State officials worry too many skilled workers are leaving Kansas for jobs elsewhere and are putting together a new plan aimed at keeping them here.

The deal: Newly trained workers who stay in Kansas would have their student loans paid off by the government.

Recent University of Maine graduate Hilary Skinner, a medical laboratory technician at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, could have benefited from a new vo-tech student loan if she were currently receiving technical training in Kansas.

“We had been hearing from small businesses and large businesses that they were having problems getting and keeping help,” said State Rep. Dennis McKinney, D-Greensburg.

So two years ago, McKinney began pushing for legislation to provide forgivable loans to vocational and technical school graduates who take jobs and stay in Kansas. Known as the work force development loan program, it was approved during this past legislative session.

Graduates must work in Kansas at least three years in their chosen field to have their loan forgiven. The thinking goes that by then, maybe there will be something else to keep them in the state.

“We’re hoping that after three or four years they will have married and settled down,” McKinney said.

Now the Kansas Board of Regents is working out details to get the program started. It isn’t yet clear when the loans will be available or how many students might be able to take advantage of them, said Diane Lindeman, the regents’ director of student financial aid.

Loans will be made available according to a student’s need. The highest priority will go to those who have been in foster care and have the highest financial need. The regents also have to set up a list of educational programs in which an applicant must enroll to be eligible for the plan.

The loans will be funded by federal money. The legislation requires the Kansas Department of Human Resources to make an annual transfer of $500,000 from the federal Workforce Investment Act.

The U.S. Department of Labor still must approve the use of Workforce Investment Act funds.

Some of those who might benefit from the loans are students in medical programs, such as radiology and lab technicians and potential Kansas employers who know they will be getting a trained employee for at least three years.

“From a recruiting standpoint, I think it’s a great idea,” said David Sostarich, director of Radiology Services at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. “We are up to staff and have been for a while, but there are lot of places that aren’t.”

Hilary Skinner, 28, took a job at LMH as a medical lab assistant last month after graduating in May from a program at the University of Maine in Augusta. Though she moved to Kansas because her husband took a job here, Skinner thinks Kansas would benefit from the incentive loan program.

Without incentives, Kansas faces a tough time recruiting and keeping medical lab technicians because they are in short supply across the nation. Many fail or drop out of training because of the class demands, she said.

“There were eight people in my class, and I was the only one who graduated,” said Skinner, who soon will have to start paying off her student loan. “I think lab technicians are in high demand everywhere.”

The loan program was modeled after a similar program Kansas has used to lure physicians to rural areas, McKinney noted.

“This is something that should help big business owners as well as small business owners.”