When graduates of Kansas universities are forced to leave in search of work, Kansas loses a valuable asset.

A story in Monday’s Journal-World told about new teachers graduating from Kansas University looking outside of Kansas for jobs. Although their choice is understandable, it is disappointing for a number of reasons.

Kansas prides itself on its educational system, both K-12 and higher education. Yet, too often, the people who get a fine education in Kansas schools find they must leave the state to find job opportunities in their field.

It’s also distressing that when many Kansas teachers are on the brink of retirement and fewer university graduates are choosing teaching as a career, the current financial crisis makes it impossible for schools to keep the state’s best and brightest new teachers in Kansas.

While Kansas school districts are having to reduce their staffs to deal with state budget cuts, other states reportedly are being aggressive in their efforts to recruit teachers graduating from KU. Although many of those graduates might prefer to stay in Kansas to work, they are being forced to look elsewhere. According to one graduate interviewed for Monday’s story, “At KU, they’re telling us to keep your options open, explore out-of-state possibilities.”

So this graduate, a native of Fairway, is heading to Florida for interviews. If she takes a job in Florida or another state, she eventually may return to Kansas — or she may be lost to the state forever.

The job situation for new teachers is particularly difficult right now, but their experience is all too common in other professions as well. Kansas high schools and universities offer a strong education for our youngsters, but when they graduate, no jobs await them. They leave the state, perhaps never to return.

This is the human side of economic development. The people who oppose funding for economic development efforts or fight the location of a new business in Kansas need to consider what the state will be like 10 or 20 years from now if we fail to provide good, meaningful jobs for the next generation.

It’s true that some people simply want to leave the state or are attracted to areas that offer higher salaries. But what about young people who enjoy the Kansas lifestyle and its lower cost of living, the people who want to live, work and raise their families in Kansas? If those people are forced to leave Kansas to find jobs, the state has lost a tremendous resource.

One of this state’s greatest assets is its people. Investing in efforts that make sure the intelligent, hard-working people of Kansas have opportunities to put their talents to work here at home must be a top priority for state residents and their leaders.