Camden schools are offering $10K signing bonus to attract new teachers. ‘This is where we are,’ says the superintendent.

Struggling to fill critical vacancies amid a national teacher shortage, the Camden City School District is upping the ante by offering a $10,000 signing bonus.

Superintendent Katrina McCombs said the South Jersey district still has about 50 teacher vacancies for the current school year, about 7% of its teaching staff. It projects roughly the same need for next year’s hiring, she said.

Marking the first time the district has offered such a perk, the signing bonus is available for new hires in high demand — math, science, ESL, and bilingual roles, McCombs said. The district did not immediately respond to a question about where the money will come from.

“This is where we are,” said McCombs. “It’s important for us to be competitive.”

Like school districts around the country, Camden has experienced a teacher shortage worsened by the pandemic, with positions from bus drivers to substitute teachers difficult to staff. The district has used substitute teachers or asked teachers to cover two classes.

The Philadelphia School District launched its hiring campaign for the upcoming school year in December with plans to hire nearly 1,000 teachers, principals and other school workers. It began accepting applications for 25 district schools that have traditionally had difficulty filing positions.

There, teachers who choose to work at about 50 tough-to-staff schools will get a $5,000 retention bonus over the next two years. The district is also offering to reimburse teachers up to $2,500 for the costs of state permits and certifications.

» READ MORE: Amid national teacher shortage, Philly wants to be ‘first in line’ to hire hundreds of educators for 2023-24

New Jersey has not seen a large uptick in districts offering bonuses, according to the New Jersey School Boards Association. In North Jersey, the Paterson school system hired 149 teachers after authorizing a $7,500 bonus last fall, NJ Advance Media reported.

And Newark, the state’s largest public school system, announced in June that new hires in critical areas would be eligible for $4,000 signing bonuses, the report said. The district also has offered an $1,000 bonus to district employees for referring a teacher who gets hired.

A state task force organized by Gov. Phil Murphy to address public school staff shortages recommended in its first report in January that the state should develop a state-funded program that provides bonuses or scholarships for hard-to-fill vacancies.

» READ MORE: Teachers should make at least $60K annually, education official tells Pa. Senate committee

Steve Baker, a spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association, said the association has “real concerns” about using bonuses to address the problem. The average teacher salary in the state is $70,212.

“While different districts have different situations and different approaches, in general we need to make a career in public education more economically viable over the long term so we can both attract and retain the best people. Bonuses are a Band-Aid when what we need is a cure,” Baker said.

In Camden, the starting salary for a certified teacher with a bachelor’s degree is $54,272. The scale varies based upon experience, specialties and advanced degrees.

About 178 people showed up for the district’s first comprehensive job fair earlier this month, McCombs said. The district was seeking applicants for positions including teachers, support staff, security, custodians, and bus drivers.

» READ MORE: Camden is so ‘desperate’ for teachers, it’s searching internationally to fill critical ESL and bilingual roles

McCombs said the job fair yielded about six or seven applications for teaching positions and only about three in the critical-needs areas, which the district is screening. McCombs said it may hold additional job fairs.

“We were able to make a lot of connections,” McCombs said. “We were hoping to get more individuals interested in joining our district as teachers.”

Last year, the district launched a pilot program to search abroad to fill four bilingual and ESL positions, where a certified teacher is required. About 53% of its 5,800 students are Latino and 14% are English-language learners. McCombs said at the time that the district was “desperate” and wanted to try a different approach.

The district said it would assist candidates with their applications and temporary visas to work in the United States and would cover fees and application costs, roughly $2,500 per person. The new hires would be responsible for their transportation and housing costs.

District spokeswoman Sheena Yera said the district has posted job openings on two sites in Puerto Rico. The district is also developing a plan to offer hiring incentives for those positions, she said.

“We believe the teacher shortage is just going to continue,” McCombs said.

To learn more about the teacher signing bonus program, visit https://camdencityschools.org or call 856-966-2000.