Signing Bonuses for Educators



Signing Bonuses for Educators

Fred Wilker and Mary Roberts

Schools districts across the United States are looking at ways to recruit teachers to their school districts. The U.S. Department of Education estimates public schools will hire two million new teachers this decade, but there is concern about the number of potential teachers available to supply the demand. School districts are utilizing a signing bonus, hiking salaries for teachers or increasing benefit packages to attract teachers to their schools. Incentive packages are used to attract experienced teachers to a new area or to recruit new teachers right out of college.

The Des Moines schools have implemented a plan to increase salaries by 13 percent for all teachers along with a $2,100 signing bonus for educators who agree to teach in shortage areas. The bonus would be spread over a three-year period. This program was implemented to reduce the movement of teachers from the district to the suburbs, which offered a higher salary. The state of Iowa has also recognized the shortage of teachers in certain curricular areas. The Iowa Department of Education has listed the areas of teacher shortages and has offered a program that forgives a portion of their student loans to those new teachers.

There are positive and negative opinions associated with signing bonuses for educators. Some educators believe that signing bonuses are a way for school districts to attract and hire candidates in areas of teacher shortages. The signing bonus does aid teachers with the added expense of moving to a new district. That new employee may feel the need to remain loyal to that school district once they have accepted the signing bonus if opportunities to move to other districts are presented.

On the negative side, some teachers may feel resentment because of a lack of any bonuses offered to experienced teachers. In Iowa, most instructors do not receive a loyalty bonus, incentive pay, or any other additional money through the district other than regular salary increases or raises through state-funded programs. Teachers have gained much through collective bargaining to increase salaries to current levels. Administrators who by-pass the salary schedule to hire teachers using signing bonus may see a negative impact on the relationship between the administration and the teaching staff.

As administrators look to fill teaching positions that have a shortage of potential teaching candidates, they are forced to look at ways to attract and hire the best candidates available. With salary discrepancies between school districts and states, signing bonuses can be one way to level the playing field for salaries. If there is an instance when a school district receives a handful of candidates for a vacant position, it must be prepared to hire the best candidate rather than trying to just fill the position with whoever is available. Proper framing with the current staff regarding signing bonuses is needed to preserve the positive relationship between administration and staff when trying to fill a position in an area of teacher shortages.

References

Blair, J. (2000). Districts wooing teachers away with bonuses, other incentives. Education Week, 19, 1-2.

Hoover, V., & Kaplan, B. (2000). Should districts offer signing bonuses to attract new teachers? NEA Today, 18, 11.

Teacher shortage areas. (2008). Iowa Department of Education. Retrieved on April 24, 2008, from .

Districts Wooing Teachers Away With Bonuses, Other Incentives

The raids happened in plain daylight, and the targets went eagerly, wooed over the borders by the promise of big bucks.

About 1,000 teachers employed by school districts in Oklahoma left their jobs between July and September of last year mainly to pursue higher salaries, according to a state education department report. A majority of those who stayed in teaching headed to Texas, where pay can be $6,000 more than in the Sooner State. Others fled to Arkansas and Kansas.

"Out-of-state recruiters are stealing our teachers," said Sandy Garrett, the state superintendent of education. "We knew we had to do something."

Lawmakers in Oklahoma are fighting back this year. They enacted a $3,000 increase in teacher salaries to help keep educators from leaving the state, Ms. Garrett said. Starting this fall, beginning teachers will earn $27,060.

Bidding wars like those raging in the south-central United States have become common around the nation--especially now, during hiring season--as the pool of teachers and administrators shrinks and demand for them grows.

To attract talent, districts and states are hiking salaries, adding signing bonuses, and beefing up benefits packages. Many are speeding up the hiring process and offering on-the-spot contracts to new educators at recruiting fairs. Some are even forming partnerships with real estate brokers to offer discounts on housing to make jobs more attractive.

District leaders say such practices are a reasonable reaction to a competitive marketplace. Some who are losing staff members, however, call such strategies unfair.

Though districts stop short of recruiting at school buildings, they are targeting teachers and administrators in specific schools through word of mouth and by advertising in local newspapers and on radio stations.

"It is predatory," said Doyle L. Niemann, a school board member in the 132,000-student Prince George's County, Md., district. The region represented by Mr. Niemann in suburban Washington is losing three of its 15 principals to neighboring, more affluent Montgomery County for the coming school year.

"Among the people they've recruited are the outstanding principals who have the toughest challenges," Mr. Niemann said. "We're in the position of becoming a training camp."

Healthy Competition

Many observers say the competition is healthy for a white-collar profession that has often been paid blue-collar wages.

"Man, we get raided all the time," said Gene Neely, the president of the Kansas National Education Association. "They love Midwestern teachers with Midwestern values. I don't think it's unethical, and in some ways, it forces school districts in Kansas to open their eyes to what' going on."

Others, though, complain that bidding wars are further stratifying rich and poor communities and states.

"You can't have too many incentives at this point [for educators]," said Mildred J. Hudson, the chief executive officer of Recruiting New Teachers Inc., a nonprofit organization in Belmont, Mass., that acts as a clearinghouse on teacher-retention and -training issues.

On the other hand, she added, such competition undermines the poorest districts and states--the very places in which good teachers are needed most. Some school systems simply don't have the money to play the bidding game, she said.

"That," Ms. Hudson said, "doesn't seem quite fair."

Gillian Smoak, 22, was recruited from Maryland to the Fort Worth Independent School District to teach 7th grade mathematics by a Texas-size salary--by beginning-teacher standards--and plenty of perks.

"Texas had the best offer," said Ms. Smoak, who was also recruited by districts in Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. "The other districts offered nothing over $30,000. There were no signing bonuses."

Ms. Smoak can afford to be choosy: She's entering the profession at a time when demand is skyrocketing in many parts of the country. The U.S. Department of Education predicts schools will need to hire 2 million new teachers this decade. Those who teach mathematics, science, special education, or bilingual education are the most prized, as are teachers who agree to work in California, Florida, or Texas, where enrollments are soaring.

The competition is further fueled by efforts to decrease the teacher-to-student ratio in classrooms.

"We knew this was coming, so we geared up," said Elene Ondo, the director of employee recruiting and staffing for the 78,000-student Fort Worth district, the third largest in Texas. "As the competition gets tougher and tougher, we've got to send out more and more people."

Currently, the district shops for teachers in Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, where salaries tend to be lower than in Texas or where colleges traditionally produce more educators than are needed locally, according to Ms. Ondo. Between 30 percent and 40 percent of the 600 new teachers Fort Worth hired for this fall will be imported from out of state, she said.

Recruiters there have been successful, Ms. Ondo said, because they offer generous packages. Beginning teachers earn $33,050 and are awarded $2,000 signing bonuses if they agree to teach in such high-need areas as science and special education.

Other incentives include letters of intent issued to prospective employees at recruiting fairs and the promise of participation in a mentoring program.

The district's fast hiring process helped Ms. Smoak make her final decision.

"I had a job in May," she said. "In Maryland, you had to wait until the end of July to find out if you had a job. I didn't know if I wanted to wait that long. I wanted to get settled before school started."

Recruiters for the Des Moines, Iowa, schools found they had trouble keeping the new teachers they were able to hire.

Many educators would work in the district for three or so years, receive sophisticated training and experience in fields such as special education, then leave for neighboring districts, said Linda S. Lane, the executive director of human-resources management for the 32,000-student district.

"Our salaries had slipped to a point where we could not compete with the surrounding suburbs," Ms. Lane said.

This year, Des Moines will raise salaries 13 percent, she said. Beginning teachers will now make $27,864. Educators who agree to teach in shortage areas will receive a $2,100 signing bonus over three years.

"It has proved to make a real difference," Ms. Lane said. "We still have some areas where we're short [of teachers], but in areas like English and elementary education, we got so many applications that we couldn't get them processed fast enough."

Money Matters

Cynthia J. Cox has spent the past several years hopscotching around Iowa in search of better pay and benefits. Now, she's determined to land in Des Moines.

"Each time I've moved to a new district, it has always been for more money and a better location," said Ms. Cox, a high school special education teacher who coaches girls' track in the 5,800-student Ankeny district outside Des Moines. "Right now, I'm trying to break my contract."

Ms. Cox said she is being courted to work as a consultant for the Des Moines district, a job that would increase her salary from $42,000 to $48,800. The hitch: She's bound by her current contract until a replacement can be found. So far, there are no takers.

Brenda Sellers is painfully aware of how bidding wars affect districts with limited financial clout. The assistant superintendent for personnel and support services for the 12,400-student Fort Smith, Ark., schools, is often asked to set up her recruiting booth adjacent to recruiters from Fort Worth at job fairs.

"They have huge signing bonuses, and their salaries are much greater than in Arkansas," Ms. Sellers said. "With that combination, many [prospective teachers] don't even bother to stop and talk to Fort Smith."

The base salary in Fort Smith is $23,400--about $10,000 less than in Fort Worth, she said.

So, Ms. Sellers pitches quality of life instead.

Bigger districts "have problems that we don't just because of their size," she said. "We've also got a new teacher-induction program. And here in Arkansas, we have beautiful parks, rivers, and lakes. There are no major traffic jams."

Still, the district is attempting to fight fire with fire, Ms. Sellers said. Salaries were raised $1,000 starting this fall, and teachers with zero to two years' experience who relocate will be paid a one-time, $2,000 stipend.

Leaders in the teaching profession say that such competition can be good for the field--provided that districts and states take the right approach when addressing the situation.

"One of the few good things about the teacher shortage is that it could positively impact upon teacher salaries," said Bob Chase, the president of the National Education Association.

Risky Bonuses

The risk, however, is that districts will rely on bonuses to attract teachers, he said, enticing educators to leap from one district to another in search of better pay, and leaving some schools without teachers. Bonuses "are one-shot deals that in the long term do not work," Mr. Chase said. "It may get them to sign on, but unless the issue of teacher salaries is addressed, it will not keep teachers there."

Districts and states will also have to better the quality of the teaching environment if they want to recruit and keep teachers, said Fred Frelow, the director of national affairs for the National Commission on Teaching & America's Future, a New York City-based group advocating highly qualified teachers for all students. "You can give teachers bonuses and raise their salaries, but you fundamentally have to work on the workplace and make sure that the folks you are recruiting will stay," Mr. Frelow said.

Districts need to look beyond their neighbors, he advises. "We're recommending that districts and states look at the pool of teachers as a national pool."

PHOTO (COLOR): Gillian Smoak moved from Maryland to Texas because the Fort Worth district offered a heftier salary and other perks. "The other districts offered nothing over $.10, 000," says the math teacher.

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By Julie Blair

[pic]

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SHOULD DISTRICTS OFFER SIGNING BONUSES TO ATTRACT NEW TEACHERS?

VIRGINIA HOOVER is a school social worker 11 years In the Guilford, North Carolina schools. She was the state's School Social Worker of the Year in 1997-98 and Student Services Support of the Year in 1999.

Yes, I believe school systems should offer a sign-on bonus to staff. A bonus would definitely be an added attraction to new employees, whether they are graduating from college or just trying to get into education.

For new graduates, a bonus would help offset the expense of preparing their first classroom. Buying the materials and supplies needed to make classrooms inviting and exciting places for students can take a lot of money.

If a new teacher has to relocate to take the job, that's another expense. A bonus could relieve the stress of moving and help make the transition a more pleasant experience.

For the more seasoned staff person, a sign-on bonus would be a great help in meeting the expenses that come with taking a new job.

Many times, when a staff person accepts a new position in another system, the person ends up missing time from work. That time lost means less income. A bonus could help save a Staff person from having to go deeper into debt after a job change.

What a relief it could be to have this extra money. I have a friend who recently accepted a position in another state. She and I discussed the burden that would have been lifted if the system had offered her a sign-on bonus. Moving expenses can be very taxing, especially if you're not in a superintendent's position.

The gesture of offering a bonus would also benefit the school system that makes the offer. It's a win-win situation. A bonus, once accepted by the new staff person, serves as a commitment to work for the school system--and helps prevent a staff person from going out the backdoor to accept a position with another system.

With a bonus in the balance, a school system wouldn't have to worry about whether a newly hired staff person is going to show.

On the other side, a staff person is going to think long and hard about leaving a school system that helped when help was most needed. Bonuses would help retain good and experienced staff.

A sign-on bonus would keep school systems from having to scramble in August to fill vacant positions. Scrambling school systems often just accept whoever is available at the last minute. With the sign-on bonus as an attraction, a system could have the best upon finding the best.

Staff, meanwhile, are seeking systems that are willing to offer something extra. A sign-on bonus would be an added recruiting incentive.

We need that incentive. With so much competition for graduating college students, districts need some added attraction to help fill the positions being vacated by our retiring educators.

As for me personally, I have no problem with systems offering such a sign-on bonus perk to attract capable people to education. I'm concerned about who will fill my role as social worker when I retire.

I won't be offended if my system begins offering a sign-on bonus to new staff. Those of us who are working hard pulling the load until vacant positions are filled would welcome the sight of quality applicants swarming to get those vacant jobs.

no

BOB KAPLAN teaches eighth grade social studios at Jane Addams Junior High in Schaumburg, Illinois. He has taught for 23 years and served four times on bargaining teams, once as chairman, and most recently last spring.

Signing bonuses. What a great idea! What's next, no-cut contracts? Free agency? The traditional teacher pay scale may not be ideal, but it's fairer than having a rookie make more than a three-year veteran because the rookie teaches bilingual classes and the other teaches a multi-age elementary class.

If we were to have signing bonuses, who's going to determine what's more important for a bonus? who's going to figure out how much of a bonus is deserved? whatever happened to collective bargaining?

I can easily see a personnel director paying the extra dollars to fill a position. I can also foresee the same personnel director using these extra dollars as a backdoor to merit pay.

Our Association needs to represent all members. These first-year teachers aren't even members yet. How, as a labor organization, can we explain to our members in their second or third year, "Gee, sorry you were too late for a bonus, but remember to keep paying your dues dollars!"

Instead of offering signing bonuses, let's try to solve the underlying problem. If there are positions that are tough to fill, let's build the supply. How? Through academic advising in colleges and government financial support for students going into high-demand fields.

These steps, along with increased teacher pay throughout the salary schedule, would help increase the supply of new teachers. If more money will get better new teachers, then more money throughout the scale will serve as a motivator for all teachers.

Collective bargaining has brought us dramatically increased salaries, and we should stand by it. Any measure that would give special treatment to any segment of our members ought to be analyzed very closely.

I realize signing bonuses have been around for a long time in business and sports. But products in these fields are more measurable. I'm a much better teacher now than I was 23 years ago. Why don't we give me a bonus for that?

New teachers who have yet to step into the classroom are a risky investment, what is their average length of employment? What if these new teachers have difficulty and are released?

I guess we shouldn't worry. We'll just sign up some other untested new teacher with a signing bonus.

One final point: We already have huge salary discrepancies between school districts. Signing bonuses would increase those discrepancies. Wealthy districts would have much more money to dole out for bonuses than less affluent districts.

If signing bonuses become the rule, the rich will get richer; the poor will be stuck with vacancies. This isn't what public education should be all about.

Signing bonuses, on the surface, sound good. Administrators would love to fill tough positions by throwing money to a few.

But before we should even consider signing bonuses, we need standards and an effort to increase the supply for hard-to-fill positions. Let's use all this bonus money to reward teachers who have made and will continue to make a positive difference.

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