Washington State Proposes Plan To Hire And Retain More Educators

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington State has a plan in place to hire and retain more educators.

State Superintendent Chris Reykdal is asking lawmakers for an additional $1.4 billion for the cause, “Our proposal is to include a one time $10,000 hiring bonus for special education teachers (and) a $5000 bonus for any staff designated in high poverty schools…Moving rapidly between districts…for opportunities economically is not the stability our students need.”

He’s also proposing a 6% salary increase for all employees, “If we don’t make the inflationary adjustments necessary, we’ll find ourselves once more with educators who are losing ground to private sector and other sector opportunities.”

Annual bonuses will also be given to educators in dual-language programs.

On top of that, Superintendent Reykdal is proposing expanded eligibility for the experience factor to districts whose educators have more experience or have more advanced degrees, instead of both.

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