TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A legislative study committee recommends that Kansas legislators hunt for state funds to boost the pay of corrections officers in state prisons.

The proposal Tuesday from the Joint Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice Oversight will go to the House and Senate budget committees once the full Legislature reconvenes in January.

The committee made the recommendation after Corrections Secretary Ray Roberts said turnover at prisons and juvenile correctional facilities is a serious problem.

Roberts said pay is the main issue, with officers at state prisons starting at $13.61 an hour. Each 1 percent increase in pay would cost nearly $1 million a year.

Committee Chairman and Republican state Rep. John Rubin of Shawnee said lawmakers take the money from elsewhere in the budget and suggested trimming aid to public schools.