The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is ending a longtime program with Lincoln Public Schools that offers teachers tuition credits and money for professional development.
Budget cuts forced UNL’s College of Education and Human Sciences to end the program, which has been in existence for more than 30 years, although it will replace the tuition credits with tuition fellowships, according to a letter sent to teachers from the committee that awards the professional development funds.
The program, unique to LPS, included an agreement where UNL paid about $56,000 a year into a “professional enhancement fund†and offered tuition credits as an incentive — and a way to show appreciation — for teachers who work with student teachers and practicum students from the university, said Vicki Schulenberg, LPS supervisor of elementary personnel services.
Teachers could apply for money to help pay for conferences and other professional learning opportunities outside the district and UNL. Schulenberg said the committee approved eight to 16 grants a semester, up to $1,000 per teacher or $5,000 per school.
Teachers also are assigned “points†for working with student teachers or practicum students, which they can use as tuition credits at UNL.
Teachers get between 1.3 and 3.9 points for working with a practicum student and 9 points for working with a student teacher, Schulenberg said. Nine points translate into about 1 credit hour at UNL.
Teachers who didn’t want to use those points could put them in a “bank†that other teachers could use to supplement their own points.
Veteran teachers who had earned advanced degrees and didn’t foresee using the points often banked theirs for other, often younger, teachers.
Over the past five years, between 48 and 90 teachers have used the credits, many of them younger and less experienced teachers who haven’t yet hosted practicum students or student teachers.Â
“Many of (the teachers who use the banked credits) end up hosting student teachers in the future,†Schulenburg said. “It’s kind of like a process where we’re paying back.â€
In the future, the university will grant up to 75 fellowships to LPS teachers, as it does with other districts around the state, the letter said.
Schluenberg said she hopes the fellowship program will offer a very similar benefit to staff in terms of credits, though there will be less flexibility.
There’s a financial incentive for teachers to continue their education: The LPS pay scale increases with both seniority and years of education and advanced degrees.
Rita Bennett, president of the Lincoln Education Association, said members are concerned that the fellowships will be more limiting.
“The concern I have is especially when you are a younger teacher you aren’t seasoned enough to work with student teachers but you want to pursue a degree, and applying for (banked) points is really meaningful.â€
Another concern: that losing the program will have a chilling effect on teachers wanting to host student teachers and practicum students.
Both Schulenberg and Bennett stressed that many teachers host students as a way to help young people in the profession — and they host them from other universities in the state, which don’t offer tuition reimbursement. But the incentive of tuition credits and money for professional development is a good way to encourage the practice.
“It could have an effect, and we don’t want that because we want to support future generations of teachers,†Schulenberg said.
Bennett said in the larger context of a profession that’s experienced a shortage of teachers, and especially in the face of a pandemic that’s been especially trying for educators, the loss of such a program is unfortunate.
Hosting student teachers also is a great recruiting tool for LPS, said Eric Weber, associate superintendent of human resources, and it's been a great partnership.
"They need a lot of student-teacher placements and we need candidates for jobs.â€
Annually, LPS has an average of 268 student-teacher placements from UNL and 1,148 practicum students, Schulenberg said, and UNL wants to continue to partner with LPS in other ways.
“They want to continue our partnership and we want to continue with them, it’s just that budget cuts at different levels impact all of us.â€