Sign-on bonuses of $10,000 are being offered by the San Joaquin County Office of Education in their effort to address an acute shortage of special education teachers.
Special ed teachers are the hardest to find in California where school districts are constantly scrambling to hire new teachers and support staff ranging from paraprofessionals to bus drivers.
Recruiting teachers has become a pressing issue year-round.
And its not just in San Joaquin County or California. It’s a growing national crisis that accelerated thanks to the pandemic.
Growing districts like Manteca Unified have been hiring well in advance of vacancies created by retirement and attrition for educators leaving the field or moving to other communities.
The district is able to do so knowing if they misjudge the attrition rate, the new hires will be absorbed quickly thanks to enrollment growth.
And in order not to lose them until the next school year rolls around, they will often be offered immediate employment as long-term substitutes which there is also an ongoing shortage.
It is why job fairs are becoming quarterly and even bi-monthly events in many districts instead of being once a year
It is also why districts have resorted to doing mass mailing countywide such as the San Joaquin County Office of Education did earlier this month in advance of a job fair on Wednesday, Sept. 13 from 3 to 7 p.m. at the one.Harmony campus at 1501 West 11th Street in Tracy.
Manteca Unified has a job fair today from 3 to 7:30 p.m. at the district office, 2271 W. Louise Ave., that is focusing solely on the need to fill 113 part-time paraprofessional positions.
The district has 102 advance registrants for the positions that have hourly wages ranging from $18.35 to $31.22.
People can drop by today to apply for the positions. Application assistance will also be provided tomorrow at the fair.
A paraprofessional works under the supervision of a licensed teacher, supporting the instructor in the classroom via tutoring or assisting in managing and organizing instructional materials.
The district notes it could be ideal for retirees, grandparents, parents, or anyone in search of a rewarding part-time position in education.
The requirements for the job are high school diploma (or equivalent) or one of the following:
*Associates Degree or higher.
*Completion of 48 college units.
*Paraprofessional proficiency certification (MUSD offers proficiency testing).
Manteca working to
“home grow” teachers
Victora Brunn, the district’s chief financial and information officer, notes Manteca Unified has available positions across the spectrum from classroom teachers to support staff such as bus drivers, custodians and others.
There is currently a need to fill 25 certified positions that are primarily classroom teachers.
Overall 3 percent of teaching jobs are vacant and are being covered by substitutes until people can be hired.
In addition, 15 percent of all classified support positions are vacant.
The district, anticipating the teaching shortage would tighten, back in 2018 launched a “homegrown” solution in a bid to make sure the growing district of 25,000 students would have enough teachers in the future.
They established the Advantage Future Tacher pathway as part of the district’s Career & Technical Education offerings.
“The district is not waiting for the state system to solve the recruitment issues,” Brunn said.
At the same time the school district — through various aggressive initiatives — has been barely keeping ahead of the teacher shortage that has been growing in recent years. Forecasts show colleges are generating 14,000 teachers a year while the annual need is 20,000.
Much of that is driven by retirement or teachers changing careers. Manteca Unified is blessed — or cursed depending upon your perspective — to have a number of other factors at work that are increasing the demand for teachers locally.
Those factors include some of the strongest growth in California, an increasing birth rate, class-size reduction being implemented, and a willingness to tell teachers that do not yet enjoy tenure that their services are no longer needed if they don’t meet expected Manteca Unified standards.
What the Advantage Future
Teacher Pathway does
It is against that backdrop the Manteca Unified School District board rolled out the Advantage Future Teacher Pathway:
*It establishes a career portal for students to explore not just in terms of whether teaching is a passion they really want to pursue but arming them with the knowledge of what it will take to get there.
*It cultivates a home grown pool of future teachers.
*It addresses “floundering” that often occurs for those who are trying to pursue career paths by educating students of land mines, if you will, that lie ahead navigating college where misinformation or simply not knowing can get them in situations that can add years to them reaching the point they can secure a teaching credential.
*It provides employment opportunities during a student’s post-secondary education as Manteca Unified will work with them first to fill part-time jobs during the school year and summer jobs that the district always has to fill.
*It also creates a readily available pool of students that are going to be getting work out of the way early on their path to becoming a teacher that qualifies them for hard to fill para-professional teaching aide positions.
*It can reduce student education costs by securing 9 college credits at no charge at their high school allowing them to enroll in key classes their first semester of college.
*It allows Manteca Unified to track early on those students pursuing degrees in hard to secure disciplines such a math, science, and special education.
*It assures participants — once they are employment ready — a guaranteed interview. Obviously if the district determines at that point they are lacking they won’t get hired. By putting qualified and able candidates from the Advantage Future Teacher Pathway at the front of the line it removes the worry about finding employment.
Manteca Unified has been staying a step ahead of the teaching hiring shortage problem by offering the one of the highest — if not the highest — overall compensation for public school teachers in the Northern San Joaquin Valley and conditionally hiring teachers on the spot at annual job fairs in February for the upcoming school year that starts in August.
If that hired teacher needs a job meanwhile, they are employed as substitute teachers within Manteca Unified.
There has yet to be a teacher hired that started in the district’s program given it has been in place for only four years. It takes five years to become a teacher in most cases.
Currently, they are CTE education teachers at Manteca High and Lathrop High provide learning opportunities to students in lesson planning, constructing engaging lessons, and facilitating workshops. There are other teachers affiliated with the program at other sites who provide coaching and mentorship to students on an informal basis.
Manteca Unified emphasizes
its advantages over other districts
The district believes its approach to education — as well as efforts to equip teachers and students with cutting edge technology — is helping give them an edge in attracting applicants.
“There is a strong student-centered culture within Manteca USD. Staff play a critical role in this culture. Our students need staff who are ready and willing to instruct, inspire and support,” said Darla Sanborn, Director of Classified Personnel, Human Resources.
For those living in Manteca or Lathrop but working in other districts, Brunn notes working locally means less commute time, savings in gas money and wear and tear on cars and — if people are a parent with children in Manteca schools — they can better synch their schedules with that of their kids.
“MUSD as a stable entity for employment with our trusted School Board, senior leadership, and financial solvency as well as the commitment from our community to schools is evident to support and value a culturally diverse environment where staff and students thrive,” Sanborn added
“We are a growing community with an abundance of resources for our students to succeed. At the epicenter of logistics and agriculture in the county, access to Sacramento and San Francisco, Yosemite National Parks, Lake Tahoe uniquely suits our staff and families.”
Brunn noted while it seems that the county office is competing with local districts, Manteca Unified like other area schools, relies on the SJCOE for part of their special education programs.
While Manteca Unified does not provide bonuses, special ed teachers do get stipends in the amount of $3,500 a year. The county office yearly stipends is more robust at $5,000 a year.
The salary range for a special ed teacher in Manteca Unified is $64,930 to $124,299 for 186 days.
That compares to $58,287 to $113,290 for the county,
As such, that could be a significant financial advantage given salary — which is higher in Manteca Unified — goes toward calculating retirement benefits as opposed to stipends that do not.
There are different ranges for other certificated positions that offer special ed services such as school psychologists, school nurses, speech language pathologists, and behavior specialists.
Available Manteca Unified jobs are posted on Edjoin.org/musd.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
