Kansas' teachers dealing with stress and burnout

KANSAS (KSNT) - Kansas has one of the highest rates of teachers leaving the profession in the nation with many leaving due to stress and burnout.

In 2021 and 2022, teachers in the USA were twice as likely to experience stress and difficulties coping than the general population, according to the RAND Corporation. A study found one in four teachers were considering leaving their job in 2021.

"Stress and disappointment of the job, salary, and number of working hours were the top reasons teachers intended to leave," the report stated.

"Main reason is burnout due to the stress of the profession," former agriculture teacher Ron Smith said. "Taught in four different communities during my years and dealt with all types of situations, administrators, school boards, parents both good and bad! Never truly felt valued as an asset that teachers truly are in their communities. It is very difficult to associate in small communities where you didn’t grow up and for teachers to put down roots in one place is rare due to the pressures put on."

"My mental health was severely impacted by my experiences there," former Washburn Tech teacher Pam Manning said. She retired in 2022. "While I can only speak for myself, I observed many of my colleagues struggling with their mental health, too."

Kansas had the second-highest estimated percentage of teachers leaving the profession at 12.2%; falling behind Vermont which had 17.4%, according to the NCES study. Data from the Kansas State Department of Education indicated an increase in teachers leaving from 8.5% in 2020 to 10.9% in 2021.

KSNT News spoke to the Dean of the School of Education at the Univerity of Kansas Rick Ginsberg and Associate Professor of Education at Kansas State University Tuan Nguyen on why teachers are leaving the job.

Stress has increased partially due to salary and how education is portrayed in many parts of the country. In Florida for example, teachers are being told what they can and can't teach. Some of those topics could include things like racism and US history, according to Nguyen.

Ginsberg says it's a variety of things that have caused the situation. He said working conditions, pay and demands placed on teachers including mental health challenges are contributing factors.

Certain subjects are more likely to see shortages such as math and science. Ginsberg says Kansas is now seeing shortages in broader areas with some districts having trouble finding teachers in areas like elementary schooling which have historically had a broad hiring pool.

"Elephant in the room is salary," Ginsberg said. "[If you] want to attract more people; double or triple the salary."

Kansas ranks in the bottom third for teacher salaries nationwide and average pay by district ranges from $41,318 to $74,989, according to government records.

"Stress has increased in part due to salary and how education is portrayed in many parts of the country," Nguyen said.

Nguyen says when teachers are stressed out they're more likely to leave their school to work for another school. But when teachers are burnt out they're more likely to leave the profession altogether.

"Overall we're seeing teachers are feeling more stressed and more burnt out from their work," Nguyen said. "That's partly why we're seeing an uptick in teachers leaving."

A report from the Kansas Teacher Retention Initiative from 2023 found two-thirds of school districts are experiencing teacher shortages, teacher vacancies increased 62% from 2020 to 2021, teacher enrollment was down one-third from 2010 to 2017 and now a majority of parents discourage their children from becoming teachers.

"I don't think people go into teaching to get rich," Ginsberg said. "But another part of it is salary, it's terrible."

Ginsberg worked with the Kansas Board of Regents on its Educator Workforce Task Force last year. The task force recommended addressing teacher salaries. While there were no projected costs in the report, it said tens of millions of dollars would be needed to boost salaries for teachers in Kansas.

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