CANYONS SCHOOL DISTRICT — Canyons School District officials said the district hired far fewer teachers this year than in previous recent years and described how the district forecasts staffing needs, recruits for hard-to-fill roles and invests in retention. The district, which officials said serves about 32,000 students and employs about 6,000 people, hired roughly 300 teachers in one recent year, about 200 the next year and was on track to hire about 100 in the current year, with roughly 23 positions remaining open across elementary and secondary schools.

The district’s human resources director, Steve Diamond, said the hiring and staffing process begins with enrollment projections and a school performance review that determines full-time-equivalent (FTE) allocations. “FTE allocations are determined by our directors of school performance,” Diamond said on the Connect Canyons podcast. That allocation, he said, and other factors — such as numbers of multilingual students, proficiency levels, the count of students performing well below basic in reading and math, and special programs like dual language immersion (DLI) and career and technical education (CTE) — shape how many teachers a school receives.

District recruiters Lori Reynolds and Kelly Tautioli, both former principals, described where the district still sees hiring pressure. “Of those 23 jobs that I mentioned that are still open, those are harder to fill positions,” Reynolds said, noting many are special education positions and elementary dual language immersion roles. The district said roughly 10 dual language immersion positions remained open; Reynolds said the district deploys staff who recruit in Spain and Mexico to find immersion teachers.

Why it matters: district officials framed teacher placement as central to student outcomes and said the staffing formulas and investments are intended to put “the right teacher in the classroom.” The district maintains board-determined staffing and budgeting ratios (in place since 2009) that serve as targets when allocating FTE: kindergarten at 22.15 students per class; grades 1–3 at 22.3; grades 4–8 at 26.3; and grades 9–12 at 27. Diamond said those ratios rarely align perfectly with actual class rosters, and principals use alternate funds (for example land trust or AP/concurrent enrollment funds) and other adjustments to balance classes.

The district also described how schedule format affects class-size expectations: on a high-school AB block schedule, the district expects about 36 students per class; on a seven-period day, about 32. Middle-school expectations vary by schedule (about 31 students on a seven-period day and about 32 on a six-period day).

Officials discussed both recruitment and retention steps. The district’s ACE scholarship program, launched last year, offers scholarships to high-school seniors pursuing teacher preparation and to current district employees seeking an initial education degree. Reynolds and Tautioli said recruiting at college fairs repeatedly surfaces one theme: candidates want support. “If they’re familiar, it is definitely the support that we give our teachers that they tell us,” Reynolds said. The district also intentionally places student teachers with experienced mentor teachers to increase the likelihood they become district hires.

Salary and pipeline: district speakers described a sustained increase in starting pay over several years. Diamond recounted a roughly $6,000 increase about six years ago that brought beginning teacher pay to $50,000; the district said the current starting salary is about $61,060. Officials said higher pay and programs such as ACE and an alternative preparation route called the Apple program have increased interest in teaching, but they cautioned that producing new teachers takes time: teacher-preparation programs typically span four years.

Forecasting and timing: district staff said forecasting begins well before school starts and relies on multiple counts. The district uses a demographic tool (Davis Demographics) and enrollment trends to estimate future students, but officials said kindergarten projections can be particularly uncertain because local birth rates and late registrations affect actual counts. The district prepares for the state’s official October 1 count but also uses sixth- and eleventh-day counts after school starts to make adjustments and to deploy an FTE cushion or reassign teachers between schools when necessary.

Technology and process changes: the district said it is using digital tools to streamline hiring and onboarding. The district uses Vidcruiter to allow candidates to interview remotely and remotely record responses for review, and it plans to move payroll/employee financial systems and, later, student systems onto a platform the podcast identified as QUE (the district’s next-generation replacement for Skyward). Diamond said QUE should simplify electronic onboarding when it is implemented.

No formal board actions or votes were discussed on the episode; speakers framed the segment as an explanation of practices and challenges rather than a proposal or decision requiring formal approval.

Looking ahead, district officials said they are monitoring the teacher-preparation pipeline, enrollment trends and broader economic conditions that affect turnover and candidates’ willingness to relocate. Diamond and the recruiters emphasized that while the district is not experiencing an acute shortage this year, supply and demand can shift quickly and the district intends to continue both recruiting and retention investments.