
KSDE's professional development page defines a point as one hour of in-service education and says "one semester hour of college credit equals 20 professional development points." That makes the arithmetic straightforward:
- The 80 college-credit points required of a teacher without an advanced degree equal four semester hours.
- The full 120 points for an advanced-degree holder equal six semester hours, if you earn all of it through college credit.
- The full 160 points equal eight semester hours, the same figure as the college coursework option.
Points come from activities written into your IDP and recorded by the council that serves your district, so the council's approval comes first. If you are comparing clock hours, CEUs and semester credit, our explainer on clock hours, CEUs and semester credits walks through the units.
The science of reading requirement from 2028
KSDE's science of reading licensure page says that beginning July 1, 2028, veteran educators in certain PreK-6 positions must show knowledge of the science of reading to renew a professional license, by completing state-approved training or passing a state-approved literacy exam. The listed positions are elementary reading or English language arts, elementary history, government and social studies, elementary special education, elementary school psychologist, elementary reading specialist and elementary administrator. Educators who meet it receive a Seal of Literacy on the license. KSDE keeps the list of approved trainings on that page.
Renewal and pay use different rules. Points that renew your license may not move you on your district's salary schedule. Olathe, for example, counts only its own approved points for pay. See renewal credit versus salary credit.
How do Kansas teachers move to a higher salary column?
Kansas has no statewide teacher salary schedule. Pay is set by each district's board in negotiations with the recognized teachers' organization under the Professional Negotiations Act. The act's definitions in K.S.A. 72-2218 list "salaries and wages, including pay for duties under supplemental contracts" first among the "terms and conditions of professional service."
That is why each district's agreement reads differently. Both agreements below start from a bachelor's column and add columns for graduate hours and degrees, with steps for years of service. Districts use "column", "track" or "lane" for the same idea; our guide to salary lane names lines them up, and how to read a salary schedule covers the grid itself.
What differs is the fine print: whether only graduate-level credit counts, whether undergraduate courses need written approval first, whether in-district professional development points can stand in for college credit, and how old your credits can be.
What do the largest Kansas districts require?
Wichita Public Schools (USD 259)
The 2026-2027 teacher agreement with United Teachers of Wichita calls its columns tracks. Each track "represents an earned degree" or additional graduate semester hours "not already counted in an earned degree."
- What counts: only graduate degrees and graduate hours "recognized and supervised by the graduate school of an accredited institution." The institution must have been accredited when you earned the hours, by an agency the Human Resources Division approves.
- Units: an intermediate track requires the graduate semester hours it names or their equivalent in quarter hours or third hours. The hours may predate your latest degree but cannot have been used to meet that degree's requirements.
- Deadline: placement is adjusted each contract year to the level a teacher proves "on or before September 10."
- Sixty-hour master's: a master's degree that required at least 60 graduate semester hours in your area of assignment places you on the MA+30 track.
- Steps: one step for each full year (a base contract of 170 or more days), and no more than one step a year.
Olathe Public Schools (USD 233)
The 2025-26 negotiated agreement uses BS, BS+12, BS+24, MS, MS+12, MS+24, MS+36, MS+48, MS+60 and Doctorate columns. Policy GBZEB sets the rules for moving between them.
- Mix of units: columns beyond MS can be reached with any combination of college credit, Olathe professional development points and qualifying CEUs. The BS+12 and BS+24 columns need at least half (six) as college credit.
- College credit: graduate-level credit from a regionally accredited institution that applies directly to your position, future licensure or a district program. Undergraduate credit counts only with written approval from the superintendent or designee before you enroll.
- Order and recency: for MS+ columns, only credit earned after the master's degree counts, and all credit and points must fall within five years before August 1.
- Points: up to 120 Olathe points a year can be used for pay (1 clock hour = 1 point; 1 graduate-level credit = 20 points), earned only through district-approved activities. Points from other districts renew a license but do not move pay.
- Deadlines: coursework done by July 31, official transcripts to Human Resources by August 31, and credits allocated in the salary tracker by October 15. Mid-year moves are only into a degree column, by February 15.
- One column a year, except when a qualifying master's or doctorate is completed.
The two agreements take different approaches. Wichita ties every track above a degree to graduate hours from an accredited graduate school and sets one proof date in September. Olathe lets approved in-district points and college credit share the load, but caps points at 120 a year, applies a five-year recency window and spreads its deadlines from July to October. Before you pay for a course in either district, read will my district accept it.
Full district guides for Kansas
Before you enroll
- Check your IDP. Renewal points have to come from activities your local Professional Development Council approved, so add the course to your plan first.
- Count in points. One semester hour is 20 points; without an advanced degree, at least 80 of your 160 points must be college credit.
- Read your district's column rules. Wichita counts graduate hours only; Olathe needs written pre-approval for undergraduate credit.
- Watch recency and order. Olathe counts credit from the last five years, and only credit earned after the master's for MS+ columns.
- Calendar the filing dates. Wichita sets placement on proof by September 10; Olathe wants transcripts by August 31 and allocations by October 15.
The provider directory groups semester-credit providers by need, and the comparison table shows their costs and formats side by side.
Kansas questions teachers ask
How many points do I need to renew a Kansas professional teaching license?
120 professional development points if you hold an advanced degree, or 160 points with at least 80 from college credit if you don't, earned during the five-year license term under an approved IDP.
How many PD points is one college credit worth in Kansas?
KSDE counts one semester hour of college credit as 20 professional development points. One point is one hour of in-service education.
Can I renew with college credit instead of points?
Yes. KSDE accepts eight credit hours in an approved program, or completion of an approved program, as a renewal option of its own.
Do professional development points move me on the salary schedule?
It depends on the district. Olathe lets up to 120 of its own approved points a year count toward columns beyond the master's. Wichita's agreement ties tracks to degrees and graduate hours.
Does Kansas have a state teacher salary schedule?
No. Salaries are negotiated between each district's board and its teachers' organization, as K.S.A. 72-2218 describes.
What is the Kansas Seal of Literacy?
From July 1, 2028, educators in listed PreK-6 positions must complete state-approved science of reading training or pass a literacy exam to renew. Those who do have a Seal of Literacy on the license.
Sources
- License Information and Applications, Kansas State Department of Education. Checked
- Professional Development, Kansas State Department of Education. Checked
- Science of Reading Licensure Requirements, Kansas State Department of Education. Checked
- K.S.A. 72-2218, Definitions (Professional Negotiations Act), Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. Checked
- Teacher Agreement with United Teachers of Wichita, 2026-2027, Wichita Public Schools. Checked
- 2025-26 Professional Negotiated Agreement, Olathe Public Schools. Checked
- 2025-26 Negotiated Agreement, Policies GBZEA and GBZEB, Olathe Public Schools Professional Council. Checked
- Teacher Agreement, Article V, Wichita Public Schools Human Resources. Checked
Reviewed November 11, 2026 by TeacherPayGuide editors.Report an error