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Survey finds substitute teacher shortage

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Illinois

* Kiannah Sepeda at the AP…

Public-school administrators are scrambling to find substitute teachers for as many as 600 Illinois classrooms a day, a survey finds.

The review released Tuesday by the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools revealed that teachers call in more than 16,500 absences each week. School officials have trouble finding replacements for nearly 20 percent of them.

Association president Jeff Vose, who is regional school superintendent for Sangamon and Menard counties, said that a 2012 increase in substitute teacher certification requirements may have discouraged some educators from applying to be fill-in teachers. The law increasing certification requirements raised the application fee to $100, bringing applicants’ total registration costs to around $200. It also added a background check to ward off concerns about “educator misconduct with students,” which accounts for roughly $50 of the total fee.

“Districts are desperate to get quality individuals,” Vose told The Associated Press in a phone interview Tuesday. “However, at some point, they’re just searching for a body to be in front of the classroom.” […]

Schools are amplifying recruiting efforts, helped along by a new law set to take effect next year. That law, signed by Gov. Bruce Rauner last week, will reduce the application fee by $50 and remove a pending basic skills test requirement.

It might also help to pay them more because as the economy has improved people have found full-time gigs. But, hey, money is always tight.

* The survey results are here. From the summary…

The survey of nearly 400 districts found:

* Schools have to cover more than 16,500 absences each week

* Schools cannot find substitutes to cover more than 3,000 absences each week, or about 18 percent of total absences (600 classrooms per day)

* Total absences are more common in schools in the Chicago suburbs. Substitute teacher shortages are more of an issue outside Chicagoland, led by southern and western Illinois.

The survey found that districts in far southern Illinois can’t find substitutes to cover teacher absences 26 percent of the time every week. The number was lowest in the Chicago area, but 16 percent of absences still can’t be covered there.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 9:32 am

Comments

Scrambling to find “quality individuals”? I’ve heard it said that this is a job anyone can do! Heavy snark

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 9:33 am
Hire floaters- i.e. full time subs. And small districts can join together to hire a floater to share.

Comment by chi Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 9:36 am
9:33 - well…when I was a kid it seemed like just anyone could and did serve as a substitute teacher. Long-term subs were a bit different but we had some, ahem, interesting characters for single days.

Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 9:37 am
Chi - that’s a really good idea. No snark. There are plenty of recent college grads who can’t find work in the education field, and in a bigger area like DuPage County a pool of floaters (no pun intended) would work and would serve a multitude of districts well. They could work on contract, and the really good ones could then be in line to secure full-time employment when an opening becomes available.

Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 9:39 am
>Hire floaters- i.e. full time subs. And small districts can join together to hire a floater to share.

Costs probably 3x due to having to provide insurance, benefits, etc. I agree it’s a better solution, but you do what you can afford.

Comment by Earnest Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 9:41 am
Anonymous - you must have a bachelor’s degree and hold a license.. so yes there are qualifications.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 9:42 am
>They could work on contract,

Hadn’t thought of that. It’s a good idea. However, how does that relate to collective bargaining agreements?

Comment by Earnest Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 9:43 am
drop the registration fee, nobody wants to pay money for the honor of working as a sub. I can’t think of another job that has people pay money work for what is essentially an entry level position. Hardly anybody wants the job and we’re asking people to pay money to be considered for the job, think about that.

Also, districts need to try to get creative to avoid teachers missing for professional development days.

Comment by Ahoy! Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 9:43 am
Because of slack requirements to be a substitute teacher I have witnessed some very unqualified, scary people serving as subs when I was an assistant. If parents were aware………

But then again, if parents were aware, they’d have to pay more for those qualified people, and no one seems to feel that this job deserves highly paid, qualified people.

But because of that, when a district has a conscientious, highly qualified sub, they rarely are hired on to a full time position…because………they’re such a gold mine find to sub! One woman who was outstanding tried to hire on for years. She finally quit the sub gig and went into real estate, earning multiples more money.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 9:46 am
LOL, I guess better late than never, this has only been a problem since 2005 when rule changes were put in place. It has gotten worse every year and worsened exponentially when the new licensure changes were made a year or two ago.

Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 9:46 am
It does surprise me because its the perfect gig for someone looking to make a little scratch, including the unemployed, underemployed, stay-at-home parents, and retirees. You pick-and-choose what days you want to work. I did it many moons ago for CPS when I was unemployed. I basically just sat and read the newspaper.

Comment by Just Observing Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 9:46 am
This is just the latest in a series of stories about the looming teacher shortage.

Education reformers in the “let’s-make-it-easy-to-fire-teachers” crowd don’t get that being a teacher is a tough gig — harder now than it’s ever been. As such, there just aren’t a lot of folks lining up to replace the teachers they want to dump.

Comment by Roman Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 9:49 am
Earnest - after reading a few articles about potential teacher strikes (and Quincy came thisclose to a strike) it seems like a lot of districts already have some employees who are NOT covered by a CBA (i.e. support staff, lunch/food service employees). Depending on how legislation is written they would be exempt. Not to ask too pointed of a question but does everything have to relate back to CBA rights?

Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 9:50 am
>Not to ask too pointed of a question but does everything have to relate back to CBA rights?

Only if they’re covered by the agreements. I would think that bringing in teachers on contract on a full time basis would become a bargaining issue. I’m not really advocating for a particular approach here, but I find the issue interesting. Easing the requirements to do substitute teaching seems like an excellent idea. The other idea that came to my mind was the logic of just hiring retired teachers, but then you come back to the person-retired-and-is-getting-paid-a-pension-but-is-still-working-and-getting-paid-for-the-same-job issue.

Comment by Earnest Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 9:54 am
=Hire floaters- i.e. full time subs. And small districts can join together to hire a floater to share.=

What you are talking about has been done for years. Big districts have a pool of “permanent subs”, works well but ACA requirements apply, although many contracts stipolated benefits for these folks since they were full time but without salary schedule advancement. That all varied by district.

It would not make sense for our rural districts given distances and costs.

Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 9:57 am
This feels similar to the school bus driver shortage discussed here last September.

We should pay people well to do important jobs. I find it difficult to reconcile being “for education” and not for paying people who educate a competitive salary.

Comment by LizPhairTax Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 9:57 am
@Earnest- Retired teachers- at least those receiving a pension- are limited to 100 days of work per year in a TRS position. This rule covers administrators as well.

Day to day subs are not covered by the CBA in almost all districts. And some districts only have a CBA for licensed (certified) staff (teachers) while others cover support staff under the same umbrella but differentiate between the groups.

Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 10:05 am
Back in the old days ( BA/MA in ‘72, with no experience, but with a secondary school teaching certificate )very few positions were available in the fields I was comfortable with. I did do some substitute teaching at the HS level until I decided to accept a job far outside my field of study.

The work was satisfying and the daily pay was not that bad. My frustrations however were amplified when I had to cover classes in any of the hard sciences ( math, chemistry, physics ). I was little more than a baby sitter in those classes where most of the students knew more than me.

And, Anonymous @ 9:46 - I did the same and got into real estate and was in it for 30 years through good times and bad.

Comment by illini Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 10:06 am
Here’s part of the issue for the “precariot” , workers who have a precarious working situation. Unstable work hours often make it impossible to secure permanent employment. If one is not able to support oneself as a Sub then it’s a choice between looking for a percent gig or subbing. It’s just so variable.

Plus look at how many of you trolls on here treat teachers. Just on this blog! Worker loathing has consequences.

Comment by Honeybear Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 10:06 am
Anyone that read the hilarious Rahm/Rauner email dump knows that if only we required subs to annually take the ACT and publish their scores for all to see, overnight we would be inundated with the best and brightest subs the world has ever known.

Comment by Daniel Plainview Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 10:17 am
=We should pay people well to do important jobs. I find it difficult to reconcile being “for education” and not for paying people who educate a competitive salary.=

Amen to that!

Meanwhile our governor wants to lower compensation, which is how his proposed changes to collective bargaining would save schools money. Thankfully that seems to have hit a dead end for now.

Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 10:22 am
JS - is the sub pool codified in state law, though? What about CBA exemptions or considerations? I ask because if it were to be introduced as a “reform” package and fully negotiated by all interested parties - IEA, IFT, IASB, IASA, ISBE - then kinks could be worked out and we may not (and hopefully would not) have this kind of problem going forward.

Honeybear - if those in a pool for a larger district or a co-op of districts or an ROE territory would be GUARANTEED a certain amount of days via a contract then the hours may not be “stable” but they would be more predictable. And for a young adult right out of college perhaps that would be the best way to establish himself or herself as a viable candidate going forward. Throw in incentives like student debt repayment benefits to help offset some of the uncertainty. Just a thought.

Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 10:24 am
Just Observing– Things have changed since you subbed “many moons” ago. Teachers are required to leave lesson plans for a sub and the expectation is that you will do a little teachin’

Comment by teach Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 10:26 am
Sounds like substitute teaching has many parallels with the gig economy. Soon we’ll have an Uber-like app that identifies available and qualified subs.

Comment by City Zen Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 10:32 am
There might be no tougher job in the field of Education than Substitute teaching. In many cases, retired teachers get first crack at the openings; i.e. longer stints in the same classroom (maternity leaves for another teacher), better schools within a district or more desirable subjects to teach.

That leaves the next tier to be dealing with measurably more difficult situations to fill.

It’s a really hard job.

Comment by A guy Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 10:49 am
Team Sleep- that sounds reasonable. I appreciate your thoughts that help the precariot substitutes. I say we put money towards them instead of subsidizing luxury condos and boat slips for yachts in Rockford. (river edge credits)

Comment by Honeybear Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 11:02 am
-JS Mill @ 10:05 am

Good information–thanks. I second your ‘Amen!’ on paying people who educate a competitive salary.

Comment by Earnest Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 11:08 am
As a former teacher, a sub who can carry out your lesson plans and not skip a beat in the planning I did (so I return and nothing is lost) is a gold mine. However, it actually takes work.

Just Observing at 9:46 is the talk of the teacher’s lounge. A sub who puts feet up and reads the paper all day is the equivalent of hiring on a dog to keep order and is despised in the Education community. Just thought you should know, Just.

As a teacher, we could request not to ever hire that person for our classroom again. Apparently with the shortage, no such luck. These are the people who make schools “bad”.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 11:11 am
In our district if a teacher has a plan period during time of needed substitute they can get a small stipend for covering that class. Usually that particular position can be covered all day with multiple teachers. Problem is that teachers need all the time they can get to deal with RTI, PBIS, K.I.D.S., Race to the Top, Danielsen evaluation, and many other state and federal mandates. So most teachers decline to cover because of needed prep time. I would love for every politician to come in and teach a week of kindergarten and deal with all the mandates besides. Most wouldn’t last half a day.

Comment by sparky791 Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 11:36 am
@ Earnest
=person-retired-and-is-getting-paid-a-pension-but-is-still-working-and-getting-paid-for-the-same-job issue.=

Subs are not paid anywhere near the amount that an experienced full-time teacher gets - So, the most logical choice for a sub would be a an already vetted/certified/experienced retired teacher, but that’s not an option because they receive a pension? A retired teacher can work in ANY other field, start a business, etc….ANYTHING but sub?
And you wonder why there is a sub shortage?

Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 11:37 am
@ sparky791
= I would love for every politician to come in and teach a week of kindergarten and deal with all the mandates besides. Most wouldn’t last half a day.=

Amen.

Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 11:39 am
Honeybear - thanks. I try to be reasonable in my approach, and though I am personally very conservative I know that not everyone else is.

I have had several friends who have graduated with an education degree and been unable to find a teaching gig within a 60+ mile radius, so people in that situation might be more apt to try something different and get acclimated.

Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 11:49 am
@ Earnest
Subs are not paid anywhere near the amount that an experienced full-time teacher gets - So, the most logical choice for a sub would be a an already vetted/certified/experienced retired teacher, but that’s not an option because they receive a pension? A retired teacher can work in ANY other field, start a business, etc….ANYTHING but sub?
And you wonder why there is a sub shortage?

Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 11:52 am
=JS - is the sub pool codified in state law, though? What about CBA exemptions or considerations? I ask because if it were to be introduced as a “reform” package and fully negotiated by all interested parties - IEA, IFT, IASB, IASA, ISBE - then kinks could be worked out and we may not (and hopefully would not) have this kind of problem going forward.=

Only the requirements for a substitute teaching license and how many days a year someone with a sub license can work (100). Anyone with a teaching license can sub and unlimited number of days.

The inclusion of full-time subs in the CBA is district specific. Permanent subs are generally full members but I am sure there are exceptions. Most districts to not bargain the sub pay etc. except for those who cover a sub duty during their plan. that would pertain to the members of the bargaining unit.

I think districts that allow bargaining over sub pay for non bargaining unit members is a mistake. Some do but not that many. It restricts the BoE if they want to increase or make exceptions for hard to fill positions in my opinion.

Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 11:57 am
sparky and TinyDancer

I’ve often thought that once a student graduates from high school/college, they should have to serve one year as a teacher assistant and get to see this job from the giving, rather than the receiving end.

I seriously believe that there would be no more citicisms and pay would be increased. It’s one thing to sit passively and receive (as in being in the audience of a performance) and quite another to put the event together.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 12:00 pm
==And for a young adult right out of college==

Which we won’t have in Illinois much longer with higher ed being destroyed and the kids heading off to the stable schools out of state…

Comment by HangingOn Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 12:02 pm
An interesting statistic would be the percentage subs needed by districts due to internal curriculum planning, professional development, etc. versus illness and the like. The more top down regulatory requirements there are the less instructional time there will be. This is a significant issue in our district.

Comment by A Watcher Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 12:13 pm
Pay is 100 a day you have to pay into trs from that; so it 12.50 an hr before the retirment contribution. there is also something like 30 days a year max we can work. So even if you werenoknwith the pay, you can only do this 30 work days before you have to have another job…. which probably wont let you skip out randomly for this job.

they need permanent subs

Comment by Ghost Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 12:30 pm
I know people who sub for 3 or 4 schools and they are busy working most of the time.

Comment by Mama Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 12:36 pm
==I’ve often thought that once a student graduates from high school/college, they should have to serve one year as a teacher assistant==

Why stop there? How about a nurse’s aid? Social work? Military? Pretty much every profession would be more appreciated viewed from the “giving” end. If you were ever on the pit floor of CBOT back in the day you’d appreciate how hard that job is.

Comment by City Zen Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 12:55 pm
I’m fine with making it easier to recruit subs. If they turn out not to be good at the job, don’t use them. My wife subs, has a Master’s and knows how to handle a classroom and teach most things left for her (she does K-5 normally with occasional ventures to 6-8). Yes kids still try to goof off when subs are in, but she can handle herself.

Some of the full time teaching requirements for people with advanced degrees could also use a look. I have a law degree and could teach at a law school right now, but try to teach business law at a high school and you need a year plus of classes and thousands in tuition and fees.

Comment by Ron Burgundy Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 12:56 pm
Many recent grads prefer to be hired as a teaching assistant in the district they seek full time employment. It provides for better opportunities to be evaluated and discovered by district leadership. The teacher shortage is certainly due, in part, to how the profession is so frequently bashed by union haters, particularly political leaders. Quality teachers work very hard and frequently dedicate significant work time outside their workday.

Comment by Johnnie F. Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 1:37 pm
Sure CityZen. But I don’t see headline news blasting the outrageous million dollar salaries being paid to them, or nurses aids or social workers. You know, the million dollar salaries being paid to every low life teacher! I don’t see editorials and commentaries discussing the jobs of much of anyone other than teachers! So my point is that if everyone thinks it’s so easy, maybe they need to know what goes on behind the scenes. I know that every job has much more to it that what it appears. But no one gets as much disrepect for it as teachers do. Everyone seems to be an expert about the profession just because they sat in a desk at one time.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 1:40 pm
>Subs are not paid anywhere near the amount that an experienced full-time teacher gets

Earlier, which I commented that full-time subs would be more expensive, I was thinking the salary would be lower but I also thought about ACA requirements and such that would drive up the cost well beyond salary. However, I overlooked the contracting option which Team Sleep pointed out to me.

>So, the most logical choice for a sub would be a an already vetted/certified/experienced retired teacher, but that’s not an option because they receive a pension? A retired teacher can work in ANY other field, start a business, etc….ANYTHING but sub?

I think it’s a good idea, actually. Maybe my mind is stuck in the past, when people were criticizing the fast that a state employee could retire and get their pension and then turn around and contract to do their own job and therefore get salary at the same time they were drawing their pension. Given the level of criticism pensions seem to draw these days, I was picturing a year from now people talking about a teacher who retired, was getting her pension, but was also working as a sub full time and getting a salary for the same job she was already getting a pension on.

I’m not really advocating hard for a position on this issue, but I find the discussion really interesting. Sorry I’m doing a poor job of getting my thoughts across.

Comment by Earnest Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 1:54 pm
@Team Sleep 9:39 ===Chi - that’s a really good idea. No snark. There are plenty of recent college grads who can’t find work in the education field, and in a bigger area like DuPage County a pool of floaters (no pun intended) would work and would serve a multitude of districts well. They could work on contract, and the really good ones could then be in line to secure full-time employment when an opening becomes available.===

Would not work out very well. I don’t think you understand how many different school districts there are in DuPage county, each with a different pay scale. Each has their own policies and priorities, each has their own demographics, language barriers, finances, and problems, including drugs and gangs in some schools. Who would pay for the floaters on standby, and if 2 districts call for a sub, what district gets priority? Naperville? Queen Bee?

Comment by DuPage Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 2:05 pm
Trash teachers,make them pay for some supplies they need for their classrooms,say you want to make it easier to fire them,whine about how they make too much and don’t do a good enough job for what they make.

And they wonder why there is a shortage of teachers now.
Bed.Made.Lie.

Comment by btowntruth from forgottonia Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 2:29 pm
So, for all of you out there who don’t understand why teachers are compensated for unused sick days when they retire - this is why. It incentives good attendance.
Teaching is unlike any other profession. It’s not like when you work in an office, take a sick day, and there’s an empty chair at your desk. You can’t leave a group of kids alone in a room - someone’s got to supervise them and that costs money. And even if you pay for supervision, you still lose a day of instruction.
I know they were trying to end that practice - it would be a costly mistake.

Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 2:37 pm
incentivizes…sorry

Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 2:42 pm
It is$80 bucks a day local… I did it for awhile and donated the money to the senior class then they sent me 1099s

Comment by Big foot Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 5:31 pm
In addition to subs and sick days, you can catch a whole lot more diseases from sick kids coughing and sneezing in your classroom than the office worker in their cubicle alone with their phone and computer. It’s a job hazard. Not the only job to have such risks, but after pneumonia 4 times, I’d say it’s significant.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jan 18, 17 @ 6:20 pm