New partnership offers path for Wichita students to work, get teaching degree

A new program in Wichita has created a more streamlined approach for students to receive their education degree and address teacher shortages.

The Future Teacher Academy will enable Wichita school district graduates to work as paraeducators while completing their elementary education degree through WSU Tech and Wichita State University.

“At some point, we need to feed ourselves,” Wichita school Superintendent Kelly Bielefeld said. “We need a pipeline of talent as educators and as teachers too.”

Students will complete their first two years at WSU Tech, and then transfer to Wichita State to finish their degree.

WSU Tech President Sheree Utash said the program is a low-cost way for students to earn their education degree.

Students in the program are eligible for the Kansas Promise Scholarship, which provides up to $20,000 for the first two years of tuition. And paraeducators can earn between $16.21 to $17.71 an hour through the district.

Paraeducators help school staff and teachers in classrooms where students have special teaching needs.

“Now with the creation of the Future Teacher Academy, students have a clear, supportive pathway to a bachelor’s degree, and more importantly, to becoming the kind of educators who will change lives,” Utash said.

According to Wichita State Provost Monica Lounsbery, there are more than 1,000 open teaching positions in elementary and special education in Kansas.

One student, Wichita South senior Josephine Garcia, said she’s excited to be part of the program to become a teacher – something she’s wanted to do since fourth grade.

“The demand is just going up,” Garcia said. “More teachers leave, more teachers come and go... I love the fact that I’ll be able to teach students, my peers’ kids and stuff, when I’m older, because I don’t plan on leaving. Wichita needs more teachers.”

This story was originally published May 7, 2025 at 3:58 PM.