Teacher Shortage Hits Hard Across Minnesota

ST. PAUL (AP) - School districts across Minnesota are struggling to hire and retain teachers.

Bob Jaszczak, superintendent of the Kittson Central district, says that schools in the rural, northern part of the state have struggled harder than ever to fill open jobs in the past few years.

State data show that teacher turnover is higher in smaller districts. Since 2010, districts of fewer than 300 teachers have accounted for more than 60 percent of the teachers who left for other districts.

State and local school leaders say they've become increasingly concerned by the rising number of school districts across the state confronting such troubles. Filling critical jobs in high-need teaching areas, once viewed only as a rural problem, has become a serious struggle across the Minnesota, but the state has yet to find a consistent solution.