When the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. asked the community to support its referendum last fall, the main reasoning behind it was to help hire and retain teachers within its district.
Before the proposal passed on the ballot, BCSC had hired more than 600 new teachers over an eight-year span. Researching the issue, one of the most consistent problems school officials found was that BCSC wasn’t offering competitive pay compared to districts of similar size.
On June 2, 61.3% of voters approved the property tax referendum, which is now set to generate $7.8 million per year in additional property tax revenue starting this year. In total, 86.5% of the money approved through the referendum will be spent on employee recruitment and retention and 13.5% on student safety, according to figures from BCSC.
The plans for a referendum were long in place before COVID-19 gripped the county, but additional pandemic relief money will soon also be used to help tackle the continued issue of staffing.
Last week, BCSC found out it will receive about $5.9 million in emergency relief funding. Since, the school corporation has said that it plans to use the money to hire 34 teachers within the next two years in "high-need" areas
BCSC isn’t wasting any time to fill the positions, as it’s planning its first virtual teacher fair on April 7. Those interested can go to choosebcsc.org to sign up for the event and mark which time slots they’re available for the fair.
We’re glad to see that the emergency funding will go towards continuing to fill jobs in the school system rather than to other expenses.
The core of any good school district is dedicated and experienced teachers.
It has been proven that the strongest performing schools are ones with the most accomplished teachers, and hopefully the added positions and increases in pay will lend that to BCSC.
