The Latest About Salary Increases Versus Bonuses
The Arkansas Legislative Council (ALC) is recommending that schools use ARP funds for staff bonuses but this creates a lot of problems they did not anticipate.
On July 21st, an ALC subcommittee made a recommendation for school districts to use their ARP ESSER funds to give full-time certified employees a $5,000 bonus and classified employees a $2,500 bonus. You may view the committee meeting at this link. The motion is made at the 9:33:48 mark and there is much discussion about the whole idea because we have consistently been told by the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) that giving an across-the-board bonus to all employees using ESSER funds was not allowed.
The rules do allow funds to be spent on recruitment and retention; but, since ‘bonuses’ were not allowed, we have had to be creative in order to provide additional pay to all staff members and our ideas have been approved by DESE. This motion by the ALC appears to be in conflict with federal law and our department’s oversight of these funds and will create many difficulties for most schools in the state to pay for such a bonus.
The legislative action of recommending ARP ESSER-funded bonuses to employees has some challenges. First, there are procedural issues with whether this recommendation meets state and federal laws and regulations. Second, many districts have already allocated the expenditure of their ARP ESSER funds and some do not have enough remaining ARP ESSER funds to pay a bonus. Additionally, many districts never received enough ARP ESSER funds to cover the bonuses even if their entire ARP ESSER funds were spent on bonuses.
During the last two years, we have shifted allowable expenses from district dollars to ESSER and ESSER ARP funds. Therefore, we were able to give an employee bonus of $1,000 last Christmas using district funds. Additionally, we have given additional COVID duty pay and, for the first time ever, are giving sign-on and retention bonuses, bonuses for upskilling by earning credentials, and helping to offset the costs of graduate degrees. All of these things are in our current ARP plan for recruitment and retention.
For us to afford the bonuses recommended by ALC, we would have to shift the salaries of our RTI Interventionists and their paras to another fund, likely Title I. If we moved these salaries, we would not be able to meet the mandated 20 percent use of ARP funds for learning loss. We would be out of compliance with federal law. We would also have to end the incentive pay we have in place for upskilling, sign-on, and retention bonuses from ARP and look to other possible funds if they are available. Ending the incentive pay would be a disappointment as it is not only good for staff, it is good for our students who are being taught and supported by adults who have more skills.
If ending the incentive programs does not fully cover the bonuses, we would have to adjust other capital projects already in place. We have signed contracts for the cameras, HVAC, outdoor classrooms, and flooring. The cameras and HVAC projects are 95 percent complete but not 100 percent paid for. The outdoor classrooms are out for contract now and the floors are already under contract. We may be forced into a breach of contract litigation if we had to suddenly end a portion of those projects to afford these bonuses.
The state has a surplus of state revenue that would cover the cost of the recommended bonuses if the legislature desires to compensate teachers in that way. This same surplus was part of a comprehensive plan offered by the governor to give teachers raises entering into the 2022-2023 school year. But, it does not appear that teacher salaries or bonuses will be addressed during the special session scheduled in August. I have explained our situation to Representative Maddox and Senator Rice. They both understand the dilemma and are communicating that with their counterparts in the legislature.
There is much uncertainty about whether or not these bonuses will be both allowed or even affordable for Mena and every other school district in the state. I hope for leadership and guidance that will keep us on our current plan and work toward teacher raises to either come up in the special session or in the regular session starting in January 2023. I will keep you all informed about how this will affect Mena Public Schools as the situation evolves.