GREEN BAY — Kim Kaukl has worked in rural education in Wisconsin for decades. He played an influential role in bringing this year's National Forum to Advance Rural Education to Green Bay.
The now retired executive director of the Wisconsin Rural Schools Alliance said that Green Bay is a strong fit for the conference.
"About 315 of our public schools are rural and that's about 75% of the districts in the state of Wisconsin," said Kaukl.
The conference brings educators from all over the country together to highlight what's working in rural districts, and what are the main are areas of concern.
"Lack of funding for all school districts, but especially impacting rural schools, shortage of teachers, shortage of administrators," said Kaukl.
The concern over lack of funding and retaining teachers at rural schools is shared by Ty White, this year's National Rural Education Association teacher of the year.
"There's a huge crisis in teacher recruitment and teacher retention," said White.
Both White and Kaukl said that rural school districts need to play to their strengths to recruit educators to the schools.
"By honoring and recognizing all of the positive things that our schools do for our communities, sharing the stories of how they inspire people to be the next generation," said White.
Kaukl said that rural districts can use the smaller enrollment numbers to their advantage in recruitment.
"The biggest thing is just the family feel and the diversity of the kids that we're starting to see in the rural areas right now," said Kaukl.
