As Iowa’s K-12 classrooms are becoming increasingly diverse, school districts across the state are struggling to recruit minority teachers to meet the needs of their changing student populations.

Minority teachers who have decided to stay and teach in Iowa are in high demand.

Aiddy Phomvisay graduated from Iowa State in 1996 and went on to teach eighth-grade U.S. History in Ames for five years. He is currently taking a break from teaching to finish his master’s degree at Iowa State.

Phomvisay is Laotian and grew up in Alta, Iowa.

Phomvisay, who is married and has a son, said he is staying in Iowa because “it’s a great place to raise a family.”

“It’s the essence of what community is,” he said. “There are reasons to choose Iowa.”

Phomvisay said he would like to see colleges fund more programs to recruit minority students who want to become teachers, then help them find jobs in Iowa schools after graduation.

“We can talk about how we value diversity, but if we don’t put money behind it, nothing will change,” Phomvisay said.

Phomvisay said cities like Ames could do a better job of selling themselves by being more aggressive in the recruitment process and by raising teacher salaries.

“We need to move beyond talk, and … move it into the action phase,” he said.

Susana Mu¤oz, program coordinator for Education Student Services, said states like Texas are difficult for Iowa to compete with, not only because of higher teacher salaries, but also because of increased diversity and the warmer climate.

When compared with states like Texas, Iowa school districts fall short in providing competitive salaries for teachers.

According to the Iowa State Education Association, the average teaching salary is $36,479 and the mandatory minimum salary for Iowa teachers is $24,500. In Texas the average salary is about $39,359; bilingual teachers receive a $1,500 bonus, according to the Texas United Educator’s Association.

Mu¤oz said the increasing Latino population in Iowa is creating a need for more bilingual teachers.

Brenda Villareal is Latina and a bilingual teacher who graduated from Iowa State in December. She tutors and teaches at Willard Elementary in Des Moines.

“I wanted to go back and help my community and be a role model for Latino students in Des Moines,” she said.

According to the 2000 census, Iowa’s Latino population increased 153 percent between 1990 and 2000, making Latinos Iowa’s largest minority group with 82,473. In some Iowa cities, such as Perry and Storm Lake, Latinos make up more than 20 percent of the population.

Jonah Ferrin, senior in elementary education, is Latino. Ferrin plans to teach in the state of Washington after he graduates.

Ferrin said other states offer higher salaries than Iowa.

“It doesn’t matter that I’m a minority,” he said. “I’m going to go someplace where they are going to pay me more.”

Mu¤oz said it is important for minority students to have minority teachers. “If we don’t have those teachers of color in the classroom, it can make a big difference for students of color to even feel validated in their own identity,” Mu¤oz said.

Phomvisay agreed, saying minority teachers can offer different life and world views.

“We need to have representative role models, so students can see themselves reflected,” he said.

Villareal said white students also benefit from having minority teachers.

“They get the advantage of being exposed to diversity,” Villareal said. “Once they go to college and get into the real world, they will be bombarded by people who are different from them.”

The Ames School District faces the same problems as the rest of the state in finding minority teachers. Only seven of the 350 teachers in Ames are minority teachers.

Two percent of Ames teachers are minorities, while minorities make up 17 percent of students.

According to www.great schools.net, Crawford Elementary, 415 Stanton Ave., and Wilson Beardshear School, 920 Carroll Ave., both have student bodies with more than 30 percent minority students.

Tim Taylor, assistant superintendent for Ames Community Schools, said the school district is trying to identify ISU minority students in hopes of recruiting them to stay in Ames and teach.

“I’m going to bet that less than 2 percent of people coming out of the university are minority students,” Taylor said. “When you have such few candidates, it’s a very difficult task.”