B.C. school district offers cash incentive to attract teachers

A school district in the B.C. Interior has taken an unusual step to alleviate its teacher shortage.

The Gold Trail School District, which includes communities such as Ashcroft, Cache Creek, Lillooet and Lytton was short 22 teaching staff last year.

They only employ just over 100 teachers for the district.

Then, an anonymous donor gave the district $200,000, which it is using to pay new teachers $10,000 and $15,000 bonuses.

So far, 13 teachers have taken them up on the offer.

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Teresa Downs, the Gold Trail School District superintendent, said recruitment to the area has always been a challenge for teachers.

“Over the last number of years and certainly the last four, is never being fully staffed,” she said.

Downs said last year was a “crisis point” when almost 20 teaching positions were vacant and that hit the community hard.

“In a rural setting, the schools are often the hub of the community and I think that’s what this donation and this offer really reflects, is the value that schools play and is felt within these communities,” she added.

The money is given to teachers in three installments, with the last one at the end of the school year.

There is no requirement for them to stay after one year but the district is hoping they will grow to love the small communities and stay.

President of the B.C. Teachers Federation, Clint Johnston, told Global News Thursday that it is concerned about the recruitment and retention of teachers around the province.

“In a recent random-sample survey of our members, more than 80 per cent reported feeling direct impacts from the teacher shortage,” he said in a statement. “Their top concern was being unable to provide their students with the services they need.

“We need solutions,” he said. “From the BCTF’s perspective, when it comes to issues affecting teachers’ terms and conditions of employment, including salary and signing bonuses, it is important for these issues to be negotiated with the union as the bargaining agent for all teachers in the province.”