All employees in the Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District will be receiving a bonus to be paid in two parts, the School Board decided Monday night.
Teachers of special education students and transportation employees will receive additional bonuses on top of the first bonuses.
The district's 299 state-licensed employees -- including teachers -- will receive a total of $1,850 with a first $1,000 installment of that to be paid in December and the second installment of at least $850 to be paid in May.
Classified employees, of which there are 250, will receive $1,250, with $1,000 to be paid in December and at least $250 in May.
The total cost -- including the benefits such as retirement contributions -- will be $677,055 for the licensed teachers and $382,500 for the support staff.
Jeremy Owoh, the district's superintendent, told the School Board that the bonus for the teachers is being paid out of the state's Teacher Equalization Fund, which was approved by state lawmakers earlier this year. The fund is intended to be used to narrow the gap between the average teacher salaries paid by school systems statewide.
The May payment to the Jacksonville/North Pulaski teachers may ultimately be higher than $850, Owoh said, if there are very few new teacher hires during the course of the school year.
Additionally, the Jacksonville/North Pulaski board approved Monday payment of bonuses for particular categories of hard-to-hire special education teachers and bus drivers.
The School Board approved a $5,000 incentive bonus -- to be paid in installments over three years -- to licensed special education teachers and teachers of special education students who are acquiring special education licenses in addition to their licenses in other teaching fields.
The eligible employees will receive $850 per semester for five semesters and $750 in the last semester of the third year.
"Bus drivers are in a critical shortage area in our state," district leaders wrote to the School Board in recommending a $2,000 bonus for district transportation employees.
"In order to help attract bus drivers to JNPSD, a signing bonus is being proposed for contracted and non-contracted bus drivers. The drivers will be be paid $1,000 at the end of the first semester and another $1,000 at the end of the school year," the recommendation to the board stated.
Owoh told the board there is an "all hands on deck" effort underway to provide a sufficient number of bus drivers.
Owoh and Assistant Superintendent Bobby Lester are working to get commercial drivers licenses, Owoh said. At least one district coach and a campus security officer, as well as the district's director of transportation, have been pitching in on the driving, he said.