Snyder ISD officials unveil teacher incentive proposals

Image
Body

Snyder ISD officials are ready to “put their money where their mouths are” to attract and retain teachers at the district.
During Wednesday’s school board meeting, district administrators unveiled a proposed incentive package that totals more than $700,000 a year aimed at recruiting new teachers and retaining the instructors the school district already has.
Officials estimate that Snyder ISD will have to replace at least 17 percent of its teachers before the start of the next school year, a figure they say is well above state average. To reduce that turnover rate, the district is proposing incentives and benefits ranging from stipends for teachers in high-need areas to free pre-kindergarten for district employees.
“This is one of the components of us trying to change (the high turnover rate),” Superintendent Dr. Eddie Bland told trustees. “We will refine this and have it as an action item for the May school board meeting.”
Among the big-ticket expenditures aimed at recruiting new teachers, Bland is proposing sign-on bonuses totaling $50,000 for teachers in high-need areas, such as special education, English language arts and reading, math and science, more than $30,000 in total for tuition assistance and stipends for teachers participating in the Tech Teach Across Texas and Strong Teachers Day One teacher development programs and $6,000 to hold a job fair to recruit new teachers.
Overall, Bland proposed that the district spend $195,650 for recruitment purposes, an increase of more than $160,000 from current incentives.
The major monetary push, however, will come in incentives designed to retain teachers at the district.
Among those efforts is a proposal to adjust the district’s teacher pay scale to ensure that instructors with the same amount of experience in the district get paid the same across the board. Currently, the district employs different pay schedules for its teachers, which means that one teacher with 13 years of experience may be paid more — or less — than another teacher with the same amount of experience, Bland said.
Proposed stipends for teachers include increased pay for those participating in the Teacher Leader Track, which would result in stipends for teachers who are mentors for new instructors, part of a campus leadership team or are designated as “master teachers.” The cost of this package is estimated at $86,250.
The biggest of the big-ticket items is $320,000 for an updated stipend schedule for experienced teachers in high-need areas, state-tested subjects and career technology courses.
Bland also proposes rewarding teachers whose students perform well on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) accountability exam. The district would add a sliding-scale schedule for those teachers, with teachers receiving increased stipends if a higher percentage of their students perform well on the STAAR.
The district also proposed to at least partially reimburse teachers for purchases of classroom supplies and offer free pre-kindergarten to their children.
Overall, the recruiting and retention proposals total $722,700, an increase of more than $500,000 over current expenditures.
Although a final decision on the incentives won’t be made until May, at least one trustee is fully on board with the proposals.
“Since I’ve been on the board, this is one of the greatest things I’ve seen,” Brad Hinton said. “Teacher retention is one of our greatest challenges, and this shows we’re putting our money where our mouths are. It’s not cheap, but cheap is having failing kids. What good is having a healthy fund balance if your kids aren’t performing in the classroom?”
Bland stressed that the proposals aren’t designed to remove teachers from the district, but rather to reward those who excel in the classroom.
“Some of these numbers should go down in future years,” he said, adding that if the incentives succeed at their purposes, the district will have to pay less in recruitment and professional development.