Education officials in Kansas are taking a two-pronged approach to reducing teacher shortages: raising pay and fast-tracking teaching assistants and other professionals to the front of the classroom.
Last year, Kansas schools had more than 600 vacant positions. Many of the openings were concentrated in rural areas and the states most urban districts.
Low pay has been blamed for much of the trouble attracting and retaining teachers. But education officials believe they have an opportunity to tackle that with the recent boosts to state funding.
Lawmakers have approved multi-year school funding increases amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars in response to a long-running lawsuit over school spending. That has given districts a chance to offer teacher raises that could be difficult to fit into school budgets in the past.
We have an obligation to pay people more, Education Commissioner Randy Watson said at a State Board of Education meeting this week. We have an opportunity that the governor and the Legislature together have given us.
The largest union representing teachers in the state is also urging districts to use the funding increase to pay school staff more.
The Kansas National Education Association said in a statement Thursday that average teacher pay in Kansas is around $49,800. The national unions rankings show neighboring states range from just over $50,000 in Missouri to $54,500 in Nebraska.
Teachers are professionals who shouldnt need to work two, and sometimes three jobs to make ends meet, KNEA President Mark Farr said.
Schools have been offering raises, but it wasnt just salaries for teachers that lagged during leaner years.
Mark Tallman, with the Kansas Association of School Boards, said many districts would also like to restore programs cut during the state budget troubles that followed the national recession and the state income tax cuts passed in 2012.
Boards recognize the need and desire to increase salaries, Tallman said. But thats not the only claim on those new dollars. All this has to be balanced together.
With the recession over, the hot economy is posing a new challenge for districts when it comes to hiring and keeping teachers.
Teachers often have job opportunities at schools in other states or completely different industries. The qualities that make a good teacher also make them attractive workers for higher-paying careers.
If you can communicate with people, if you have patience, if you can solve problems, all of those can be transferable to many other professions, Tallman said.
Beyond pay, Kansas is utilizing targeted programs to get people into teaching in unconventional ways. Two state-run pilot initiatives have shown success in filling vacancies, licensing 126 new teachers over the last two years.
