Charlotte might use sports tickets and free rent to recruit new teachers
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Could free rent or Panthers tickets be enough to make new teachers want to come to Charlotte? A new idea being floated around Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools would give recruiters some perks to offer in the brutally competitive market for top educators.
Superintendent Ann Clark still says that the thing that keeps her up at night is figuring out how to get enough teachers to fill our classrooms.
And she’s now floating an innovative idea that would lean on the city’s greatest attractions and corporations to come up with ways to bring them here.
There’s no money for cash signing bonuses. Outside of Title I schools (the city’s poorest), there’s really no ability to do that. Even in those schools, the opportunity is limited.
And while beginning teacher pay has moved from $31,000 to $35,000 in the past four years, it’s still a far cry from what entry-level teachers are making in states like South Carolina and Texas.
Say you’re a new UNC Charlotte grad looking for a teaching job. Are you going to take $40,000 at South Mecklenburg High (with the local supplement) or $45,000 per year in Hilton Head? That’s how Clark framed the issue at a community meeting Thursday.
So a potential answer could come through this suite of recruitment “packages” that new teachers could select.
What does this mean?
For example, a teacher could pick a utilities package and have them paid in full for the first five years. Or a sports package, and get regular tickets to the Panthers or Hornets. Or a rent package where their apartment is paid for for the first year, and half paid for in the second, and so on. Or a fitness package where… well the idea isn’t fully formed yet.
The concept is still in the idea stage. There’ve been no formal presentations or anything like that.
Andrew’s take
I really like the plan. No, utilities payments aren’t going to be as effective as a big pay raise. But for freshly minted teachers from the Charlotte area or other people looking for a reason to say yes to our city, this could be reason enough to stay.
It also feels very achievable. CMS has just revived its nonprofit foundation and hired Sonja Gantt to run it. This feels like a solid year one project to tackle for the 1,000 or so new teachers hired each year.
Clark framed the idea as asking the Panthers or Hornets to donate tickets, or asking apartment complexes to donate rooms. I could see the sports teams helping out, but I think for things like utilities or rent, it’s much more likely that a company like Bank of America will agree to pony up the cash to subsidize it.
After all, there’s a new Charlotte Executive Leadership Council made up of big company CEOs looking to make an impact in education. They haven’t done anything yet. Here’s a straightforward way to get going.