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Kansas Facing Another Year Of Teacher Shortages

KMUW | By Celia Llopis-Jepsen,
Celia Llopis-Jepsen
Published September 12, 2017 at 5:05 PM CDT
cybrariann77, Flickr Creative Commons

Kansas continues to face a teacher shortage, with schools reporting 440 vacancies this school year.

Those empty jobs worry educators because they force schools into workarounds, such as larger class sizes or long-term substitutes. They can also reduce class offerings and lessen support for special-education students.

Janet Waugh represents Kansas City, Kansas on the State Board of Education. She calls the situation heart breaking.

"Are you kidding me?" Waugh asked. "90 elementary vacancies? 82 special education vacancies? And the list goes on and on. These kids are still coming to school, I'm assuming."

Last year a task force analyzed vacancies for the state board and found high-poverty urban school districts, like Kansas City and Wichita, especially struggle to fill jobs. Vacancies are also a problem for Garden City and other southwest Kansas districts.

Copyright 2017 KMUW | NPR for Wichita
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HPPR Health, Education & Welfare teacher shortagepublic schoolsKMUW
Celia Llopis-Jepsen
Celia comes to the Kansas News Service after five years at the Topeka Capital-Journal. She brings in-depth experience covering schools and education policy in Kansas as well as news at the Statehouse. In the last year she has been diving into data reporting. At the Kansas News Service she will also be producing more radio, a medium she’s been yearning to return to since graduating from Columbia University with a master’s in journalism.
See stories by Celia Llopis-Jepsen
Celia Llopis-Jepsen
Celia comes to the Kansas News Service after five years at the Topeka Capital-Journal. She brings in-depth experience covering schools and education policy in Kansas as well as news at the Statehouse. In the last year she has been diving into data reporting. At the Kansas News Service she will be producing more radio, a medium she’s been yearning to return to since graduating from Columbia University with a master’s in journalism.