Regulation-Code-GCBC-R

Section G: Personnel

Regulation Title: Recruitment, Retention and Transfer Stipends
Regulation Code: GCBC-R

Print Version (in PDF)

The Tucson Unified School District is a Local Education Agency (LEA). As such, the School District may utilize appropriate federal funds to offer incentives for the recruitment, retention and transfer of highly qualified care academic teachers pursuant to the Elementary & Secondary Education Act § 2123. The main purpose of these incentives is to provide the School District with the means to hire "Highly Qualified" and "Effective" staff, to improve instruction, increase student achievement, and ensure the equitable distribution of effective teachers across the district and within schools.

Teachers that meet the following requirements may be eligible to receive recruitment, retention or transfer incentives. To be eligible for these incentives, teachers must be:

• A "Highly Qualified Core Academic Teacher", and
• Be appropriately certified for the core content area they are hired to teach, and
• Have a record of success in helping low-achieving students improve their academic achievement. In other words, teacher must be "Effective."

Recruitment Incentives:

LEAs may utilize federally appropriate funds to offer recruitment stipend for initial hires and/or district transfers who are assigned to teach core academic subjects in which there exists a documented shortage of highly qualified teachers within a school or LEA, or to achieve the "equitable distribution of effective teachers."

Recruitment stipends must be tied to a documented need based on the LEAs Needs Assessment. If the LEA chooses to pay recruitment incentives, they must be listed as a strategy or action step in Goal 2 of the LEA's Continuous Improvement Plan on ALEAT.

The following is the defined criterion indicating eligibility for the recruitment incentives as applied to Initial Hires and Transfers:

Initial Hires New to the Profession:

To qualify for a one-time recruitment incentive an initial hire new to the profession must:

• Be "Highly Qualified" for all core academic positions he/she is assigned to teach and
• Be appropriately certified for all core academic positions assigned to teach.

Initial Hires with Experience:

To qualify for a one-time recruitment incentive an initial hire with experience must:

• Be "Highly Qualified" for all core academic positions he/she is assigned to teach,
• Be appropriately certified for all core academic positions assigned to teach, and
• Have a record of success in helping low-achieving students improve their academic achievement. Perspective eligible initial hires will provide copies of past performance evaluations. An equivalent rating of "Effective" will be required.

Transfers:

Transfers between schools within the District are eligible to receive a recruitment incentive if they meet the following criteria:

• Are "Highly Qualified" to teach all core academic positions they are assigned to teach,
• Are appropriately certified for all core academic positions assigned to teach, and
• Have a record of success in helping low-achieving students improve their academic achievement. Record of success will be demonstrated by three-years of verifiable achievement data showing increase in achievement (AIMS) and three-years of performance rating of "Effective" or "Highly Effective."

Retention Incentives:

LEAs may utilize federally appropriate funds to offer incentives to promote retention of highly qualified, appropriately certified and effective teachers who are assigned to teach core academic subjects where there exists a documented shortage or to promote the equitable distribution of effective teachers. Teachers identified for a retention stipend will have a record of success in helping low-achieving students improve their academic achievement, particularly students from economically disadvantaged families, students from racial/ethnic minority groups and students with disabilities.

If the LEA chooses to pay retention incentives, they must be listed as a strategy or action step in Goal 2 of the LEA's Continuous Improvement Plan on ALEAT and tied to student Reading/Language Arts/English proficiency, Mathematics proficiency or focused on Highly Qualified Effective Teachers and Principals.

Record of success will be demonstrated by three-years of verifiable achievement data showing increase in achievement (AIMS) and three-years of performance rating of "Effective" or "Highly Effective."

Payment Schedule and Amount for Qualifying Teachers:

The amount of the incentive will be approved annually by the Governing Board. The incentive will only be paid to eligible core teachers whose eligibility has been validated by Human Resources, Professional Development and Accountability and Research.

Incentive	Payment Schedule
Initial Hires New to the Profession	50% in December of hiring year and 50% in May of hiring year
Initial Hires with Experience	50% in December of hiring year and 50% in May of hiring year
Transfers	20% in December of the transfer year; 30% in May of the transfer year and 50% in December of the following year based on student achievement and teacher performance evaluation
Retention	100% in September of the following year based on student achievement and teacher performance evaluation

Adopted: May 17, 2013 [Friday Report]