Union Public Schools Increasing Sign-On Bonuses To Fill Open Positions

Union Public Schools is increasing its sign-on incentives to fill a massive hiring demand.

Jay Loegering with Union Schools said these incentives will make their schools more competitive when it comes to hiring.

“For special education, the bonuses are going from $1,000 to $2,500 dollars and for the secondary math and science teachers and school nurses the bonuses are from $1,000 to $2,000,” Loegering said.

The district is also offering bonuses for bus drivers, child nutrition staff and education aid positions.

The increased bonus is made possible by grant funding.

“There is a huge deficit,” Loegering said. “So anything we can do to incentivize Union to see what great buildings, staff, and students we have to join our team.”

Jay Loegering said Union has already filled more than 70 position, but they still have about 50 various openings.

"The concern is year over year we are fighting a losing battle, there are not enough teachers in the pipeline to fill these positions,” Loegering said.

He said the district is upping recruiting efforts and is putting those incentives into place, but every year there are more positions and not enough people to fill them.

“Right now there are 1,100 teachers graduating from Oklahoma colleges and there are over 4,000 openings in Oklahoma,” Loegering said.

He said the raise the teachers received four years ago was a great help, but since the increase hasn't continued each year, they are right back to square one.

If you are interested and able to fill any of those mentioned positions, Union Schools encourages you to apply at: https://unionps.org/careers.