Low pay, economy shrinking substitute teacher market in Central Mass.
Scott O'Connell Telegram & Gazette Staff @ScottOConnellTG
Jan 5, 2019 at 12:01 AM Jan 5, 2019 at 7:54 PM
Substitute teachers are increasingly hard for local districts to find, as low pay and a healthy economy dry up the pool of potential applicants in the region.
Across Central Massachusetts, subs generally can expect to be paid under $100 to teach a full day of classes in most districts, even if they have a college degree and are certified to be a teacher.
According to some local officials as well as substitute teachers themselves, that relatively paltry compensation has made the choice to sub not very attractive, especially as a minimum wage hike in the state sets in. But as many school systems struggle to cover basic services with their budgets each year, increasing the pay for subs isn't yet a major priority in some districts.
"There are too many other issues," said Worcester Superintendent Maureen Binienda, whose district, despite being the largest in the region, has one of the smallest daily rates – just $70 – for day-to-day substitute teachers. "It's in the ballpark of other places, but it would be nice if we could increase that.
"Truthfully, we've chosen to use our money to fund (hiring) teachers permanently in the classroom."
Even this year, which Ms. Binienda said has especially "been a challenge for us" to find subs, her wish list for the coming budget cycle is topped by adding school psychologists and guidance counselors, not increasing pay for substitutes.
But there is also a growing clamor in Worcester for the district to finally address the substitute problem, which Ms. Binienda admitted requires schools to move around full-time staff and even put students in other classrooms if a sub can't be found to replace an absent teacher.
"We're one of the lowest (sub pay rates) in the state of Massachusetts," said Worcester School Committee member John Monfredo, who a year ago called on the administration to consider raising the district's daily substitute wage to $85 a day. "It's got to be more of a priority."
Even the city's teachers union, which technically doesn't represent substitute teachers, has increasingly become vocal on the issue of paying subs, according to the organization's president, Roger Nugent.
"I'm very concerned about it," he said, noting the lack of subs has started to encroach on the union's negotiated rights. Many schools are not providing required preparation time to teachers, for example, because there aren't enough subs to cover them during those sessions, Mr. Nugent claimed.
While the lack of subs has always been an issue, "I don't think it's ever been as bad as it is now," he added.
Mr. Nugent pointed out substitute teaching in the Worcester schools, which serve a large, diverse population, is also not a simple job – "we need to compensate good people to do the work," he said.
"We love them, but they can be a challenge at times," Mr. Nugent said of the district's students. "If you're looking for an easy way to make a dollar, there are other places you can go."
They don't even have to find another line of work necessarily; in Central Massachusetts, most districts pay better than Worcester for daily subs, especially if the applicant holds a four-year college degree or is a certified teacher.
But even those districts are having a hard time finding subs, according to school officials – a struggle some of them blamed more on the improved local economy than on the wages they were offering.
"It's more difficult than it has been in some years," said Jeff Carlson, director of human resources for the Wachusett Schools, which pay subs $82 a day or $90 if they hold a degree. "I do feel there's a lack of supply."
To compete with other employers, some school systems are upping their pay. The Gardner schools a year ago increased their daily sub compensation from a base of $60 and $70 for certified teachers to $70 and $80 respectively, according to Superintendent Mark Pellegrino.
"We have actually seen an increase in subs" as a result, he said, although "not a great increase. But before, it was really difficult (to find them)."
The Southbridge schools, which were already paying one of the highest rates in the region at $90, as of this fall now pay daily subs $95 a day – a decision that was based on the district's persistent struggles to find applicants, Superintendent/Receiver Jeffrey Villar said.
"We are trying to be more competitive with those who are interested in the work," he said, adding that in addition to the healthier economy, the fact that fewer people overall are going into teaching as a career has shrunk the substitute market.
The increase of minimum wage to $12 an hour in Massachusetts this year only further hurts districts' ability to attract candidates and is one of the main reasons the Leominster schools are prepared to raise their rates – currently $65 a day, or $80 for certified teachers – "fairly substantially" sometime in the next month, according to the district's assistant superintendent for human resources, James Reilly.
"For us, if the minimum wage is going to be $12, we want to make sure we're offering subs a rate that's higher than that," he said.
Aside from providing better wages, some districts are also changing their recruiting strategies and focusing more on attracting younger candidates, especially college students majoring in education. The additional benefit of that approach, Ms. Binienda said, is the school system can also try to hire those students full time once they complete their education and training.
"We're trying to get out to the colleges to recruit," she said, adding younger subs might also be more willing to work at the current rate than retired teachers, who "don't want to come back for $70 a day."
The Grafton schools have put extra value on retired teachers specifically, however, and pay them $95 a day - $15 higher than the district's base rate for daily subs. It's a unique approach in the district, and Grafton's human resources director, Kristen Gasper, said the district relies on a "good handful" of retired teachers who routinely sub in the district, but it's still not enough.
"We're always desperately looking for subs," she said, adding they're especially scarce whenever college students, whom Grafton also targets for sub work, are back in session at their campuses and not available.
A few former subs who taught in Worcester, who declined to be named because they continue to work in education in the region, said it's hard in general to sell such a tough job at the rate districts are offering. They also suspected that unless districts increase their rates, potential substitute teachers will continue to look elsewhere for work.
"I've spoken to some retired teachers – they'd like to come back, but not to work at below minimum wage," Mr. Monfredo said. "We're not going to get quality subs into the classrooms, unless we raise the pay."
Scott O'Connell can be reached at Scott.O'Connell@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @ScottOConnellTG