On Thursday afternoon, Fort Worth Independent School District held its biggest hiring event in years.
"We had over 1,700 people pre-register," Raul Pena said. Pena is the district's chief talent officer. "This helps us a lot to make sure that we have a teacher in front of every student."
The FWISD Board approved a new compensation package this year of more than $20 million. The package directly affects the teachers who landed a job Wednesday, as the base salary went up to $62,000 a year.
“If you're bilingual certified, your starting salary will be $71,000,” Pena said. “With zero years for special ed teachers, we’re starting them at $68,000 with zero years of experience.”
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According to the school district, experienced educators hired this year have the potential of making close to $64,000 a year.
The school district said it faces a critical vacancy of employees including teachers, teachers assistants, custodial staff, security monitors and more. Hundreds of positions need to be filled in time for the first day of school on August 14.
"When we look at the DFW metroplex, we're in a very good spot," Pena said. "We have about a little bit over 143 schools with about 200 teacher vacancies. By the time we finish today, it'll be an average of about one vacancy per school."
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The school district will continue to accept applications online.
In a separate vote this summer, the board approved a 3% raise for all current teachers and 2% raise for executives.
