1/26/2024 0 Comments Kansas school bus shortage![]() ![]() (KCTV) - A Missouri school district has had to resort to non-traditional school transportation options amid severe bus driver shortages– employees are stepping in to ensure students get to and from school on time. To see more, visit KMUW | NPR for Wichita.PECULIAR, Mo. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished by news media at no cost with proper attribution and a link to .Ĭopyright 2022 KMUW | NPR for Wichita. You can follow her on Twitter Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio focused on health, the social determinants of health and their connection to public policy. ![]() Suzanne Perez reports on education for KMUW in Wichita and the Kansas News Service. “We will always maintain the minimum standard is that they pass the fingerprint and background check.” “What we have talked about in our office is adjusting the qualifications for that license,” Miller said. The state board is scheduled to hear a presentation during its meeting Tuesday and vote on recommendations the following day. Miller, Kansas’ director of teacher licensing, has not offered details on what a proposal may look like. Michigan lawmakers passed a bill last month that would temporarily allow school support staff, such as bus drivers and cafeteria workers, to substitute teach even if they don’t have a single college credit. Iowa relaxed its regulations, from requiring a bachelor’s degree to requiring some college credits. Missouri reduced its education requirement from 60 college credits to requiring only a high school diploma. Kansas isn’t the only state considering reducing requirements for substitutes. “When you minimize the impacts of a global pandemic and say, ‘We’re going to do these things regardless,’ this is what happens.” “We’re hearing … examples where administrators are telling their teachers, ‘You can’t be sick,’” he said. It also creates more pressure for teachers, Baltzell said. Officials have to decide whether to hold classes during an outbreak, cancel school or offer online education and risk a loss of state funding. That creates tough decisions for districts. A state law passed last year limits remote learning to 40 hours per student or schools risk losing more than half of state funding for that student. “What’s best for students is to have a fully certified teacher in every classroom and subs who have the proper credentials to do the job.”īaltzell said Kansas lawmakers worsened teacher shortages by limiting how districts can respond to the pandemic. “We’re saying we can take this classroom teacher, who’s trained in pedagogy and everything that comes with that, and just replace them with someone off the street? And we’re going to do that because it’s a crisis?” Baltzell said. ![]() Marcus Baltzell, a spokesman for the Kansas National Education Association, said reducing requirements for substitutes could hurt the education students get. ![]() “I think 12 to 18 months of just lessening those requirements would help us recover and help us find people.” And we can’t fill these spots,” she said. “We’re having teachers quit at quarter, at semester, in the middle of the week. But under current regulations, she would not be able to work as a sub.īowers told the state school board last month that districts are scrambling to cover classrooms when teachers resign or are out sick with COVID-19. Some district officials say easing substitute requirements would allow them to hire people who could supervise classes and follow lesson plans but might not have college credit hours.īlue Valley school board member Kaety Bowers, a licensed cosmetologist, said she has more than 3,000 hours of professional training, including certifications in CPR and first aid. “Desperate times call for desperate measures.” “There are systems … that are having to put people in front of students who do not hold that (substitute teacher) license,” Miller said. Some districts already are ignoring current regulations, she said. ![]()
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