Cedar Rapids Community School District believes that staff and students deserve a fully staffed building with qualified teachers every day of the school year. Currently, CRCSD has more than 60 open teaching positions for the 2023-24 school year. But CRCSD is not alone in this teacher candidate shortage. According to the Iowa Department of Education, Iowa is still facing an educator shortage in more than 20 subject areas, including special education, elementary education, science, math, and language arts. Therefore the district is launching a new teacher recruitment and retention campaign on May 10, 2023, which will offer limited-time incentives to help attract much-needed teachers to the CRCSD district. The campaign will focus on hiring diverse, talented, high-quality teachers that will be committed to the success of every student in the district.

The district’s new “Be The One” recruitment and retention campaign will offer the following hiring incentives to recruit teachers to CRCSD:
– Referral Incentive: A staff referral incentive of $1,500, spread over two years, for current CRCSD staff members who refer a new teacher candidate for an open teaching position—who then gets hired by the district.
– Hiring Incentive: A $5,000 hiring incentive, spread over three years, for k-12 special education teaching positions that are filled by new teachers to the district. And a $3000 hiring incentive for candidates who can demonstrate evidence of successful experience with and in racially and/or ethnically diverse environments including, black, indigenous, and people of color, spread out over two years.
– Stay Incentive: A 50% discount for before and after school childcare through Champions for all employees during the 2023-24 school year.

All current CRCSD employees, except HR employees, Hiring Managers, and Administration, are eligible to earn the Staff Referral Incentive of $1,500 for referring a new teaching candidate/applicant to the district for an open teaching position—who are then hired. There is no limit on the number of new teaching applicants you can refer to the district. All current CRCSD employees are also eligible for the discounted childcare rate at Champions.

The teaching applicant must be a new hire teacher to the district and not have had any previous teaching experience at the Cedar Rapids Community School District in the past in order to receive the $5,000 hiring incentive. The applicant must also meet all requirements of the job description at the time of each payout to receive any portion of the hiring incentive. Each person is only eligible one time for the hiring incentive. Only the following positions will apply to the incentive: K-12 Special Education Teacher Strat I, Teacher Strat II (BD/ID), or any combination of the titles listed. To receive the full payout, the new hire special education teacher must stay in the district for three school years and in a special education teaching role otherwise, they will only receive a partial payment.

A hiring incentive of $3,000 to candidates who can demonstrate evidence of successful experience with and in racially and/or ethnically diverse environments including, black, indigenous, and people of color, spread out over two years. Each person is only eligible one time for the hiring incentive. To receive the full payout, the new hire must stay in the district for two school years.

Any new teacher that meets all of the requirements for either the $5000 or $3000 incentive that is hired for the 2023-2024 school year will receive the incentive. The $1,500 referral incentive is effective May 9, 2023. The discounted before and after-school childcare rates, through Champions, begins August 23, 2023, and is only for the 2023-24 school year.

The Staff Referral Incentive and both the Special Education and BIPOC Hiring Incentive are spread out over a designated number of years, as listed below. The incentive will be added directly to your CRCSD paycheck. If the new or referring staff member leaves before the payment schedule is complete, all future payments will be forfeited.
-Staff Referral Incentive: The Staff Referral Incentive is spread over 2 years – $750 the 1st year and $750 the second year. If you or the person you referred leaves the district after year 1, you will lose the year 2 payment. The payment schedule for the referral incentive is as follows – the first payment will be paid in the second pay period in September 2023 and the 2nd payment will be paid in January 2025.

-The $5,000 hiring incentive for newly hired Special Education Teachers who are new to the district will be split into 3 payments that are spread across their first 3 years of service – $2,500 the 1st year, $1,500 the 2nd year, and $1,000 the 3rd year. New hire special education teachers that start after the 2nd pay period in September and before January, will get their hiring incentive payout within 2 pay periods of them starting at the district. Then the year 2 and year 3 payments will be paid out in September, as long as the employee stays in a Special Education Teaching Role. If the new employee starts after January in a Special Education Teaching Role, they will receive their 1st hiring incentive payout within 2 pay periods of starting and then receive the following 2 payouts when they have hit 1 year and 2 year anniversaries in a Special Education Teaching role within 2 pay periods of them hitting their 1 and 2 year anniversaries.

-The $3000 incentive for people with experience teaching in racially and/or ethnically diverse environments is spread over 2 years – $1,500 the 1st year and $1,500 the 2nd year. Payments being made in the last pay period in September in 2023 and 2024.

There are several ways you can refer teaching applicants to the district – through word of mouth, email, text message, or a message over social media. The district will be providing some social media graphics and an information sheet that staff can use to help with referring applicants.

However, in order to receive the referral incentive, the job applicant MUST include the referral person’s name on the employment application prior to the first interview. Under the “referral source,” on the application, the applicant must check the box for “district employee.” They can then enter the referring employee’s name on the “other” line. Only one name will be accepted as a referral. If multiple names are listed, only the first one will receive the incentive.

If you receive the Staff Referral Incentive and you leave the district before the payment timeline has finished, you will forfeit all future payments. The discounted childcare rate will also be terminated once you leave the district.

If the applicant you referred through the Staff Referral Program for a teaching position in the district leaves before completing two years of service at the district, you will not receive your year 2 payment.

Yes, all incentives are taxable income and subject to all appropriate payroll deductions.