Financial Incentives

A number of school systems have gone beyond traditional compensation to attract and retain the high-quality staff they need. Strategies such as the following are being employed:

Salary supplements

Supplement for an ASHA-certified SLP, analogous to bonus for certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS)

• Joye McLeod, Papillion-LaVista School District, NE
• See a complete list of ASHA's local district salary supplement successes

Increased salaries to compete with neighboring districts or states

• Fe Murray, Page Unified School District, AZ
• Marie Ireland, Chesterfield School District, VA
• Genecile Weston, Frederick County Public Schools, MD

Increased contract time per day, with pay, for paperwork, and adding extra days of pay at the end of the school year

• Frank Cirrin, Minneapolis Public Schools, MN

$1,500 salary increase for processing Medicaid reimbursement paperwork

• Ellen Estomin, Pittsburgh Public Schools, PA

Pay Scales

• Master's level SLPs paid on a doctoral level scale
• Salary commensurate with that of psychologists
• Higher starting salaries/pay scale for SLPs than for classroom teachers
• Pay lane change for achieving advanced credential (e.g., Certificate of Clinical Competence [CCC]) or credits
• Creation of career ladder with different pay scales
• Full credit for work experience in settings other than school settings for assignment to maximum salary level on entry to the system

Bonuses

• Bonuses: sign-on, $3,000; Year 1, $2,000; Year 2, $1,000
• Additional $1,500 for SLPs in schools having vacancies for 2 years or more
• $1,000 stipend for SLPs who do bilingual assessments
• Normal pay scale for summertime work in the district
• Additional money for district's before and after school speech-language programs
• Monetary bonus for high-need subject area candidates
• Stipends for mentors and clinical fellowship (CF) supervisors
• Bonus for high student achievement
• Reimbursement of licensure or registration fees
• Reimbursement of dues and certification fees

Other Financial Incentives

• Incentives for veteran/retiree SLPs
• Tuition-free degrees or reimbursement costs for graduate work
• Service scholarship programs for hard to serve areas
• Incentives for national certification
• Professional development allowance
• Paid release time for professional development
• Reimbursed costs of continuing education
• Phone and supplies allowance
• Tax credits
• Pay for performance
• Low-interest housing loans, housing assistance, closing expenses, relocation benefits, moving expenses

Success story from Peggy Flach, Bathalto School District, IL