KARL WILSON

State director of special programs

- High-demand teachers could get extra cash next year under a proposal to restore a bonus program hit hard by three years of budget cuts.

The Legislature's Education Interim Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to draft a bill that would reauthorize and fund the Public Education Job Enhancement Program. The program was established in 2001 and had been scheduled to end next year. Lawmakers did not specify how long the reauthorization would last or how much money would be sought.

It encompasses three types of awards to attract, train and retain teachers of math, science and information technology. The awards include signing bonuses, cash awards for outstanding teachers and scholarships for teachers to pursue advanced degrees or other continuing education.

Those programs are even more critical now, when the state is facing student growth, teacher shortages and competition from other states, said Darrell White, Gov. Olene Walker's education deputy.

"We're facing a triple threat here," he said.

The new legislation would maintain the three programs and broaden eligibility to include all areas of high demand, including special education - one of the most hard-to-fill areas in Utah and across the nation.

"We are not preparing enough special educators, and the ones we do [prepare] move out of state" where there are hefty signing bonuses, said Karl Wilson, the state Office of Education's director of special programs.

For example, Davis School District still has openings for speech pathologists and a pre-school special education teacher - positions district officials would have liked to fill before the school year began.

"It's always hard to fill those positions," district spokesman Chris Williams said.

The Legislature should restore funding now that the economy seems to be picking up, said Sen. Howard Stephenson, who co-chairs the committee. He also co-chairs the Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee, which would determine how much money the program gets.

"It's time to get back to our original intent," the Draper Republican said.

Stephenson and other members of the interim committee expressed support for phasing in over several years the $9.3 million appropriated in the program's first year, when 690 teachers statewide received awards.

The Legislature slashed the funding to $600,000 each in 2002 and 2003, and did not fund it this year.

rlynn@sltrib.com