TOPEKA — The vacancy rate among Kansas teachers employed by accredited K-12 schools declined 9.1% this spring as more special education, science, math, elementary and other hard-to-fill classroom instructional slots were filled, state officials said.
The Kansas State Department of Education reported 1,588 teacher vacancies statewide during spring 2026, down from 1,747 in fall 2025. State officials defined a vacancy for purposes of the summary as a position with no teacher or the reliance on a educator not fully certified for the role.
“We showed drastic drop, not only from spring of 2026, but if you look at last year’s data we were sitting around 2,200 at the end of spring of 2025,” said Shane Carter, director of teacher licensure with the State Department of Education. “We’re keeping more people in the profession. They’re choosing to stay.”
In a briefing Tuesday to the Kansas State Board of Education, Carter said there were fewer vacancies in special education but that area remained the most challenging in terms of hiring among school districts in Kansas. Last fall, districts self-reported 414 vacancies in special education compared to 378 this spring. Vacancies in elementary schools also declined, dipping from 390 last fall to 344 this spring.
The number of school district teaching positions for which no one applied has been on the decline. The no-applicant trend across Kansas: 640 in fall 2024, 623 in spring 2025, 521 in fall 2025 and 423 in spring 2026.
Kansas schools located within six of the 10 State Board of Education districts experienced fewer vacancies among teachers, while four districts experienced growth in vacancies. The most significant increases were in urban board of education districts, including Wichita, up 17%; Johnson County, up 11%; and Topeka, up 6%.
Rise in 3rd-year retention
Carter said 87.9% or 38,694 of the state’s educators were retained as employees of their school districts in 2025-2026. The number of licensed educators who retired during that academic year was 857, which compared favorably to 910 retirements in the previous year.
The portion of Kansas classroom educators who quit the profession fell from 1,113 in 2023-2024 to 958 in 2024-2025 and to 841 in 2025-2026. The number of teachers terminated by districts stood at 286 in 2023-2024, 302 in 2024-2025 and 248 in 2025-2026.
The largest demographic group of teachers in Kansas had one to four years of professional experience, but the average length of service among teachers in Kansas was 14 years.
Retention of teachers in the third year of their career has generally been on the rise in Kansas since 2022, shifting from 86.2% in 2022 to 88.9% in 2023, 89.2% in 2024, 89.1% in 2025 and 90.8% in 2026. The rebound was attributed to school districts gaining distance from the COVID-19 pandemic, Carter said.
He said the average salary of a first-year teacher in Kansas was $46,407, up from $44,609 the previous year. The average salary in Kansas was $70,240, an increase from $67,931.
“It’s a lot of data, but it’s important data,” said Cathy Hopkins, the chairperson of the State Board of Education.
‘Incredible flaws’
Meanwhile, members of the Board of Education sat for a presentation about the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence. It was delivered by Adam Topliff, who has taught at Wamego High School. Briefly, he addressed state board members as if they were students in an American history classes back in Wamego.
“Two statements from each of these two documents,” he said. “ ’We hold these truths to be self-evident’ and the first line, ‘We the people.’ What do you think these two mean?”
