Incentives and Retention

I had never considered what issues might exist for small districts in attracting and retaining teachers. Of course it makes sense that smaller school districts might not be able to pay teachers as much as larger school districts. A bill is currently in Congress that would increase incentives for teacher, both new and veteran, in small but high-priority school districts. The schools have to be small, with less than 1,000 students enrolled and have a student population of which 80% must be eligible for free or reduced lunch programs.
With the new bill, $1,000 would be paid to new teachers and $3,000 would be paid to veteran teachers (4 years or more in the district). These small schools need to offer something to compete with higher salaries of larger districts. I think that the retention bonus is something that could potentially attract teachers.
Baltimore City offered signing bonuses to teachers in qualifying schools or in specific disciplines, like science and math. There are no teacher retention bonuses in Baltimore City that I am aware of. However, just like these small school districts, retention is an issue that needs to be addressed. I wonder if it would be feasible to implement something like this in Baltimore City and what affect it could have on teacher retention.
http://www.thnews.com/article.php?id=7892