Kansas Is Becoming A Hard Place To Teach, So Teachers Are Crossing The State Line

[Socialist]

In the next couple of years, Kansas education will face some of its most unstable times ever.

The Legislature has cut classroom funding. There’s no school finance formula and the the whole system may be thrown into chaos depending on what the state Supreme Court does.

All of this is all taking a toll on recruiting and retaining teachers, and there's mounting evidence that Kansas teachers are becoming disenchanted. And out-of-state districts are taking advantage.

A billboard along the Kansas Turnpike eight miles east of Lawrence reads: Independence Missouri School District. Hiring teachers for 2015-2016.

"Yes, we do have two billboards in Kansas, along major areas where people drive," says Independence Superintendent Dr. Dale Herl. He also has another billboard near Wichita.

His district is growing by hundreds of students a year and for 2015-2016 he needed a lot of teachers fast.

Turns out, there seems to be plenty from Kansas looking for jobs elsewhere.

"I think teachers have done more with less for a number of years and it does wear on you," say Julie Wilson who coordinates teacher recruitment and retention in Kansas and maintains the website kansasteachingjobs.com.

Right now there are some 700 openings in the state for teachers and non-teaching staff. Wilson says that’s double the number of openings they usually have this time of year.

Kansas teachers, she says, just don’t feel supported.

"You know, the expectations have remained the same if not more and our funding hasn’t matched that," she says.

Wilson and other educators say it’s hard to fill teaching jobs in Kansas right now because not only has funding not kept up with needs, but how schools will be funded is up in the air.

The block grants passed by the legislature this year have been found unconstitutional and that funding scheme is now in the hands of the state Supreme Court.

Revenue continues to lag so the budget in Kansas next year will be challenging, at best.


First year teacher Morgan Rodecap chose to teach in Missouri rather than Kansas.
CREDIT SAM ZEFF / KCUR
But it’s not just the budget.

The legislature has stripped Kansas teachers of tenure protection and this session tried to severely limit their bargaining power.

That’s an ugly combination for many young teachers, like Morgan Rodecap who’s teaching math this summer at Pioneer Ridge Middle School in Independence, Missouri.

"But a lot of, like, my Missouri friends as we’re becoming new teachers and getting our degrees, we’re not looking in Kansas," he says.

Rodecap says her goal coming out of graduate school was to return to her hometown of Topeka to teach.

She was actually offered a job in Junction City, Kansas but because of an uncertain budget they couldn’t tell her how much she would be paid.

So she took a job in Missouri instead.

"It’s definitely sad that I can’t be where family is and it’s angering that this kind of thing is affecting kids," Rodecap says.


Van Horn High School in the Independence School District. Applications from Kansas for Missouri teaching licenses have increased since 2011.
CREDIT SAM ZEFF / KCUR
Data from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education suggests there is indeed a migration of teachers from Kansas to Missouri.

In 2011, before huge tax cuts were enacted, only 85 applications for Missouri teaching licenses were filed with a Kansas address.

In the next three years, as school budgets were slashed, those applications doubled.

During that same period, applications for Missouri teaching licenses from Arkansas and Iowa remained steady.

"It’s hard to know how big an impact those issues are but they’re certainly things that come up," says Mark Tallman with the Kansas Association of School Boards. He just finished a cross-Kansas trip where he met with educators in dozens of school districts.

School leaders, he says, are worried about the long-term stability and support for education in the state.

"But certainly Kansas has gone through the last few years, I think, what many people see as an unusual amount of instability, or at least potential instability," Tallman says.

Even in the Shawnee Mission School District, among the most stable school districts anywhere, there seems to be concern among employees.

The district confirms that 250 teachers, staff and administrators have retired in the past 12 months.

That’s much higher then normal, the district says, because many took the district-offered early retirement.

Why? Many educators say they wanted out before changes were made to the Kansas retirement system, making it less generous and, says Independence Superintendent Dale Herl, making Missouri more attractive.

Kansas Is Becoming A Hard Place To Teach So Teachers Are Crossing The State Line KCUR
Another prime example of the effects of right wing policies.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Kansas is one of the states that when I think about secessionist movements, I'm like, "Ya ok, let em go."

 

[BluesLegend]

Ah, another thread of stupid amongst the carpet bombing of threads you started. Here's a newsflash for you koolaid drinking dumb ass ignorant libs, it is the new young teachers who get royally screwed by the tenure system and the teachers unions.

 

[regent]

The new teachers wait their turn to get tenure, but half usually quit by the end of the first five teaching years, with or without tenure.

 

[IsaacNewton]

Kansas, the poster-child for the failure of conservative principals.

This is the state that wanted to teach creation in science class. Not the brightest bunch in the union.

 

[BluesLegend]

The new teachers wait their turn to get tenure, but half usually quit by the end of the first five teaching years, with or without tenure.

No, new teachers take it up the ass while the tenured punks suck up all the money. The worst being the WAY too fat layer of non-teaching so called administrators and umpteen dozen principals and vp principles who don't want to teach anymore but want a big fat salary and benefits package. If anyone is wondering why new teachers get paid shit, the insane fat layer of administrative overhead is why. In one liberal state there is 1 administrator for every 2 teachers.

 

[regent]

The new teachers wait their turn to get tenure, but half usually quit by the end of the first five teaching years, with or without tenure.

No, new teachers take it up the ass while the tenured punks suck up all the money. The worst being the WAY too fat layer of non-teaching so called administrators and umpteen dozen principals and vp principles who don't want to teach anymore but want a big fat salary and benefits package. If anyone is wondering why new teachers get paid shit, the insane fat layer of administrative overhead is why. In one liberal state there is 1 administrator for every 2 teachers.

Education is a state responsibility, if Kansas wants a lot of administrators, is she allowed to have them? If another liberal state (not named) wants one administrator for every two teachers can the state have them? Does a new teacher automatically become a punk when they get tenure?

 

[BluesLegend]

The new teachers wait their turn to get tenure, but half usually quit by the end of the first five teaching years, with or without tenure.

No, new teachers take it up the ass while the tenured punks suck up all the money. The worst being the WAY too fat layer of non-teaching so called administrators and umpteen dozen principals and vp principles who don't want to teach anymore but want a big fat salary and benefits package. If anyone is wondering why new teachers get paid shit, the insane fat layer of administrative overhead is why. In one liberal state there is 1 administrator for every 2 teachers.

Education is a state responsibility, if Kansas wants a lot of administrators, is she allowed to have them? If another liberal state (not named) wants one administrator for every two teachers can the state have them? Does a new teacher automatically become a punk when they get tenure?

The teaching profession has been corrupted by...wait for it...yes Democratic party politicians. The teachers unions have conspired with the Democratic party politicians to create an organized crime family a NY Mob boss would be envious of. The politicians who are supposed to be representing the people instead crank up the taxes on the people, give the money to the teachers unions, who in turn kick back part of the money to the politicians in the form of campaign contributions. Its I'll scratch your back if you will scratch mine.

This has led to utterly ridiculous unsustainable salary, benefits, and pension agreements between the politicians who approve these agreements and the teachers unions. So why do we see new teachers being paid shit salaries? Because the layer of fat at the top, administrator layer and teachers with the most tenure SUCK up all the money for themselves. When you have a layer of 'administrators' who are the highest paid group that is so out of whack with reality in terms of way too much administrative overhead there won't be much money left for new teachers just getting started.

It gets worse...lets talk tiers. In NY State for example the fat cat administrative layer and teachers with the most tenure were given such rich salary, benefit, and pension contracts that it wasn't sustainable, the tax payers didn't have the money to give that to everyone. So they created tiers, if you are one of the old timers you got the platinum diamond studded package, 2nd tier got less...4th tier e.g. the new teachers coming into the system get shit. Its not a case where they will get the rich package at some point they are tier 4 e.g. fucked. So Tier 1 because they can retire after 20 years and suck on the taxpayer tit for 30 years or more with these ridiculous benefit and pension packages the only way to pay for that is to fuck over the tier 3 and tier 4 teachers for a few decades.

Its as corrupt as any organized crime story.

 

[regent]

The new teachers wait their turn to get tenure, but half usually quit by the end of the first five teaching years, with or without tenure.

No, new teachers take it up the ass while the tenured punks suck up all the money. The worst being the WAY too fat layer of non-teaching so called administrators and umpteen dozen principals and vp principles who don't want to teach anymore but want a big fat salary and benefits package. If anyone is wondering why new teachers get paid shit, the insane fat layer of administrative overhead is why. In one liberal state there is 1 administrator for every 2 teachers.

Education is a state responsibility, if Kansas wants a lot of administrators, is she allowed to have them? If another liberal state (not named) wants one administrator for every two teachers can the state have them? Does a new teacher automatically become a punk when they get tenure?

The teaching profession has been corrupted by...wait for it...yes Democratic party politicians. The teachers unions have conspired with the Democratic party politicians to create an organized crime family a NY Mob boss would be envious of. The politicians who are supposed to be representing the people instead crank up the taxes on the people, give the money to the teachers unions, who in turn kick back part of the money to the politicians in the form of campaign contributions. Its I'll scratch your back if you will scratch mine.

This has led to utterly ridiculous unsustainable salary, benefits, and pension agreements between the politicians who approve these agreements and the teachers unions. So why do we see new teachers being paid shit salaries? Because the layer of fat at the top, administrator layer and teachers with the most tenure SUCK up all the money for themselves. When you have a layer of 'administrators' who are the highest paid group that is so out of whack with reality in terms of way too much administrative overhead there won't be much money left for new teachers just getting started.

It gets worse...lets talk tiers. In NY State for example the fat cat administrative layer and teachers with the most tenure were given such rich salary, benefit, and pension contracts that it wasn't sustainable, the tax payers didn't have the money to give that to everyone. So they created tiers, if you are one of the old timers you got the platinum diamond studded package, 2nd tier got less...4th tier e.g. the new teachers coming into the system get shit. Its not a case where they will get the rich package at some point they are tier 4 e.g. fucked. So Tier 1 because they can retire after 20 years and suck on the taxpayer tit for 30 years or more with these ridiculous benefit and pension packages the only way to pay for that is to fuck over the tier 3 and tier 4 teachers for a few decades.

Its as corrupt as any organized crime story.

If states are so easily corrupted perhaps the federal government should take over education?

 

[CowboyTed]

Actually Blueslegend is talking pretty much a load of crap...

The best education systems in the world have tenure teachers and strong teacher unions.
There teachers are better paid.


Why do they get security? because they sure aren't paying them enough. In Ireland Teachers don't get what private industry get but they get longer holidays and security of a Job. So they get the better applicants to be teachers.

Blues is some kind of dumbfuck that doesn't know if you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

And just help him make a complete ass of himself. How do you suppose you want to judge a good teacher against a bad one and don't say results of students because teachers will jettison weak students like bad smells... It is very hard to rate teachers and countries which invest alot smarter than US has tried.

The one thing I will say at least here in Ireland, 95+% reallly care for there students and want what is best for them. The other <5% are usually sidelined and eventually leave.

But the best way of improving education standards.. Competition!!!
Instead of having access to college based on how much you can afford. Make college education free (with subsidence grants for poor) and make access to courses soley depend on the students grades... This is how the best education systems work. Guess what johnny goes up to his room every night to study because he wants something better for himself.

 

[BluesLegend]

Actually Blueslegend is talking pretty much a load of crap...

The best education systems in the world have tenure teachers and strong teacher unions.
There teachers are better paid.


Why do they get security? because they sure aren't paying them enough. In Ireland Teachers don't get what private industry get but they get longer holidays and security of a Job. So they get the better applicants to be teachers.

Blues is some kind of dumbfuck that doesn't know if you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

And just help him make a complete ass of himself. How do you suppose you want to judge a good teacher against a bad one and don't say results of students because teachers will jettison weak students like bad smells... It is very hard to rate teachers and countries which invest alot smarter than US has tried.

The one thing I will say at least here in Ireland, 95+% reallly care for there students and want what is best for them. The other <5% are usually sidelined and eventually leave.

But the best way of improving education standards.. Competition!!!
Instead of having access to college based on how much you can afford. Make college education free (with subsidence grants for poor) and make access to courses soley depend on the students grades... This is how the best education systems work. Guess what johnny goes up to his room every night to study because he wants something better for himself.

Hey if I need a dumbass ignorant opinion from Ireland about what's going on in the USA I'll let you know clown. I present facts and your entire post is nothing more than a personal opinion that teachers deserve more. Absent the fiscal reality that taxpayers in some communities just can't afford to make the fat cat administrators and tier 1 tenured teachers rich you idiot.