Richland 1 school board to consider giving full-time employees a $1,000 bonus

The Richland 1 school board could consider giving all employees a one-time retention payment.

The plan, which will be considered by Richland 1 school board’s administration committee, would provide a $1,000 bonus for all full-time employees and a $500 bonus for part-time employees, according to a meeting agenda.

The committee meeting will be held Tuesday, but the proposal cannot be approved until it receives a full school board vote. Richland 1’s next school board meeting is Tuesday, Dec. 14, at C.A. Johnson High.

If approved, the first half of the payment would be distributed Dec. 17 for employees who started work by Monday, Dec. 6. The second half would be distributed around May 31, 2022, so long as the employee stays with Richland 1, according to the proposal.

Richland 1 has roughly 4,000 employees, and the plan would cost roughly $6 million and would be paid from the district’s general fund, according to the proposal.

Giving a bonus to employees is one way school districts, particularly in Richland County, have sought to recruit and retain employees in recent years. Earlier this year, Richland 1 offered signing bonuses for teachers and approved performance bonuses to bus drivers, which are in short supply throughout the state.

In October 2020, Richland 1 gave bonuses of the same amount, for a full cost of $5 million. The reason the raises were more expensive this year is because the new plan actually calls for higher payments to employees. Last year, the $1,000 payments were just written as $1,000 payments to employees, Richland 1 spokeswoman Angela Crosland said in an email. This year’s plan calls for giving employees a bonus of more than $1,000, adjusted so they keep a total of $1,000 after taxes, Crosland said.

This story was originally published December 6, 2021 at 1:29 PM.