SMaRT Kansas 21

SMaRT Kansas 21 Provides Big Scholarships, Stipends and More for Science and Math Educators at ESU

A landmark appropriation from the Kansas State Legislature is empowering Emporia State University’s efforts to recruit and increase the number of K-12 science and math teachers in the state.

As part of the state’s 2024 budget, SMaRT Kansas 21 — Science and Math Recruitment of Teachers in Kansas for the 21st Century — is a $510,000 annual appropriation that will allow ESU to address the state’s substantial shortage of science and math teachers. ESU will award students in the Bachelor of Science in Education degree program academic scholarships, financial support and practical experiences.

ESU is the only higher education institution in Kansas to receive this appropriation from the state Legislature.

Dr. Tim Burnett, chair of ESU’s Department of Biological Sciences, considers this appropriation a valuable tool for recruiting students to the university and retaining them as they advance in the BSE program.

“It's definitely both,” Burnett said. “It’s important to get the word out that there's a lot of scholarship support for you here at ESU because it's not just the SMaRT Kansas 21 money. ESU has a tradition of being a teacher's college, and we already have scholarships within our departments that are earmarked for Bachelor of Science Education students. We have university-wide scholarships that are for education majors. This is supplementing all of that.”

When notified this summer of the appropriation’s passage, Burnett and a cohort of BSE coordinators, including Drs. Claudia Aguirre-Mendez, Erika Martin, Qiyang Zhang and Rich Sleezer, quickly met to decide how to implement the funds for the 2023-24 academic year. Those decisions led to 42 students receiving SMaRT Kansas 21-funded scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $5,000, with the amounts determined by students’ year in school, grade point average and financial need. Sixty percent, or $182,884, of all scholarships awarded this academic year to BSE math and science majors at ESU were funded through the SMaRT Kansas 21 appropriation. The average per-student amount of the scholarships was $4,350.

Just as important, Burnett said, is the SMaRT Kansas 21 funds allocated as $9,000 stipends for students during their semesters apprenticing in local K-12 classrooms. Student teachers essentially work a full-time position, which can be an economic hardship for students who hold part-time jobs to cover their living expenses or tuition fees.

“We don't want them to suffer that hardship or take out a loan just to allow them to go student teach,” Burnett said.

Additionally, ESU is using the SMaRT Kansas 21 funds to provide BSE math and science students with paid practical experiences that will prove useful after they graduate. Among the potential paid positions for students are peer mentors, teaching assistants, tutors, ambassadors and researchers.