In Philadelphia, as negotiated by the teachers’ union, educators will receive a 3.25% raise at the beginning of September, and a $1,000 retention and re-engagement bonus by the end of the month, Shambaugh said.
In other areas, the district’s staffing picture has been less rosy. Going into the school year, bus driver staffing is around 70.9%, Shambaugh reported. The majority of the school bus routes are run by outside organizations, Shambaugh told the board, and the district’s office of transportation has a “plan in place” to ensure students get to school Aug. 29.
With 250 more Philadelphia students newly requiring special-education assistance as of last year, the district has needed to recruit more paraprofessionals, Shambaugh said — with 76.8% of positions filled heading into the school year. While those roles won’t be completely staffed by September, the district will attempt to hire paraprofessionals throughout the year, Shambaugh said.
Around 19 Philadelphia schools don’t have nurses, Shambaugh said, vacancies the district is still working with a staffing agency to fill. The district is prepared for a fall COVID-19 surge, district officials told the board, and has beefed up staffing in its COVID response team and data system in hopes of more quickly detecting and addressing outbreaks. The district announced last week
If you right how are we going to pay for it take it from the trillion dollar military budget, or the police budget that always finds a reason to go up!
Pay teachers livable wages (more than 35,000) and maybe more people would want to be teachers! Give every class the tools for success not just private schools with well funded programs! Get new books, and after school programs! And give kids free breakfast and lunch!