Student California Teachers Association

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School District Offers Prospective Teachers Incentives

Tamara Harris, Ethnic Minority Representative, CSU Fullerton

One CTA local, United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), has bargained on behalf of the teachers (and students) of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to award up to $18,000 in recruitment and retention incentives for highly qualified math, science and special education teachers. According to School Board President Marlene Carter, the hope is that "This agreement will help draw the best teachers to the most challenging settings – where their skills and experience are most needed," by recruiting teachers to serve the "traditionally hard-to-staff schools" that are primarily "identified as low-performing" or "program improvement" schools. As there is a district-wide need for additional special education teachers, additional recruitment and retention incentives are being offered to fully credentialed teachers with English Learner
certification in any LAUSD school. Throughout the district, these teachers are being offered a $1000 recruitment incentive and an annual $1000 stipend.

In addition, the Teacher Recruitment and Student Support Grant (TRSS) program offers the following incentives with the corresponding goals in mind:

Recruitment – One-time $5,000 recruitment incentive paid to newly-assigned (including new hires and transfers) fully credentialed math, science and special education teachers at low-performing schools.
Retention – one-time $5,000 retention incentive paid to fully credentialed math, science and special education teachers who remain at these schools for three years.
Increased Education & Conversions of Current Teachers – Up to $5,000 reimbursement for educational expenses for a Master's Degree and for non-shortage field teachers to earn credentials in math, science and special education.
Achievement Awards – School Achievement Grants $20 per student for achieving Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for two consecutive years.

This program, and ones like it, offers a concrete benefit for prospective new teachers, while providing a means for schools in underserved areas to reach out to the best and brightest to serve the students that need it the most. UTLA President A .J. Duffy states that "UTLA and the District don't always agree, but we have agreed to work together to do what's right for our kids – and this program is right for our kids."