North Texas school districts offering better incentives amid teacher shortage
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) — With just weeks to go, many North Texas school districts are still looking to fill their classrooms with teachers.
Burnout, low pay, teaching during a pandemic and students not paying attention were among the reasons some teachers cited as why they decided to leave the profession.
Now those positions are looking to be filled and the competition is high.
"The additional challenge has been how much more competitive it is right now and ultimately how fewer candidates are in the teaching pool," said Chris Goodson, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources at Richardson ISD.
Districts like Richardson have raised their starting teacher salary to $57,000 and offer incentives like a $1,750 dollar new teacher stipend, plus $6,000 more if the teacher is bilingual.
"We believe that's helped us be more competitive with our neighboring districts, because again, we are all trying to find the best candidates," added Goodson.
Neighboring districts like Dallas ISD have upped their starting pay to $60,000 with a $2,000 new teacher bonus.
"We hope that we can attract and secure top talent to for our classrooms, just to ensure that we have the great teachers that will help us achieve excellence and equity in our classrooms for our students," said Diana Castaneda,Manager of Recruitment for DISD.
Over at DeSoto ISD, they're giving $6,500 pay increases across the board.
"We've been pretty aggressive in hosting job fairs every week throughout the summer so we're at a 80-percent staffing rate and so we're really excited about that," said Usamah Rodgers, Superintendent of Schools for DeSoto ISD.
But all across North Texas, thousands of teaching positions have yet to be filled.
"We are in uncharted territory," said Rena Honea, president of Alliance AFT, the teachers' union that represents members in Dallas ISD.
Honea said if these positions are left unfilled on the first day of classes, it could have consequences on your child's education.
"If we don't have enough people, class sizes will become larger when there is not anyone available or when a teacher happens to be out," Hones added.
The rush is on to find those to teach our next generation.
"As we get prepared for the start of the school year, we hope to close out those teacher openings," added Castaneda.
To help fill the need, Dallas ISD is holding an in-person job fair tomorrow at Emmet J Conrad High School at 7502 Fair Oaks Avenue from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
To apply for jobs with Dallas ISD, click here.
For DeSoto ISD, click here.
And for Richardson ISD, click here.
