Round Rock ISD holds job fair, offers stipends to recruit teachers for 2023-24
ROUND ROCK, Texas - Summer break is right around the corner. While that means a break for most schools, it becomes a busy time for recruiters at Round Rock ISD.
Saturday morning Round Rock ISD hosted their teacher hiring event in efforts to fill classrooms for the upcoming school year.
"We try to recruit early and also because all the great things that are happening in our district, we're going to attract them to us first before they can apply to any other kind of places," said superintendent Dr. Hafedh Azaiez.
In efforts to attract educators from all over, Round Rock ISD just started the Spirit Exchange Program, which brings teachers from all over the world to teach in the U.S. for up to three years.
"Getting to know the educational system here in the U.S. and how that is working, like getting to know the difference between our educational system, like in our country, like this one," said Paulina Jaramillo, exchange teacher at Gattis Elementary.
The school district has openings in all areas and is offering multiple stipends:
- Starting pay for Certified Teachers is $53,000 per year.
- Teachers with a bilingual certification can see a stipend of $7,000.
- Teachers with a special education certification can see a stipend of $3,000.
"We also have stipends for coaches, and we have a lot of coaching positions in our district, both in athletics and also in fine arts and lots of different opportunities that we have," said Chief Human Resources Officer Eddie Curran.
A full list of stipends can be found here.
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Seeing the hiring pool for teachers become shallower all around the nation, Round Rock ISD is working on ways to retain teachers.
"We built a program called Rock Teach, which is for our paraprofessional employees, and it provides an opportunity for them to pursue their teaching certificate," said Curran. "And the district pays for the tuition for that."
Curran said it's important to support their staff if they choose to extend their education.
"Our professional development department is very, very embedded in that new teacher experience," Curran said. "Once teachers are here, it's really important that we continue to help them grow, and we hope to continue to support them in their craft."
The school district says they will continue recruitment in the summer.
A full list of job openings within Round Rock ISD can be found here.