This is the fourth and final part of a series on the state of the Pine Bluff School District.
Hopes of a more competitive minimum teacher salary in Arkansas were dashed earlier this month when Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced it would not be considered during a special legislative session starting Aug. 8.
Hutchinson cited a lack of support from state legislators in pulling related bills from consideration. Senate President Pro Tempore Jimmy Hickey (R-Texarkana) told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in a Sunday article that federal stimulus money was largely responsible for a $1.6 billion surplus the state has received.
Hutchinson had planned to raise Arkansas' minimum salary to $46,000. Under Act 170 of the 2019 state Legislature, the minimum salary in Arkansas is increasing by $1,100 to $36,000 for the 2022-23 school year.
Despite the letdown educators feel, the Pine Bluff School District has added some incentives in hopes of attracting teachers.
"Please know, we've always been working at a disadvantage when it's come to that," Superintendent Barbara Warren said. "This coming year, we've added $2,000 to our salary schedule. The prior year, we were able to add $900."
That makes the minimum salary in the PBSD $38,900 -- $900 more than in the Watson Chapel School District. The added funds were made across all certified positions on the teacher salary schedule, Warren said.
"I think in the county that makes us second to White Hall," Warren said, "but just by a few dollars."
The PBSD also established an attendance incentive. Teachers who come to school for at least 95% of the in-person days can receive a bonus of $5,000 for the school year.
"It's tied to teachers who haven't had any discipline challenges or corrective actions or what-have-you, and come to work 95% of the student contact days," Warren said. "We're basically saying come to work 169 of those [178 student] days, and that's a $5,000 bonus."
Classified hires in the PBSD can receive a $3,000 bonus by meeting the same standards. A classified employee typically refers to a support staff member, while a certified employee refers to a teacher or administrator.
The district also has a $1,000 signing bonus for new certified hires and a $600 bonus for classified hires.
In all, a new teacher could finish the first year making as much as $44,900 -- just $1,100 shy of Hutchinson's once-proposed minimum.
"We can't do what we do without our classified staff members," Warren said. "Something that came up in conversation was ... that would have just addressed teachers. We had questions about how you sustain that, but also, what do you do about classified staff members, because they're also important. Bonuses are in play for us this year, and I hope our staff sees this as our effort to support them even when we aren't able necessarily to raise their salaries a significant amount."
Assistant superintendent Phillip Carlock earned a business administration degree before going into the education field as a paraprofessional. He understands money can be a factor in a district's recruitment efforts.
"We have real lives. We have real bills, and [teachers] have to get paid," Carlock said. "I do know that is a factor, but there are some careers in life that are 'heart work' that you have a passion for, and it's almost a mission. The money you may be lacking in teaching, you make up for because you're investing in lives of students to go off and do great things. Teachers impact every career you can think of because we touch students' lives and we plant seeds. The seeds grow, and these kids go off to be presidents, NBA players. They go off to be business owners. The investment far outweighs the pay and the benefits of that.
"If you stay in education long enough and you're able to see kids cycle around to say, 'Hey, something you said to me changed my life,' that's worth a million bucks. If you get multiple kids to say that, I think you've done your life's work, your life's purpose."
One way the PBSD has addressed any teacher shortages is by allowing students to obtain concurrent credit through the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and Southeast Arkansas College, but the college teachers came on high school campuses to work with students, Warren said. This time, the high school students will walk on the college campuses.
The program, Warren clarified, is in addition to the career and technical education offerings at SEARK, which she said gives her schools flexibility in scheduling.
"The other neat side of that exposure is a whole different way of thinking about themselves as a college student, as someone able to meet those standards," she said. "It is going to be a game changer."