Monroe County Community School Corporation employs approximately 750 full-time teachers. On an average day, about 60 are absent for various reasons, said Tim Pritchett, MCCSC public information officer.
To fill these absences, MCCSC pulls from a pool of about 300 substitutes.
This pool doesn’t always cut it, Pritchett said.
“Sometimes we won’t be able to fill an open spot and a principal or administrator will have to fill in and supervise,” Pritchett said. “It happens enough that it’s problematic.”
To find more substitutes, MCCSC lowered its standards: in the past, a substitute needed to have 60 college credit hours — not necessarily in education — to be considered for a temporary position. Now the district only requires 24 college credit hours.
Although altering the requirements makes it easier to find substitutes, this might not benefit the students they are teaching said Linda Carter, treasurer of the National Substitute Teachers Alliance.
“When you start lowering degrees and lowering quality of professionals, you don’t know who you’re getting,” Carter said. “They may say they have a good background, but you may discover they aren’t really teacher material.”
Not only are districts hiring less qualified substitutes, but they are also alienating their ideal candidates — retired teachers with degrees — with poor compensation and second-class treatment, Carter said.
“A lot of people are discouraged by the lack of respect from administration and the abuse substitutes get at the hands of kids,” Carter said. “You have to treat them like professionals. Why should people go teach where they feel unwanted and neglected?”
At MCCSC, Indiana licensed substitutes make $75.58 a day. Those with a substitute teacher’s permit make only $65.22. These rates are lower than some surrounding districts, like Richland-Bean Blossom, and far below the national median: $88.20 a day, according to a 2014 analysis by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Substitutes at MCCSC are also limited to only four days a week, or 28 hours, because the affordable care act stipulates that employees working more than 30 hours a week must be offered benefits.
The low pay is less of an issue for young substitutes who are teaching for experience, not money, said IU senior Ellie Wyant, an elementary and special education major.
“I’m not in a place where I’m doing this to support myself,” Wyant said. “If I did, I’m sure I’d be much more frustrated with how low the pay is.”
Wyant has been subbing in MCCSC for two months and said her experience has been positive — from enthusiastic kids to helpful administration. However, she also said shifts in the education system, such as an emphasis on standardized testing and quantifiable success, might deter others.
“People go into education wanting to teach, but then they get here and suddenly they don’t believe in what they’re doing,” Wyant said. “Sometimes there’s no creativity involved and it’s just about tests and teacher evaluations.”
Prioritizing test scores and cost-cutting takes a toll on students’ learning experience, said David Wierhake, who subbed in MCCSC from 2007-14.
“Following a lesson plan is important, but so is enhancing it,” Wierhake said. “If you’re bringing in less dynamic educators, then you’re also bringing less life experience and knowledge into the classroom.”
The best solution to the substitute shortage is for districts to stop restricting the educators and give them the respect and freedom they deserve, Wierhake said.
“Subs are the lowest on the totem pole at MCCSC in terms of compensation, benefits and recognition,” Wierhake said. “Schools can only benefit from treating subs like professionals, but instead they’re dumbing down educational standards. And when they do that, the students are the ones that lose.”
