Only 1 Kentucky school district says it's fully staffed, according to state data

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Only one school district in the entire state of Kentucky says it's fully staffed.

That is Science Hill Independent in Pulaski County, based off data collected by the state. The district has one school serving 442 students in preschool through eighth grade.

As of Sept. 1, Kentucky had nearly 900 vacant general teaching positions. Areas with the most vacancies include elementary school teachers, K-12 special subject teachers — like music or physical education — and middle school math and science teachers.

The Kentucky Department of Education said around 13% of vacant positions last year remained empty all school year.

The agency presented its data to the state's Interim Joint Committee on Education earlier this month.

Commissioner of Education Robbie Fletcher said, however, that the data is flawed, and encouraged the state to: fund a statewide application system designed to provide the desired data with the benefit of allowing district leaders to deepen their applicant pools; and/or conduct an annual survey with districts to collect vacancy data.

Right now, district superintendents are required to submit vacancies 15 days before the position can be filled, however they're not required to update postings when they are filled. Fletcher said that creates a discrepancy between job postings and actual vacancies. Fletcher also said there are differences in how districts handle vacancies.

In an effort to get more accurate data, KDE conducted an educator shortage survey this fall across the state's 171 public school districts and state-run schools.

The survey found 13% of all vacancies reported for the 2023-24 school year remained unfilled for the entire year. The majority of districts reported fewer than 10 vacancies as of Sept. 1, but three districts had more than 75.

Also as of Sept. 1, there 1,766 vacant "unclassified support staff positions," 447 vacant licensed educator positions, 363 vacant special education and early childhood education teaching positions, 889 vacant general teaching positions and 64 school-level administrative positions.

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