Posny said two factors were at play: comparatively lower starting pay for teachers and more career options. According to the National Education Association, Kansas ranks 37th in average teacher pay at $41,467 a year. That's below the national average of $49,026, but ahead of Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. Texas ranks 35th at $41,744 and Colorado is 25th at $44,439.

Legislators are considering at least two bills supporters say will target teacher salaries. One would add $26 million to the $167 million schools are scheduled to get in the 2009 budget, while a second would raise spending in 2010 by $65 million.

Kansas has increased overall school spending by close to $1 billion over the past four years, hoping to boost the performance of low-income and minority students to satisfy a 2005 state Supreme Court ruling.

Posny said the State Board of Education is addressing the shortage by reviewing policies to reduce barriers to obtaining a teaching license. The board also supports efforts to increase scholarships for students seeking teaching degrees at state universities.

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TALKING ENERGY: A group of Johnson County legislators is hosting an information meeting with constituents to clear the air on a decision to deny a permit for new coal plants in western Kansas.

Senate Vice President John Vratil, a Leawood Republican, and others say they will meet with residents next week to talk about the power plants and the state's energy policy. In October, the secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment denied a permit for Sunflower Electric Corp. to build two new coal-fired plants in Holcomb.

Next week's meeting will include presentations by Sunflower officials, as well as community leaders from southwest Kansas.

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NEW MEMBER: Rep. Jill Quigley is the newest House member after being sworn in a brief ceremony Tuesday as friends and family watched.

Her 18-year-old daughter, Emily, held the family Bible as Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh administered the oath so she could join the 125-member chamber.

The Lenexa Republican was picked in July to replace Stephanie Sharp, also a Lenexa Republican, who resigned last summer midway through her third two-year term to take a job in the private sector. Sharp's resignation took effect Tuesday. She joined other House members when the 2008 session opened Monday.

''I've had four or five months to get ready. It's nice to get to the point where you can do something,'' Quigley said.

It marks the sixth resignation by a House member for work reasons since 2005. Two others during that time were picked to fill terms of legislators who died.

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SHIELD LAW: Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt says he will ask the Judiciary Committee for an early hearing on a bill creating a shield law for Kansas reporters.

''We ought to air it all out,'' said the Republican from Independence.

Chairman John Vratil said Tuesday he hasn't talked to Schmidt and didn't know when he would schedule a hearing.

''I just do my agendas one week at a time,'' said the Leawood Republican.

The bill was introduced late last session by Schmidt and Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat. But time ran out and the bill remains in the committee.

It protects reporters from having to reveal their sources, although it would establish a balancing test for a court to decide whether sources or unpublished information must be revealed.

That could happen only when there's clear and convincing evidence that the disclosure is relevant, can't be obtained by other means, is of a compelling and overriding interest and is necessary to secure the interests of justice.

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UNDER THE DOME: Tuesday was the second day of the 2008 session out of 90 scheduled. Senate Republicans will announce their legislative agenda during a news conference in their chamber at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.