(Credit: Kansas.com, screenshot, highlight added)

The state of Kansas’ department of education will not fund high school journalism classes going forward, Newsweek reported in its Sept. 27 issue.

While “schools are free to raise their own money,” officials don’t recommend it, according to Newsweek.  “After a review of labor-market data, the state deemed journalism a dying industry unfit for public funds, which are meant for ‘high-demand, high-skill or high-wage jobs.”

The Associated Press added that because of the cuts, some journalism teachers in Kansas “are worried that changes in the way the state funds high school programs could bring student newspapers and yearbooks to an end.”  Journalism programs now are expected to be incorporated into other classes, but in previous years, newspaper and yearbook programs were funded by “vocational education funds.”

“Last school year, that amounted to about $700,000 of the $30.6 million distributed statewide for vocational programs,” The AP reported.