St. Paul Public School offers bonuses for new hires

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - The St. Paul Public School District announced it is offering $10,000 bonuses for new hires as they work to fill 70 possible special education job openings before the next academic year.

The district says it is looking to fill openings for teachers, social workers, psychologists, speech and language pathologists, and language immersion teachers. SPPS says it will offer bonuses to the first 70 special education licensed staff hired for the upcoming year.

The bonus will be paid in three installments over two years.

"St. Paul Public Schools is taking this bold and proactive step to ensure our students have the best educators in the state, particularly the 17% of our students who are eligible for special education services," Executive Chief of Human Resources Patricia Pratt-Cook said in a press release. "Our students deserve nothing less, and in this competitive job market, we need to do everything we can to attract the best candidates to our classrooms."

The district is also offering other bonuses

$4,000 for the first 60 educators hire who have a Tier 2, 3, or 4 licenses and teach math, chemistry, middle school science, physical education, or Montessori language immersion or English as a Second Language.
$4,000 for the first 50 special education educational assistants, behavior intervention specialists and mental health practitioners.
$4,000 for the first 50 special education teaching assistants.
$2,000 for Tier 2 special education teachers in the district who get a Tier 3 or Tier 4 license by November 2023.

Each new hire is only eligible for one bonus, SPPS says. St. Paul Public Schools job website is here.