Sacramento School Districts Offering Signing Bonuses To Cut Into Teacher Shortage

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — In a desperate search to find qualified teachers, school districts are now offering thousands of dollars in signing bonuses.

The Twin Rivers School District is searching for teachers, and human resources director David Robertson is trying to sweeten the deal for potential instructors.

"We're offering a $5,000 incentive and it's paid out over two to three years and hopefully longer as we go through this, and it's really for hard to fill positions," he said.

The teacher supply is shrinking, he says, because fewer college students are pursuing teaching careers. Some school districts in the Bay Area are offering bigger signing bonuses and even subsidized housing to qualified candidates.

"Not everybody's going to get an incentive to get hired," Robertson said. "Speech and language is probably one of the hardest for us to fill. Not just at Twin Rivers or Sacramento, but across the state."

A bachelor's degree is mandatory, and specialized training helps.

"Special ed is another one. Math and science are other ones. Any of the single subjects are a little harder to fill," he said.

Without a credential, Robertson says experts in certain fields can qualify for a short-term paid staffing permit, or internship.

"That gives them a year to fulfill the requirements for the teaching commission," he said.