Things are looking up when it comes to teacher recruitment and retention at Tulsa Public Schools.
Oklahoma lawmakers passed a teacher pay raise averaging $6,100 in 2018. The number of TPS teachers leaving the profession over the past school year went down by nearly half.
TPS Candidate Outreach and Cultivation Manager Kendal Gann said 215 of the district’s educators stopped teaching in the 2018–19 school year as of June compared to about 415 the 2017–18 school year.
The district also has fewer teaching vacancies right now than at this point last year, and more people are applying to be teachers.
"We have a lot more people applying for jobs this year. Currently, we have about 1,020 applications, compared to about 880 total from last year," Gann said.
"One of the things that we would credit that to is the quality leadership and how the district has really been focused on improving employee morale. Also, the statewide teacher pay raise could be a factor that we’re hearing a lot, that the state is starting to step up and fill in some of those gaps," Gann said.
Lawmakers this year passed another $1,200 teacher raise, along with additional classroom funding. TPS officials are planning how those funds will be used.
