Georgia and South Carolina lawmakers are looking for different ways to reduce teacher shortages in the two states.
Georgia
Some teachers who agree to work in certain rural or underperforming schools may receive an extra $ 3,000 per year for five years, according to a bill presented to the state chamber.
The House Education Committee on Thursday approved the House Bill 32, which would create a tax credit for up to 1,000 teachers who agreed to start working in the selected districts. If teachers did not incur $ 3,000 in state income tax, the state would send a check for the remaining amount after teachers filed their income tax returns.
The measure goes to the plenary of the Chamber, where a similar bill was easily approved last year.
“This is a pilot program,” said sponsor Dave Belton, a Buckhead Republican. “I hope that later on we can expand it because it is very successful.”
The state Department of Education would designate a group of 100 schools across the state where full-time teachers would be qualified.
Georgia tried and abandoned other strategies to encourage teachers to take up positions that are difficult to fill.
Rep. Tommy Benton, a Jefferson Republican, asked why Belton was not offering to forgive student loan debts to teachers who pledged to these schools, suggesting that this could have a more persuasive effect, but Belton said legislative leaders they are instead supporting the tax credit.
Governor Brian Kemp is supporting a different set of proposals aimed at increasing the supply of teachers, including a plan that could allow retired teachers to return to work and receive a full salary and a full pension. Other parts of Kemp’s plan, such as encouraging more members of the military to become teachers, were approved by the Senate Education and Youth Committee on Wednesday.
South Carolina
South Carolina’s proposal – included in a bill passed by the Senate to elevate teachers to a higher position in the distribution of the vaccine in the state – is similar to Kemp’s.
A December report states that there are about 700 openings in school districts across the state.
Currently, retired educators can fill these vacancies and earn up to $ 50,000 a year, but that is only because of the pandemic.
“There is no doubt that we will have a shortage of labor and teachers when we leave this pandemic and move to regular five-day education,” said Republican Senator Gregg Hembree of Horry County. “We will also need additional resources, human resources, for our children to be accompanied.”
But in a few months, the amount retirees could earn by going back to the classroom would drop to about $ 10,000 a year.
“We got the money, the federal government sent about $ 1 billion to work on this recovery, but we will need people to do that,” said Hembree. “So, we will have to be creative to find qualified people who may not be in the current workforce.”
The 700 job vacancies registered by the state at the beginning of the year represented an increase of 26% in relation to the previous year. The data shows that 6,000 teachers left the job market, of which about 1,000 have retired.
Some lawmakers and teachers say the amendment moves the state in the right direction to combat teacher shortages.
If it doesn’t pass this time, legislators who approve that plan can add it to other accounts.
From reports by The Associated Press and Wis