Dallas to El Paso: Give Us All Y our Teachers

By Robert Wilonsky Fri., Jun. 2 2006 at 8:59 AM

Categories: News

Maybe that's not exactly true, but the El Paso Times is reporting this morning that Dallas Independent School District's chief teacher recruiter, Hector Flore, has been in the West Texas town...well, recruiting teachers, what else? Says in the piece that some 125 El Paso teachers have been hired by Dallas schools in the past five years--"and about 75 more have been hired if the count includes uncertified teachers from Ju�rez and Chihuahua City." And precisely why would they come to Dallas--other than to get outta El Paso, which I can say only because my mom did the same thing some 40 years ago?

"Dallas comes touting higher salaries: $39,150 for first-year teachers compared with $36,600 in the Socorro Independent School District. Socorro has the highest teacher salaries in El Paso County.

But Flores said the deal comes in the stipends. Teachers certified in bilingual education get $4,000 added on to their yearly salary, and bilingual teachers with certification in math or science earn $2,500 extra a year. Those certified to teach Spanish get $3,000 on top of their base salary.

'It's a nice way to lure them to Dallas,' Flores said. 'We try to stay on top of the salary packages.'"

I knew I should never have taken French at my DISD high school. --Robert Wilonsky

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