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While student
absences have been making headlines lately, teachers sometimes miss school too.
In fact, one analysis
we conducted found that some school districts spend nearly $2,000 each year for
every teacher they employ to provide substitutes who can cover their absences. This
month, the Trendline takes a look at substitute teachers’ required qualifications,
salary, and benefits. We find some significant changes in the pay and benefits
provided to substitute teachers since our last look only one year ago.
Minimum education and
licensing requirements
In the majority of districts, substitute
teachers are not subject to the same education and licensing requirements as full-time
teachers. While 35 percent of districts require a Bachelor’s degree, 48 percent
of the districts in the database do not. In fact, 15 percent of districts
require no more than a high school diploma or GED.
In addition to education requirements, some districts also
have licensing or certification requirements for daily substitutes. Although
the majority of districts do not directly address this issue in formal policy, there
are 42 districts in the database requiring substitute teachers to have some
form of license or certification. The vast majority of these districts (36)
require substitutes to have a “substitute teaching license” while six
districts (Fargo, Kanawaha County (WV), Portland (OR), San Diego, Seattle, and Spokane) require substitutes to
have a regular teaching license. Still, it may be a matter of semantics as many
districts that don’t require a license per se still require substitute
candidates to go through district trainings or pass a test before they are
hired.
Evaluation
While most districts do not make it clear if substitute
teachers must be evaluated, one-third of the districts in the database have
some form of evaluation policy for substitutes. Among the districts that
evaluate substitutes, many specify that only substitutes in specific categories—
such as long-term substitutes or those serving in specific schools— are
evaluated.
On the topic of evaluation, there are some notable districts.
In Dekalb County (GA), substitutes
must have two satisfactory evaluations by an administrator to remain on the
substitute teacher list for the following school year. Northside (TX) requires new
substitutes to be evaluated after each of their first three assignments and
requires two evaluations per year for experienced substitutes. In Milwaukee, all substitutes must be
evaluated by an administrator after three or more days in one position.
Salary
Just as when we looked at this topic last year, substitutes
are most commonly paid a minimum daily rate of $71 to $90. Portland (OR) offers the highest
minimum daily rate of $181.52, followed by Los Angeles ($173.04/day) and Seattle ($171.20/day). All three of
the highest paying districts require substitute teachers to have a bachelor’s
degree; in Portland and Seattle, substitutes must also have a regular teaching
license.
These minimum daily rates may not be an accurate reflection
of the amount many substitute teachers get paid. In fact, 70 percent of the
districts in the database (100 districts) differentiate pay for substitutes
based on a variety of factors. This is a big increase from 55 percent of districts
when we last looked at this topic in 2015.
The most common way to differentiate substitute pay is based
on number of days worked, either consecutively or throughout the year. For
example, in Clark County daily substitutes earn
$90 per day while long-term substitutes who fill vacancies for 11 to 20 days or
more than 20 days earn $100 and $150 per day, respectively. In Pittsburgh, daily substitutes can
earn an additional $31 per day if they worked at least 40 days during the
previous two semesters. After 80 consecutive days in one assignment, substitutes
in Des Moines are moved from the daily
rate system onto the district’s salary schedule.
Another way districts determine substitute teacher pay is
based on license or certification. Many districts pay teachers with regular
teaching licenses more and some districts also offer teachers who have
certification in specific areas more per day. Birmingham, for example, offers
substitutes with a substitute teaching license $60 per day, substitutes with an
Alabama teaching license $125 per day and substitutes with an Alabama teaching
license in either math or science $200 per day.
The “Other” category in the graph references districts
that differentiate pay in other ways. Some districts pay substitutes in certain
schools more. Others, like Conroe (TX), pay substitutes more
to work on Mondays and Fridays. Oakland provides a more generous,
year-long contract to substitutes who are willing to work at a specific school,
presumably as a way to ensure that schools facing the most teacher absences
always have access to substitutes.
Roughly half of the districts that differentiate pay combine
various criteria from the graph above. For example, Jefferson County (KY) has a salary schedule
for substitute teachers similar to that of regular teachers, featuring step
increases based on years of experience and lanes based on education level.
Health benefits
Another key component of compensation is health benefits. Of
the districts in the database, 35 offer some substitutes health benefits,
generally to those serving in long-term assignments. Notably, this is an
increase from the 28 districts in 2015 that offered health insurance benefits
to some substitutes.
We see notable changes in the pay and benefits provided to
substitute teachers in only just the last year, suggesting that the market for
substitute teachers has grown much tighter. Access all of our substitute
teacher data and more by visiting the custom
report page of the Teacher
Contract Database.
The Teacher Contract Database includes information from the 60 largest
districts in the country and the largest district in each state, as well as member
districts of the Council of Great City Schools and districts which won the
Broad Prize for Urban Education. The database features answers to over 100 policy
questions and provides access to teacher contracts, salary schedules, and board
policies in addition to relevant state laws governing teachers.
