Approximately 1,000 teachers left their Oklahoma positions for better-paying jobs in other states last summer, a surprisingly high number for one of the nation's less-populous states. Those people that chose to stay in education generally wound up close to home -- in this case, Texas -- making on average $6,000 more a year for the same work, Education Week reports.
"Out-of-state recruiters are stealing our teachers," Sandy Garrett, the Oklahoma state superintendent of education, told Education Week. "We knew we had to do something."
Oklahoma is just one example. Recruiting battles for qualified teachers are breaking out across the nation as states and even individual school districts find they now have to offer higher salaries, signing bonuses, and beefed-up benefits just to stay competitive.
The trend is even more noticeable during the summer, as administrators try to lure teachers for the new school year. Some districts -- in such high-growth, high-cost areas as San Francisco and Aspen, Colo. -- find they have to partner with real estate developers to offer affordable housing.
Administrators in other parts of the country are offering on-the-spot contracts to new teachers at recruiting fairs, and/or targeting teachers in specific schools through local newspaper advertising and by word of mouth. Other incentives include mentoring programs and offering letters of intent to prospects, Education Week reports.
"It is predatory," said Doyle Niemann, a school board member in the 132,000-student Prince George's County, Md. district -- where three of 15 principals are being lost to a neighboring district.
Some observers say these practices are healthy for long-underpaid professionals. Critics argue that bidding wars are driving a wedge between rich and poor communities. Others worry that districts relying on bonuses to attract teachers will spark a trend of educators moving from district to district in search of better pay.
Fred Frelow, national affairs director of the National Commission on Teaching & America’s Future, told the newspaper that states need to increase the quality of teaching environments if they want to keep good people.
"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," Frelow said.
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