Texas district using billboards to poach Phoenix teachers

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Updated 6:59 pm, Wednesday, May 30, 2018

PHOENIX (AP) — A Texas school district has placed advertisements on Phoenix billboards in an attempt to recruit Arizona teachers to a city with higher pay.

The Fort Worth Independent School District has rented five digital billboards in Phoenix that advertise a starting teacher salary of $52,000. The billboards went live on Monday and will stay up for a month.

The Fort Worth district is targeting veteran teachers looking for a change as well recent graduates seeking their first teaching job, said Clint Bond, a district spokesman. The district, which serves about 86,000 students and has more than 10,000 employees, has up to 800 job openings.

The district is looking for teachers in both Oklahoma and Arizona, the sites of recent statewide protests over teacher pay. Arizona lawmakers approved a plan to hike teacher salaries after a six-day walkout by educators that shut down most schools statewide. The teachers' effort secured a 20 percent pay raise over three years from lawmakers and Republican Gov. Doug Ducey.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/Texas-school-district-offers-higher-pay-in-12954302.php

[Sancho]

1. Poaching teachers across state and district lines has gone on for years...

but it rarely gets results. Some teachers may move for higher salaries, but often your certification is locked into a particular state, so when you move you may have to start the certification process again.

Also, you may lose retirement or pay for years of experience or seniority in the district.

There are major shortages of teachers on the horizon, and rearranging the deck chairs won't save the ship.

[AZ8theist]

2. AGREED..but

As an individual who has left the corporate world and is considering teaching (science, of course) in Arizona, the certification process is a joke. All you need is a BS and experience in STEM to get a job. Thats how desperate they are for teachers.

That being said, the starting salary in most of the Maricopa area (Phoenix) schools is $38K. It will be enticing for some career changers to consider Ft. Worth at $52K.

From a personal standpoint, living in red Arizona is hard enough....moving to Texas would be nauseating.

[Sancho]

4. The vast majority of "alternative certification" teachers don't last...

Districts pour thousands into recruiting people to switch into education - and statistics show that the majority are not teaching in 3 years.

Yes, the states are getting desperate.

[Hulk]

8. Pay 'em peanuts....give no respect and ALL the blame...

..and then their workplace has become the Post Office of the 80's.

My son studied for five years, got his Masters and taught for seven years in a prestigious high school here in the area; and he had to give it all up after seven years. He was starving to death. NO WAY could he support his wife, newborn and make a mortgage payment.

This country has it all upside down. It's bull shit. I spent 30 years teaching, and although I enjoyed my profession, there is NO WAY in the world I would ever do it again. Not for the money, the nightmare of demands, and the retirement is pathetic. Forget it. This country has gone to hell in a hand basket when it comes to education. Glad to finally see teachers revolting. We should have done it 40 years ago.

[Major Nikon]

6. Maricopa County, home of Sheriff Joe

Hard to see the down side.

[keithbvadu2]

3. What is the cost of the standard of living?

More money is not more value if it is not an improvement in the standard of living.

[Major Nikon]

5. Compared to Phoenix? Pretty close.

It's also pretty easy in Fort Worth to live outside the city where the cost of living drops even more.

No state income tax either.

[Hulk]

7. But then they would have to move to Texas......

You couldn't pay me enough. Sorry, Dallas/Ft. Worth is a nice area...but you have to drive thru Texas to get there....and it's just not worth it.
Good luck with that one.

[TexasBushwhacker]

9. Most of the cities are blue

It's the rural and suburban areas that are blood red.