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Kansas' teachers are among the lowest paid in the United States, with the state coming in 42nd in teacher pay. Educators fear that eliminating due process rights for teachers will make it even harder to retain talented teachers. "How do we get great teachers to come to Kansas when they're already getting paid so little, and now they have no due process?" Aaron Estabrook, a school board member in the city of Manhattan asked msnbc. "How can we recruit them when they won't be protected?"Laura Hurla, a fifth grade teacher in Shawnee Heights, near Topeka, told msnbc that even though she trusts her district's administration to work with teachers, other districts might not be so lucky. "With fewer dollars per pupil and a pay scale based on experience, without any due process for experienced teachers, that's really scary. We become at will employees," Hurla said.
LGBT activists also condemned the bill. Tom Witt, the executive director of Equality Kansas, said that the bill will make it easier for homophobic administrators to fire teachers based on their sexual orientation. "There are gay and lesbian teachers in this state who are perfectly good teachers, but the only reason they still have their jobs is, even though their administrators wanted to get rid of them because of their sexual orientation, they couldn't," Witt said. "You take away this protection. It's not like people can go back in the closet."
More: Kansas Bill Kills Long-Held Teacher Rights