No U.S. qualified teachers? [View All]

Recruiting of foreign teachers questioned

For the past two years, school district officials here have traveled to the Philippines to recruit teachers to fill teaching vacancies.

That may be at an end after school board members this week refused to approve a third trip, saying they wanted more information and will revisit the issue next month.

Several school districts in Kansas, including Wichita, have relied on overseas educators as it becomes increasingly difficult to find certified Kansas teachers. But the school board members, many of them new to the board, said they weren't yet comfortable with the policy.

"I just have never found this program to have enough answers there for it," said board member Betty Horton. "I'm really in general opposed to selling ourselves out in America if we have American teachers who have degrees."

Horton pointed out that the Kansas State Board of Education is trying to reduce some of the restrictions facing teachers who are certified to teach in another state when they move to Kansas.

"I guess I have been disturbed in general about our willingness to be so willing to go outside of the country to look for teachers when there are so many teachers in this country who, because they don't have Kansas state certification, are not allowed to teach in our schools immediately," she said.

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