CA’s Teacher Shortage Hits Rural Schools Hardest

KQED's Forum

KQED

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 16 August 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

California has not been spared from the national teacher shortage. The state Department of Education reported more than 10,000 teacher vacancies during the 2021-2022 school year, and Los Angeles Unified School District has 450 teacher openings for this new school year. But shortages are particularly acute in rural communities: Alturas Elementary School, in northern California’s Modoc County, is missing a quarter of its necessary teaching staff. From retention to credentialing requirements to logistically impossible state mandates, the problems plaguing Modoc are common among rural districts. We’ll talk about the problems California’s rural school districts are facing in the new school year and hear potential solutions. Related link(s): ‘No one is coming to our rescue’: Inside rural California’s alarming teacher shortage Low-income students are more likely to be in classrooms with underqualified teachers Guests: Hailey Branson-Potts, staff writer, Los Angeles Times - who reported the piece, "‘No one is coming to our rescue’: Inside rural California’s alarming teacher shortage" Lisa Pruitt, professor, UC Davis School of Law - whose work focuses on rural communities Tom O'Malley, superintendent, Modoc Joint Unified School District in Alturas, CA Laurel Rulison, kindergarten teacher, Alturas Elementary in Modoc County Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:44.6	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Nina Kim.
1:05.0	Coming up on forum, districts across California are feeling the effects of the teacher shortage.
1:10.0	LA Unified has some 450 job openings for teachers to start this school year.
1:15.6	Statewide, the Department of Education reported 10,000 teacher vacancies in the school year that ended in 2022.
1:22.6	But the impact of unfilled teaching positions has been particularly acute in the state's rural areas.
1:28.7	Alturis Elementary, in Modoc County, for example, is short a quarter of its teachers.
1:33.8	As we launch a new school year, we take a closer look at rural teacher shortages and hear from you.
1:39.0	Has your local schools struggled to hire teachers? Tell us, after this news.
1:51.2	Welcome to Forum. I'm Mina Kim.
1:58.1	Alturis is a cattle ranching town of some 2,700 in Modoc County near the Oregon border,
2:02.1	where the nearest Walmart is two hours away in Oregon.
2:09.0	Altarist Elementary is also the only elementary in Modoc Joint Unified, serving just under 390 students,
	...

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