Finally, districts and unions should ensure that teachers who agree to teach in hard-to-staff schools or in shortage subject areas are offered higher pay.

The contract does not allow the Department of Education to pay more to teachers who work in hard-to-staff schools or subjects like math and science.

With the union's consent, Mr. Fernandez wants to reserve some of these jobs for less-experienced teachers who work during the school year in hard-to-staff schools.

Under Mr. Fernandez's plan, these courses, which are sometimes partly paid for by the school system, would increasingly be offered in hard-to-staff schools.

The cash part of the plan is an extension of a policy that provides bonuses to the faculties of hard-to-staff schools during the regular school year.

Instead, he is interviewing with Teach for America, a nonprofit group that recruits college graduates to teach in hard-to-staff schools for two-year stints.

Admissions Policies Criticized Of the high school division, the report said: "Strategies should be developed to attract and retain teachers in hard-to-staff schools with low academic performance."

And both favor merit bonuses and salary differentials for teachers in hard-to-staff schools and in areas with a shortage of teachers, like math, science and special education.

The Board of Education is planning to hire up to 1,500 of the applicants, career changers with little or no teaching experience, to work in hard-to-staff schools.

He entered teaching through Teach for America, a nonprofit Peace Corps-type group that places college graduates without formal teaching credentials in hard-to-staff urban public schools for two years.