The Ivanhoe Times this week put the spotlight on a real problem plaguing rural school districts in Minnesota.

A report from the June 14 Ivanhoe School District board meeting focused on a high turnover rate for teachers. The report said the district hired three new teachers in 2014-15, four in 2015-16 and two for 2016-17. In a large school district those numbers would be considered minimal. But Ivanhoe School District Superintendent Dan Deitte told board members K-6 enrollment has averaged 80 students the last few years. That is a drop from 96 students four years ago, which means $100,000 less revenue for the school district each of those past three year.

Deitte said the district has a revenue problem. That results in low teacher salaries. Deitte said the starting wage for a teacher at Lincoln Elementary is about $29,800. He claims most school districts in the surrounding area provide a starting salary between $34,000 to $36,000. He also revealed that teaches in the district receive money instead of health insurance. And he said that amount was reduced to half four years ago.

“Those salary schedules have been in place here for a very long time. Go back 10 years ago, same salary schedules. It’s not that easy to fix quickly because it actually takes money to bump them up to where we’d like to see them go, Deitte said. “Many of the teachers have expressed — and there will be a resignation tonight — that the benefits and salaries need to get better and we recognized that.”

This is not just a Ivanhoe problem. Many rural school districts in Minnesota are struggling with low teacher salaries.

Local school districts, state school officials and politicians need to work together to find a solution. Students in rural areas deserve good teachers who get paid a good living wage.