With Delaware county ranking one of the highest growing counties in America, enrollment numbers in the district have grown rapidly. With these numbers constantly growing, the district has to seek out and find new staff members to help educate the next generation. But, the process of adding new teachers to buildings can be more difficult than it may seem.
Adding teachers to the building has always been a constant battle. One of the main issues with this is that adding new teachers to the building is much harder than it may seem.
“It’s always an issue of money,” said Kimberly Young, who has been the World Language department chair for over 10 years. “We have a set budget and that only pays for so many teachers, so administration has to take into account things like core classes because you have to have core classes covered.”
In her time as a department chair, Young said she has learned that the process of adding a new teacher to the building is a lot more difficult and complex than people may think.
“First, you have to have a need,” Young said. “You have to have a need to hire a new teacher…It’s usually based on numbers as to whether you’re allowed to hire in the district….”
As of February 25, 2022, the average teacher’s salary in Ohio is about $61,901. That isn’t including the cost of benefits, and not taking into account if the school even has room for another teacher. At Hayes, the base pay for adding a teacher is about $40,000. This isn’t including if they have experience, the price for benefits, etc.
As much as students and teachers want to add more teachers on staff, money is not Hayes’ only issue.
“This year, our school is full,” Math department chair Jake Shafer said. “There are no empty classrooms. So even if we had the money, we wouldn’t have anywhere to put teachers anyway.”
In 2017, the Rowland Center was completed. With the addition of 22 classroom, the Rowland Center brought to the school, it opened up new learning opportunities for students and
teachers. Student enrollment quickly grew and those empty classrooms became filled with students.
Enrollment numbers are a big part of this issue as well. As of September 2, 2021, Hayes has 1,796 students enrolled, while having 83 core teachers at the school (not including counselors, librarians, etc). That brings the school to about a 21:1 student to teacher ratio. In Ohio, the average student to teacher ratio is 17:1.
In the past decade, the district has developed plans for growth that include building additions to all existing buildings, rather than creating new ones. The plan was originally based on enrollment projections. However, actual enrollment still means that Hayes High School doesn’t have any empty spaces left, for a student body that is still expected to grow.
Another main issue that the community has to keep in mind is that a district can’t build new buildings or add new teachers unless the community is willing to have their taxes raised.
“One thing that people have to keep in mind is that the money doesn’t come out of nowhere,” Social Studies department chair Greg White said. “To add these additions or add these new buildings, we have to take taxpayer money and make it happen.”
With how rapid the district growth is and with how many issues not only the teachers, but the board have to face while trying to make everyone happy, this problem may be indefinite.