Hiring bonuses for WA school staff part of new Reykdal proposal to attract employees
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New hiring bonuses for educators, wage increases for all school employees, and more consideration for advanced degrees were some of the proposals floated by Chris Reykdal, state superintendent of public Instruction, on Thursday.
“This proposal today makes an explicit attempt to tell the Legislature now is the time to invest more in educators, not less, even as we face difficult economic times,” Reykdal said during a Thursday press conference.
The news release for the event noted that the proposal is meant to “support recruiting and retaining a diverse educator workforce with competitive salaries reflective of current economic conditions.”
Reykdal said a lack of educators has been seen nationally, but that investments made in the last five years have helped Washington not be in the same “desperate” position as other states. And yet, he said, the state finds itself in a “difficult” spot.
The Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and Reykdal had several recommendations for the Legislature.
OSPI is proposing a one-time $10,000 hiring bonus for special education teachers. A one-time hiring bonus of $5,000 for “any staff” including administrative and educational positions who work at high-poverty schools would also be appropriated.
“It is awfully clear, the highest turnover in our state tends to be in communities where our students need the most support,” Reykdal added. “And we attempt to make a first-ever investment in bonuses that retain educators, get them in the door and keep them in those schools. The stability that we can provide through this approach is both innovative and very powerful for the learning of our young people.”
Additionally, OSPI and Reykdal are also proposing a 6 percent increase in base salary for all school employees.
“If we don’t make the inflationary adjustments necessary, we will find ourselves once more with educators who are losing ground to private sector and other public sector opportunities,” Reykdal said.
The proposal would not only add the 6 percent baseline, but to move the “inflation factor” the Legislature uses from the Implicit Price Deflator model to the Consumer Price Index. Reykdal said CPI is “more realistic for what people are facing in their lives in terms of financial impact due to the inflation across the whole set of goods including housing and other factors.”
Although it’s not a major change short-term, Reykdal said it would help educators in the state stay more competitive. Maximum regionalization factors would also be lowered from 18 percent to 12 percent and those factors would be determined by county instead of a particular school district.
Regionalization factors are used by the Legislature to determine funding for schools, and eligibility for that funding is based on home values in the area, according to OSPI. Because of this, OSPI said neighboring school districts can often see “significant differences,” and in regions with lower regionalization factors, retaining employees can be more difficult compared to other districts.
Another change was also proposed by Reykdal: Consideration for educators with advanced degrees, or who have more experience, would also be included.
“To get the experience factor, school districts need only have a staff that is significantly higher in experience or has significantly higher advanced degrees,” Reykdal said. “With this proposal, currently 56 districts qualify. This would move it to 214 districts who will qualify for the 4 percent experience factor.”
Student achievement, school culture and student discipline are just some of the ways OSPI said students are impacted by high educator turnover rates.
“This state will be well-served to figure out where our highest rates of turnover are, and invest important resources in those communities, and that’s what we have attempted to do here,” said Reykdal. More turnover is experienced in higher-poverty schools, he added.
Thursday’s press conference was the sixth of nine in a series of proposals by OSPI for the upcoming legislative session. Reykdal’s other proposals will be announced through November. The Legislature will convene in January.
This story was originally published October 21, 2022 at 5:15 AM.
