Teacher shortage hitsWeld County, Greeley schools harder than most

This story comes from Rick Mondt, but it could have been told by any superintendent of any school district in any corner of northeast Colorado.

A teaching position opened up in Mondt’s Briggsdale Re- 10 district, and he interviewed a candidate who’d made the 50minute drive from Fort Collins to the tiny unincorporated community on the edge of the Pawnee National Grassland. The candidate had five years of teaching experience and had expressed interest in teaching in the district that prides itself on its 10: 1 studentteacher ratio.

They had a productive, engaging interview, but Mondt could see it in the candidate’s eyes as he walked them out the door: “They didn’twant anything to do with it.”

Seven to 10 years ago, Mondt said he’d have 20plus applications for any open teaching position. Now he’s lucky if he gets five.

Colorado’s schools are experiencing a critical shortage of teachers, and the state’s rural districts are getting hit hardest.

Northeast Colorado’s numerous rural districts and its relatively urban one — Greeley- Evans District 6— are confronting the shortage in various ways, complicated by factors such as poverty and growing immigrant and refugee populations that demand more diverse skills from teachers. The University of Northern Colorado’s College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, one of the premier teaching programs in the nation, also has had to deal with the shortage.

Charlie Warren, a licensure officer in UNC’s teaching school, said the teacher shortage is a nationwide problem, but is exacerbated in Colorado. The state is notorious for underfunding public education. According to 2015 data from the U. S. Census Bureau, Colorado is 38th in the country in perpupil funding for public education, behind states such as Alabama, Georgia and Kentucky; it spends about $ 1,379 less than the national average per student every year; Colorado schools are underfunded by about $ 880 million compared to its requirements under the school finance act. This makes it extraordinarily hard for districts in the state to hire, pay and retain teachers.

“( Our graduates) can go toWyoming or New Mexico and instantly be paid better than they can in Colorado,” Warren said.

Many out- of- state school districts will offer UNC graduates relocation bonuses for moving there to teach, or they will pay for a teacher’s master’s degree or pay off their student loans. District 6 in Greeley offers some tuition reimbursement, said superintendent Deirdre Pilch, but it can’t compete with the bonuses offered by out- ofstate districts, or even those in Boulder and Denver. And District 6 is a pauper among paupers, the 10th- lowest funded district in the state.

And District 6’ s high populations of immigrant, refugee and impoverished students require more specialized skills from teachers, Pilch said. More than half of Weld County’s students are on free and reduced lunches. The threeWeld districts with the highest rate of students on free and reduced lunch — District 6, Fort Lupton Re- 8 and Valley Re- 1 — also have the three highest teacher turnover rates, the three highest dropout rates and the three lowest graduation rates.