It happens every year. Teacher resignations trickle in until mid-July, requiring HR administrators and principals to scramble to fill vacancies at the last minute, and probably not with the very best applicants (who’ve already been hired by somebody else).
A few Texas school districts are tackling the problem head on, some by offering teachers a monetary incentive for early resignation and one by educating employees about the impact of late resignations on their school.
Waco ISD has designed an early resignation incentive plan that its principals really appreciate. The plan is structured so that if an employee intends to resign or retire at the end of the year and does so by March 1, the district will pay him or her $50 a day for up to 20 days of unused sick leave, a potential windfall of $1,000 for veterans with plenty of accumulated leave.
It’s a significant financial commitment, one that district leaders believe is paying off. Last year was the first year for the program, and early resignations rose 100 percent (from 35 to 70). This year the district received 75 early resignations.
“Our principals love that they have a better idea of who’s planning to leave early on,” said Waco HR Director Robbie Edwards Maness. “This year they are hiring much earlier and therefore we believe that we are getting some better candidates.”
Because the incentive Waco offers is contingent on an employee having unused sick days, the district believes it’s getting an important side benefit: it has cut down the absences among employees who intend to retire or resign. Employees have a significant incentive to keep them from “burning” their days, and better teacher attendance lessens the district’s need for subs (at Waco’s $67 per day sub rate).
The program is still new so Maness hasn’t calculated the overall financial impact. She notes that the district is satisfied and has no plans to discontinue the incentive.
In Fort Worth, the 212 teachers who notified the district of their plans to resign or retire by May 25 will earn a $300 bonus. The district added six days to its original deadline (May 15) due to its closure to prevent the spread of H1N1 flu.
The district offered the bonus to the first 400 teachers to give notice (a financial commitment of $120,000). Like Waco ISD, the Fort Worth board saw the incentive as a means of giving principals additional time to fill key teaching positions.
Even with the incentive, Fort Worth did not see an uptick in early resignations. At this time last year, approximately 220 employees had given notice. Fort Worth recruiters anticipate that the district’s total resignations may be down significantly this year, possibly due to the shaky economy.
The board approved the incentive for this year only. “We, like most school districts, are facing a significant budget deficit in the coming year,” said Clint Bond, external communications coordinator for FWISD. The district’s Finance Department will determine whether the program returns in the future, Bond added.
El Paso ISD has considered an early resignation incentive in the past but has yet to put one in place. Rather than do nothing and settle for the same results as always, the district has taken an active approach, informing teachers of the unintended consequences when resignations come in late.
Principals and HR administrators meet with teachers and ask them to come forward and let the district know about retirements and resignations as soon as they can to help the district plan for the following year. With four new elementary schools opening in 2009–10, the district will likely have to make some involuntary transfers of teachers, so educating them on the benefits of early notice is especially important.
“If we ask them and explain that their friends might not have to leave their home campus if we know that they are leaving, they are often willing to tell us,” said Marcia Daniels, EPISD’s executive director of personnel administration. Daniels hasn’t done any official tracking of the data but believes the district’s call for early notice is working with employees.
Daniels thinks a common misconception may be partly responsible for late resignations. Specifically, some employees don’t realize that their insurance coverage continues through August, regardless of when they put in their resignation.
Daniels is also finding the economic conditions are changing employees’ plans. “People are sitting still,” Daniels said. “A spouse has lost a job or they are just worried about the lack of security. I think we won’t see as many retirements or resignations this year because people are worried.”
The district intends to solicit input on how effective a small incentive would be in getting employees to provide early notice as it conducts exit interviews this summer.
