Should School Districts Offer Signing Bonuses to Their Teachers?

Many people wonder if teachers should or should not get paid more than they do. A lot of people believe that teachers should get paid more, but there are some that do not. Parents that want their kids to have a good education want teachers to get paid more. For example, P.V Derkachev said, “… teacher pay influences the quality of education.” (Derkachev 574). Teachers that get payed more would be more likely to perform better at their job and not mind the extra time that they have to do stuff outside of work to get everything done. Matt Barnum said, “Higher salaries --- even small bonuses ---- can and do keep some teachers in the classroom, and likely improve outcomes for their students.” (Barnum). The student is going to get taught better if teachers get paid more because the teacher will want to teach at the best of her ability which will help the student.

Across the United States, schools are facing a major teacher shortage as they try to fill positions in science, math, special education, bilingual education, and other fields. The shortage mainly lies in the schools serving low-income or colored students. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the student population will increase by about three million in the next decade. While the number of students is multiplying, teacher enrollment in preparation programs is down remarkably, falling 35 percent nationwide in the last five years (Long 2). Not only are more people not entering the teaching profession, multiple teachers are reaching retirement age. Because of the shortage, several states have been loosening their certifications

Increasing teacher pay would encourage more young people to pursue the career of teaching. Young students would see that teaching is a career that is worth pursuing and would start considering teaching. "Experts say raising that threshold could help improve the professions lackluster reputation and encourage more high achieving

In the year of 2011, there were 3.2 million teachers who were employed at public schools throughout the nation, which served close to 50 million children in grades kindergarten through twelfth (Feistritzer, 2011). Currently, to be employed as a teacher in the United States, one must obtain a Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college or university, and be certificated in the state that one wishes to be employed. The certification serves as a teaching credential, which is needed for teachers in all states.

“The education teachers receive isn’t good for anything and that advanced degrees aren’t worth additional compensation like, say, a physician or architect would get. “The field of education is less challenging than other academic concentrations,” it says. (“Are teachers paid too much? - The Washington Post”) According to research many believe that teachers are just paid babysitters. In fact, it is a big debate among the population because many question our teachers and the job that they do. Since some of the population seem to think that teachers are just overpaid babysitters let's give them the pay of a babysitter, give them the benefits that they deserve, and give them the time off

Teachers are in the news almost every day. Sometimes for good reasons and sometimes for bad reasons. One article I found in the news was one about the Head Start law. This law was created by George W. Bush. It required teachers to have a bachelor’s degree with training in early childhood education. 74% of all teachers in the Head Start program have their bachelor’s degree and training in early childhood education. A problem with this back in 2007 was that the law did not fund a college or university to help train the teachers for the program. Today, there are many places where teachers can go to get this training. The program has lessons that help the teachers to boost their skills and knowledge about early childhoods. For younger children

The low pay for our educators is causing many negative effects. New York Times shows that the low income is causing sixty-two percent of teachers to have a second job outside of their teaching jobs. Just to have enough money to support their families and make ends meet. Most everyone decides to college to prevent having these struggles with money, and to avoid having to work multiple jobs, when they get older; however, not when it comes to living off of only a teacher’s income, the struggles to have enough money are interminable. This low pay is also causing most teachers to retire, and find new jobs. New York Times states, “every year 20 percent of teachers in urban districts quit. Nationwide, 46 percent of teachers quit before their fifth year. The turnover costs the

There are major flaws in the argument for attempting to pay students for obtaining exceptional grades. One of the flaws is the fact that the money used for the payment of the pupils is coming from their parents. With this policy, the parents will be required to pay additional taxes to account for the need for money within the school district. Many individuals who are for this practice argue that the money is going straight back to the families. Although this is true, the money is going to the children not the parents. Many students are not going to provide the money to their parent, but instead use it for their own wants or needs.

(Brimley 2008) However, to equalize funds and maximize cost quality relationships grants and incentives are good places to start. School districts have to find ways to hire knowledgeable and committed teachers. One way to draw the knowledgeable teacher is to offer stipends for teacher shortage areas and sign on bonuses. Districts must continue to offer some type of incentives to maintain good teachers. Teacher tenure is another great incentive but can sometimes cause good teachers to become too laidback. Tenure grants educators “a right, term, or mode of holding or occupying something of value for a period of time.” (Tenure) Basically, tenure in the education realm grants what some would call stability or even security.

Teacher compensation is one of many hot button issues in the race for K-12 public education reform in America. Google (2015), defines compensation as simply the money received by an employee from an employer as a salary or wages (Google). This definition is perhaps the simplest to understand, but fails to truly articulate the complex meaning of compensation. Most school divisions include salary, extra pay, benefits, and pension in their employee compensation package. Leonard Boswell (2015), former U.S. Representative, stated it best, when he said “The American Dream is one of success, home ownership, college education for one’s children, and have a secure job to provide these and other goals” (Brainy Quotes, n.d.). The American dream Boswell spoke of cannot be achieved through meager means, the question then is “Do the very people who help facilitate this dream for the country’s youth, deserve to achieve the dream as well?”

A teacher’s salary has come a very long way in the U.S. from 1980 to now, it went from 15 (elementary) and 16(secondary) thousand a year to 57 and 59 thousand a year as average. That is a pretty decent change in just a little over thirty years. But as the salary went up so has the cost of living, so, in reality, it is not much help. Texas is the state with the most teachers since 2014. Texas has a total of 342,257 and California comes in second while New York comes in third (statista). That is a lot of people, who all happen to be on a state salary schedule in Texas. What this means is that teachers all get paid the starts salary and depending on who has been there longer than others determine who gets a bonus or raise.

This is another factor which could lead to high teacher turnover in the United States. The current teacher average salary has just gone higher by less than 4 percent from the salary of nearly two decades ago. This way, the teachers are not able to cope with the high inflation and escalated cost of life with this pay. This makes teachers to have high mobility rate in search for better jobs or the so called greener pastures.

A four-year degree is a requirement in most various professions although the salaries show a significant range in the pay scale. In order to become a teacher in any state a Bachelor’s Degree must be

According to Coulson (2011), the unions of teachers has helped to drive up the cost of a student in the K-12 school system and to protect even those teachers with low performance. Since 1970, the cost of a student in the K-12 system has raised from $55,000 to $155,000, but the performance of the students have declined since then (Coulson, 2011). Where is the rest of the money? I believe that a teacher need to have a

Going back to the tenure and teacher union issues, I agree that everyone has the right to unionize in order to protect their self-interests, but the idea surrounding tenure is something that needs to be re-evaluated, and the teacher’s union needs to jump on board in order to get the education system moving in the right direction. The writers hint at a way in which tenure can be changed, and that is by offering rewards for high student grades instead of the current rule of once tenure is reached, a teacher can keep their position regardless of their efforts in the classroom. The way the movie presents this alternative method is by showing a challenge between the teachers of the school to earn the highest student grades on the state test; winner earning a bonus of $5,700. This type of evaluation based on student grades can also be taken to the opposite end of the spectrum, and teachers who have unacceptable student scores should be evaluated on their teaching methods, and if seen