photo by: Associated Press

A bus passes in front of Strong Hall, Monday, Nov. 16, 2015 on the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

A group led by the dean of KU’s School of Education is seeking tens of millions of dollars in new funding to provide scholarships to Kansas high school students who want to enter the K-12 teaching profession.

Rick Ginsberg, dean of KU’s education school, recently told the Kansas Board of Regents that it should remove several restrictions from its Kansas Teacher Service Scholarship Program, and that the state Legislature should more than double the amount of money it provides the program.

Of course, Ginsberg — who led a Regents-appointed task force to study ways to address the state’s teacher shortage — had another broader-based recommendation for the board and anybody else who would listen: Increase teacher pay.

“Part of the problem is that salaries for public education stink,” he told the board.

Creating a campaign with various education agencies to lobby the state Legislature for more funds for teacher pay is one of 15 recommendations the Educator Work Task Force delivered as part of its draft report earlier this month. But that issue is big enough the task force struggled to even put a number on how much funding would be needed to make a difference.

The task force did have several more specific recommendations. Changes to the scholarship program lead the list. The group wants to double the number of scholarships the state provides and expand the program to incoming college freshmen and sophomores. The program currently is primarily limited to college juniors and seniors, or graduate students.

But some of the biggest changes would be in the types of jobs scholarship recipients would be required to take upon graduation. The program requires scholarship recipients, upon graduation, to teach in an underserved area or in a hard-to-fill discipline for a time period equal to how long they received the scholarship.

Under the task force’s recommendation, the service requirement would remain, but recipients simply could teach at any Kansas school district in any discipline.

“They are all hard to fill right now,” Ginsberg said of teaching openings across the state.

The task force also is recommending that the maximum amount of scholarship dollars per student be raised to $6,000 per academic year, up from about $5,500 today. The task force estimates that the state would need to increase funding for the program from its current $2.8 million level to about $6 million in year one, $12 million in year two and then $20 million in future years.

The group also has one other recommendation that could put more money in the pockets of students studying to become K-12 teachers: Pay student teachers.

Most teaching programs require students to spend a certain number of semesters serving as a student teacher in an actual K-12 classroom. Currently, those student teachers are rarely paid. Under the task force’s recommendation, the state would create a program to pay student teachers $5,000, with 75% of that money coming from the statewide funding and the other 25% coming from the local school district that utilizes the student teacher. The task force is recommending that the program be voluntary, and that districts not be required to pay student teachers.

But the task force reasoned that if student teachers were more routinely paid, it would be a selling point to attract students into those degree programs.

Another way to address the teacher shortages might be to shorten the time it takes to get a student into a real classroom. The task force is recommending that Kansas Board of Regents, the Kansas State Department of Education and various education leaders work to create a program that would allow “teacher cadets” to begin serving in some schools. While the details need to be developed, the program potentially would allow school districts to hire these “cadets” after they have finished a two-year associate’s degree, with the understanding that they’ll continue to receive special training and support, and will complete their four-year degree online while serving as a cadet.

Other recommendations of the task force included:

• Creating a $450,000-a-year marketing program to make students more aware of the scholarship program and unique teacher licensing programs that already exist in the state.

• Improve mentoring programs to keep more young teachers in the profession.

• Create alternative testing models for prospective teachers who may struggle with standardized tests that are required for teacher licensure.

• Work with the Kansas Legislature to change the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System in ways that would make it easier for former teachers to return to teaching without jeopardizing their retirement earnings.

The Kansas Board of Regents took no formal action on the recommendations, as the report is still in draft form. But the Regents are scheduled to receive a final report from the task force in the coming months, when the board will consider implementing some of the recommendations.