Will More Money Attract More Substitute Teachers?

ESSEX, CHESTER, DEEP RIVER, CT — The current education environment is strange, to say the least, and school districts throughout the state are experiencing difficulties getting substitute teachers, due in part to the coronavirus crisis. Pay rate plays a role in that also. It's been five years since the Regional School District 4 increased its pay rate for substitute teachers, and 2020 has become a time to up the ante.

At their Dec. 3 Joint Board of Education Committee meeting — which included members from the Chester, Deep River, Essex and Region 4 boards of education — board members voted to increase the daily rate of pay for non-certified substitute teachers from $80 to $84. The increase is retroactive to Sept. 1, when the minimum wage was increased in Connecticut to $12 per hour. As a result of the minimum wage increase, the district had already increased the daily pay rate for substitute paraprofessionals to $84, for a seven-hour school day, but action for substitute teachers had not been taken yet.

In December 2015, the last time substitute teacher pay was increased in Region 4, the minimum wage was $9.15; the pay then rose from $75 to $80 for non-certified teachers and $75 to $85 for certified substitutes.

The Dec. 3 discussion about the pay increase centered on the fact that the issue will most likely be revisited in the near future because the district's low pay rate for substitutes is having a negative effect on getting and keeping qualified subs in the schools.

Superintendent Brian White, who recently attended a meeting with other superintendents throughout the state, was made aware of the rates other districts pay their substitutes and explained to the boards that he felt that this was an area that he anticipates revisiting when budget time comes around.

"It's important to remain competitive with other districts because we are competing for the same pool of subs," White said. "It is absolutely a challenge finding subs right now."

An email response from Kelly Education, a staffing business used by several school districts throughout the state, said it recently researched substitute teacher pay rates in schools across 31 states. (Kelly Education places qualified staff in more than 2.8 million classrooms each school year and is currently servicing over 7,000 schools across 35 states). According to Kelly Education's Wage Index Report, "Connecticut's pay rate for substitutes is only slightly above the state's minimum wage for a role that requires anything but minimum knowledge! In Connecticut, the average hourly rate for substitute educator positions is $14.89. The minimum wage in Connecticut is $12. The delta between the state's minimum wage and the average hourly rate for substitute educator positions is a mere 24 percent. To attract and retain quality substitute educators, the recommended delta is at least 70 percent or higher."

Although substitute pay in neighboring towns is not much higher than it is in the Region 4 district, it is higher nonetheless. In the Haddam-Killingworth Regional School District 17, non-certified substitutes make $12.88 per hour and are paid for a day that lasts seven hours and 15 minutes. Certified subs, who have teacher certifications, make $100 a day. New to the district this year are building subs, who are required to be in the building four days a week and are paid $135 a day.

According to the Lyme/Old Lyme Regional School District 18 office, all substitutes in that district are paid $95 a day.

In the Old Saybrook school district, substitute teachers are paid $90 a day, and building subs (new to the district this year) are paid $135.35 per day. And, Kelly Services provides substitutes to the Westbrook School system, which pays $13.50 an hour for subs.

Realizing the current need for more substitute teachers in schools throughout the state, Gov. Ned Lamont signed an executive order in early December offering school districts more flexibility in hiring short-term substitute teachers, opening up the pool of applicants and allowing schools to hire short-term subs with no bachelor's degree. The order allows the commissioner of the Department of Education to suspend the statutory requirement that local school districts request and receive a waiver from the commissioner.

White concluded that any additional increase in substitute pay in District 4 is a more appropriate conversation for next year's budget talks, when a line item to support that can be added to the budget. For now, the increase to $84 for non-certified subs in the district is the only change made.