Dallas ISD is receiving federal stimulus dollars known as ESSER funds to help the district recover from challenges caused by the pandemic and accelerate learning. One way Dallas ISD is using ESSER funds is to launch the new teacher hiring incentive and a reimbursement payment for alternative certification fees.
Dallas ISD recruiters are working hard to ensure that every classroom has a highly qualified teacher for the 2022-2023 school year. To overcome a national and state teacher shortage that has been made worse by the pandemic and to help recruit the best teachers to the district, Dallas ISD just announced two incentives: a $2,000 new teacher hiring incentive and a reimbursement payment for alternative certification program fees of up to $4000 for eligible new teachers.
“This new teacher hiring incentive will help ensure that we have the applicant pool we will need to fill expected vacancies for the 2022-2023 school year so we can continue to support the efforts to accelerate learning, recover from the challenges caused by the pandemic and ensure we have a great teacher in every classroom,” Chief of Human Capital Management Robert Abel.
The $2,000 hiring incentive will be available for both experienced and novice teachers who are onboarded to Dallas ISD as a teacher for the 2022-2023 school year. This strategic approach will serve as an opportunity to encourage teachers to join Dallas ISD and applies to all certification areas as long as the candidate meets the minimum requirements to be hired as a teacher.
The hiring incentive is stackable, which means that it would be added to other applicable incentives such as—$3,000 for secondary math and science, $3,000 for identified special education teachers, $5,000 for elementary bilingual education teachers, and $3,000 for teachers of languages other than English.
In addition to the incentives, Dallas ISD will reimburse newly hired teachers up to $4,000 for their alternative certification program fees from any Texas accredited alternative certification program. This payment will be applicable to teachers of record who are hired for the 2022-2023 school year. Eligible candidates will need to have their intern certificate posted no earlier than 2022 through an eligible alternative certification program accredited by the Texas Education Agency.
Those interested in teaching at Dallas ISD and taking advantage of the hiring incentive and alternative certification reimbursement can participate in the upcoming Dallas ISD job fair from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 23, at Emmett J. Conrad High School, 7502 Fair Oaks Ave. Applications are also being accepted at www.dallasisd.org/teach.
The district will absorb the costs of the hiring incentive and the AC reimbursement by utilizing existing Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds. Payments are available for employees hired by September 1, 2022. For any questions, please contact Chele Andreason at candreason@dallasisd.org.
While the hiring incentives apply to new teachers, existing Dallas ISD employees will benefit from an employee retention incentive that will be paid in three installments during the 2022-2023 school year. Based on eligibility, the retention incentive will range from $2,500 to $3,500 for most employees. This retention incentive is part of the district’s efforts to minimize teacher and other vacancies so it can continue to provide the best learning environment for Dallas students, Abel said. Employees who will benefit from the retention incentive must have been hired by the district no later than May 1, 2022.
