Education

With first day of school just days away, VT schools almost 3000 educators short

School districts resort to paying hiring bonuses

By Guy Page

As the first day of school approaches in 1-2 weeks (depending on the school district), more Vermont school districts are resorting to paying hiring bonuses totalling about $150,000 for more than 40 open school positions, a Vermont education newsletter reported today.

“Schools and their boards have a new carrot to either bring them back now or to tempt professionals from other fields to join the world of education,” Steve Berbeco of 802 Ed newsletter writes in today’s edition. “An immense influx of recent federal funding has prompted the next big thing: signing bonuses. Sure, they’ve been around for a while as a recruitment and retention tool, but not like this. Want to work as a bus driver in Eureka, CA? There’s a $10k bonus waiting for you. Or how about a gym teacher in North Carolina? That’s another $10k dangling out the window to get your attention. How about teaching English in Gallup, NM? There is up to $26.5k waiting for you to relocate to Chief Manuelito Middle School, and with a salary maximum of $70k, that could translate into a lot of fry bread. 

“Vermont is also waving money around,” Berbeco said. “There are currently more than 40 positions that are open with signing bonuses that total about $150,000. And, with an average of about six more openings posted every day, the market is likely only going to get hotter as the start of the school year approaches.”

As of today, Vermont schools are about 2850 educators short – despite school budgets at record highs and enrollment continuing to drop. 

Categories: Education

6 replies »

  1. Why not increase class sizes? It will lower costs and the academic performance can’t get any worse.

  2. Imagine that!! Time for bigger classes and teaching the 3R’s. It isn’t like there was an explosion in student population🤷‍♀️

  3. enrollment has decreased substantially ….get on board ..board of ed, teachers union and make the children a priority and MAYBE parents will choose you……personally I vote for CHOICE for all parents in Vermont…..
    enrollment has been dropping since late 90’s and then there is covid, and now all kinds of “education” most parents are appalled with, test scores way down, no basics, home ect, shop, critical thinking skills……..
    and there you go…..

    https://theinformedvermonter.com/education-vermonts-student-enrollment-trends/

    and from Vt State Auditor
    Trends
    Between school years 2008/2009 and 2018/2019, there was a trend towards
    greater student enrollment in K-12 approved independent schools paid for with
    public funds while the number of such students enrolled in out-of-state schools
    steadily decreased. As illustrated by Figure 2 on page 3 of the report, publicly
    funded enrollment in approved independent schools increased by 8 percent from
    school year 2008/2009 to school year 2018/2019 while at the same time
    enrollment in Vermont public schools decreased by 12 percent.

    Add the last 2 school years to this……and voila
    heres one more vt digger more recent…….look at the graph…..scroll down a little
    https://vtdigger.org/2021/02/19/vermonts-public-school-enrollment-dropped-by-about-5-this-fall/

  4. How many are actual class teachers, not aids, assistants, etc. My children had one teacher, 27 to 30 students. No so called “Behavior” monitors. Vermont has considerably fewer students than a decade ago. Why do we still need as many teachers? Why have we not consolidated more classes? Why do we spend as much with so fewer students?

  5. Home school is much safer and better for kids, to prevent pervert indoctrination and encouragement to self-mutilate. Towns need to start shutting down expensive, worthless public schools and get rid of the teacher’s union trash. Time for people to stop being ripped off, in so many ways, by public school racketeering.