In Arkansas, teachers are being thanked for their service during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many of them are eligible to receive a one-time bonus check for $1,500 in December 2022.
This bonus payment was approved in May, and it’s a recognition of the hard work teachers did during the pandemic in which their job became more difficult as they even had to transition to remote learning and the challenges it poses.
Eligibility requirements for this $1,500 bonus check
For this one-time special payment, a certified salary schedule in the district holds $4.5 million, with veteran teachers in the Fort Smith Public School system (FSPS) being benefited.
Bonus checks: Arkansas teachers to receive one-time $1,500 payments just in time for holidayshttps://t.co/EuhyvbgyCd. @AsaHutchinson where are the stimulus for seniors and disabled? We need help!!!
— Cherokee/Celtic proud (@CelticFaemom) November 21, 2022
Among the eligible teacher groups, we can find:
- Classroom teachers
- Interventionists
- Instructional specialists
- Special education coordinators
- Adult education teachers
School administration members, like principals and assistant principals, can qualify for the payment, while District-level administrators and department directors aren’t eligible.
According to Talk Business, the money will arrive to the teachers by December 15.
Teachers are also getting paid more
The Fort Smith Public School system (FSPS) will reward teachers also with the “Certified Salary Schedule”, which adds $5,500 to the base pay of teachers, boosting it from $38,500 to $44,000 this school year.
This means that in average, a teacher’s salary got bumped by $3,471.81, which represented a 5.89% increase in pay.
Next contract year, teachers can expect another increase between $800 and $6,300.