Here’s the second Cap Journal article on rural Kansas schools.
“Garden City students speak 26 native tongues, from Burmese and Vietnamese to Somali and Spanish. During the past few decades, the area’s burgeoning meatpacking industry attracted workers from around the world. According to census data, a fifth of the city’s residents are born abroad…[Garden City Superintendent Atha] points to state aid as vital to helping schools attract and retain educators. Kansas slashed its base aid for K-12 schools following the 2008 recession, and today this funding source remains at levels similar to 14 years ago.
“Educators argue what has happened to teacher salaries is a direct result. Kansas teacher pay hasn’t kept pace with inflation and lags behind most states. According to annual National Education Association rankings, average teacher salaries here have slipped from 37th in the country to 42nd during the past five years.
“If Garden City administrators had their way, they would hire more teachers and reduce class sizes to better serve at-risk students in this largely low-income district, where high school graduation rates trail 5 percentage points behind the state’s rate of 86 percent.
“They also would like to expand college-preparatory programs by adding more Advanced Placement classes and introducing an International Baccalaureate program.
“Instead, they describe each year as a struggle to meet staffing needs.”
Read more here: http://cjonline.com/news/2015-03-22/remote-schools-struggle-fill-positions