Wake County schools will offer a $3,500 incentive bonus to new special education teachers

The bonus applies to anyone accepting a job after July 1 through Nov. 21, and the first half will be paid after three months of employment. The other half will be paid in November 2022, if the teacher is still employed as of October 2022. In all, it would cost the district about $500,000, if it were able to hire for every remaining vacant position and the about two dozen already hired since July 1.

Wake County’s shortage of special education teachers isn’t unique. But it’s happening as an ongoing teacher shortage continues, as difficulty in providing special education services last year could result in an increased need for them next year, and as school districts across North Carolina and the nation use federal stimulus funds to hire temporary educators and support professionals. Wake County itself is hiring dozens of extra teachers for its virtual academy.

But the bonus could mean new teachers could end up making more than teachers with the same or with a year of experience, because the one-year bonus amount of $1,750 exceeds the annual increase in pay — typically about $1,000 or less — for all years but the pay increase from year 24 to year 25.

Board Member Jim Martin said that gave his pause when considering the measure.

“I just can’t handle existing teachers making less,” he said.

He asked how much it would cost the district to raise pay for those first-year teachers, but district officials said they would be unable to provide that figure before the vote Tuesday night.

Martin voted against the bonus.

Board Member Karen Carter and others argued that the county needs to come up with a plan to improve the district’s ability to hire and more fairly compensate employees.

The district, Carter said, needs “to set clear step-by-step, year-by-year goals.”

Board Chairman Keith Sutton emphasized that the hiring situation for special education teachers is an “emergency” but also noted that long-term change shouldn’t come from the county. The state is primarily responsible for paying for school personnel.

“We could provide more money,” he said, but the board would have to “go to the county commissioners to ask for something that’s not completely their responsibility to bear.”

Special education is a federal required program. Schools cannot deny services so a shortage of special education teachers mean more responsibilities will fall on the shoulders of existing teachers, rather than services being outright denied because of a lack of staffing.