Teacher Stipends
 

Given - that the one of the largest, if not the 1st, impediment to institutionalizing co-curricular STEM programs like FIRST is the lack of teacher incentive, there are people working to resolve this issue.

QUESTION(s):

a) does your local or state school district provide stipends

b) if so what are the parameters, hour worked, stipend paid, state or local funding ?

I'm not interested in data for non-teachers.

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Re: Teacher Stipends
 

Clear Creek ISD offers a stipend to teachers who work with the district robotics program. The funds come out of our local funds and are paid to the staff member as a one time lump sum.
The amounts differ by level and are per campus not per teacher.
Elementary stipend $150.00

FIRST LEGO League Coaches

Intermediate Stipend $300

BEST and VEX Coaches

High School Stipend (FIRST, VEX and BEST) $1,500.00

Sponsors for a minimum of two programs

Please feel free to contact me if you need any more information.

Re: Teacher Stipends
 

These high school numbers match what our district used to do (we no longer have a teacher directly involved since this last season). I believe this was per semester as well.

Re: Teacher Stipends
 

Wave has established a couple of different ways of providing a stipend for teachers. We run our program through the Recreational Department but in Oshkosh it is controlled by the school district.

We have two positions through the Recreational Department:

Lego League Advisor (Responsible for helping coordinate the Oshkosh FLL program and being the go to person for coaches): .04 position of base teacher salary = $1,312.00

Click here to read the Lego League Advisor Job Description

Wave Robotics Advisor (Responsible for all teacher related matters and other matters) for the Wave Robotics program: .08 position of base teacher salary = $2624.00

Click here to read the Wave Robotics Advisor Job Description

Through the school district we have five FLL coach positions, one for each middle school. The funds from these positions came from the Destination Imagination positions that were vacant and had little to no chance of being filled. Each coach receives $784.30

Click here to read the FLL coaches job description.

Our elementary schools are not funded by the school district for FLL. However we have two elementary schools that have created stipends for the $784.30 amount through their own personal school accounts. Also one of our middle schools have provided an extra stipend for a second coach out of their own funding.

All positions require the applicant to have a Wisconsin certified teachers license.

Re: Teacher Stipends
 

As far as I know, our teacher, who is the head mentor, is not compensated for anything. Actually, before our team got active on sponsors and fundraising, a lot of the funding came out of his own pocket.

Re: Teacher Stipends
 

Our teacher/mentor receives a $1500 stipend as a "team coach" which she uses to help fund the team.

Re: Teacher Stipends
 

All our teacher-mentor-coaches receive stipends from our district. I do not know the amount - low four figures certainly, about the same as a club mentor. It is funded locally

Of course, it doesn't even come close to compensating for actual hours worked.

I do not know if there is a certain minimum commitment required

Everyone else is an unpaid volunteer.

Re: Teacher Stipends
 

Teacher stipends for FRC? Sign me up!

Re: Teacher Stipends
 

Question: Please make suggestions as to the stipend amounts, based on the following discussion.

Our team has worked for at least two years on this issue of institutionalizing these programs. It has led us to briefings to the Congressional Robotics Caucus, U.S. Senators, U.S. Congressmen, state and local politicians including the Governor, state school superintendent, and so on and so forth.

What we are working on right now is a highly specific proposal to attempt to introduce into the budget process.

We are working on a model for FLL, FTC/VEX, and FRC programs. For each program, there needs to be at least two items. a) stipend amount, b) time/effort requirements for the teachers to fulfill. We will initially introduce this into the Cobb School District. I'm not suggesting we are going to get anywhere with this in the near future, but eventually this has to be done. That's about all there is to that, IMHO.

For a comparative analysis, the stipends for other CCSD programs are listed in these tables.

Academic Supplements

Athletic Supplements - Asst Coaches

Athletic Supplements - Head Coaches

JROTC Supplements

Middle School Intramural Supplements

Music Supplements

We also want to build a model that has a) one teacher, and b) two teachers.

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Re: Teacher Stipends
 

Before retiring from the school district, one of my duties was to run the debate program in our middle and high schools. We paid a stipend to debate coaches, though not very much. I think it was about $450 per semester for middle school, maybe as much as $750-1000 per semester for high school. This was not much money for the hours involved since most debate teams practice every afternoon and compete monthly (middle school) or weekly (high school). For the high school's at least, this usually involved an overnight trip.

Those teachers worked very hard for the little money they got. But it was very important to them to be recognized monetarily by the school system for their contribution small though the stipend was.

A little money can buy a LOT of hard work and, more importantly, good will.

Dr. Bob

Re: Teacher Stipends
 

Teachers get a $250 stipend from Shaker High School. I think both of them just give the money to the team.

Re: Teacher Stipends
 

Dr. Bob, I'm guessing you were with Dekalb school system ??

According to the CCSD schedule, debate paid $ 2027 for HS level.

Ed

Re: Teacher Stipends
 

With respect to the Toronto District School Board - the 4th largest public school board in North America:

a) does your local or state school district provide stipends

No. Not for robotics, nor for any other extra-curricular activity.

b) if so what are the parameters, hour worked, stipend paid, state or local funding?

N/A.

As much as I would love for the TDSB to be able to encourage participation with a sizable stipend, the realist in me knows the business case can't be made. Some information in this thread shows a football coach in a board receiving a $9000+ stipend - but there's a good chance the football programs there generate revenues that easily cover that expense.

For a board like the TDSB, where good experienced teachers are generally paid decently, the purpose of a stipend would be to avoid the loss of good teachers who have already made the commitment to robotics.

Beyond the hours that teachers spend, little expenses inevitably come up throughout the year.

Granted, most teachers will expense direct-robot related costs to the team...

But there are little things: take-out dinners for the family when you are absent, baby-sitters, gas for part pick-up runs, roaming charges when you're at competition out of the country, the list goes on and on...

The dedicated teacher accepts these things are going to happen, and normally just shrugs them off. But when they happen it's nice to be able to know that they're somewhat "covered."

I actually tracked my non-reimbursed robotics "expenses" last year in as a teacher in Quicken, and they were somewhere in the ballpark of around $450 CDN. Of course, your mileage may vary :p.

Re: Teacher Stipends
 

I disagree. We get what we celebrate. The proof of that is in the compensation.

As much as I love football, and with all due respect...The mission of the school is to educate students, not create players for the NFL. I don't have problem with the coach stipend, but I do have a problem with the inequity, especially given the mission schools.

Re - the 'business case'.
a) how many professional athletes live in our school district, and pay local taxes ?
b) how many people work in this district that directly and indirectly benefit from the effects STEM education has on the local job market.

School district funded stipends is is a different funding source than revenues collected through other aspects of the football funding.

Re the 'business case - The case is there..


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Re: Teacher Stipends
 

Our tiny little town has a stipend for FRC coach and for FRC assistant coach; ~$1800 and ~$600 respectively, with the exact amount contract-dependent.

I think for me last year it came in at about $0.17 an hour. Woo!

I did it for free the first year, but after that was told that the union would not allow unpaid extracurricular duties, so they had to give me money. I was cool with that...

I offer that last tidbit not as an amusing anecdote but as an obstacle that some teams might have in establishing a new team.