Ever since the pandemic began, one common concern for parents has been who will end up teaching their child.
According to a Government Accountability Office report, roughly 233,000 instructors (7% of the teaching population) left the field between 2019 and 2021.
“That teacher shortage and the demand…it’s a war for talent,” said Chris Zuber, Kelly Education VP of Client Services
As a result, Zuber tells ABC24 that this has driven up the demand for substitutes, a demand that is not easily fulfilled. Overall, there are 40% fewer teachers graduating with degrees in education than there were a decade ago, according to the VP.
“You can really account for 8-10% daily absence rate — it’s not uncommon,” Zuber said.
Demand for subs usually increase around flu season, with a higher amount requested in the spring.
These unfilled teacher positions can lead to negative impacts on a child's education, as staff and students are moved around to accommodate. According to a study done by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), around 77% of school districts say they faced some issue in finding enough substitutes.
This tends to impact more low-income students and students of color. According to NBER, black students in Chicago Public Schools saw substitute teacher roles more than three times higher than white students, 33% compared to 10% in the 2017-18 school year. Meanwhile, low-income students saw this happen twice as often in the same district compared to their counterparts, 26% to 12%.
To find out why this was happening, ABC24 took the question to Nextdoor, to ask current and former substitute teachers about their experience. While some say they enjoyed filling in, others said the job environment and pay prove to be an issue.
"It’s WAY TOO easy to make a small misstep and be put out," Michelle Hrabak said. "I don’t fit into the culture now."
"Look at the pay that subs get — its not that great," John Sanders said. I'm a former school teacher. Now I just teach private lessons."
"I know that’s not the same everywhere," Richard Coleman said. "Subs would tell me there are places around town they would never go back to because of the behavior. There’s a direct correlation with schools who have staffing issues, can’t find teachers, and places where subs will not go sub at."
At the moment, Memphis Shelby County Schools pay uncertified substitute teachers $112 a day, while their certified substitutes get paid $172 a day.
“'If it’s not enough to put gas in the car to make it worthwhile to drive, but I would love to'...I mean we get that," said Zuber, "What our job is really as consultants and advisors is to inform the school district.”
Zuber said it is up to a school board to change the pay a substitute may get to potentially increase the chance of either attracting more substitute teachers into the field or from nearby districts.
“Really a lot of people feel a lot of satisfaction from the ability to give back, so for us, we really try to find those folks,” Zuber said.
To address this shortage, places like Chicago Public Schools began offering bonus pay programs for school with lower fill rates for substitute teachers. This saw a 23% increase in substitutes filling those roles according to the study done by the National Bureau of Economic Research. However, in the same study, teachers noted they would rather have a better commute time and safer conditions over getting paid more.
For those wishing to get involved as a substitute teacher, you can sign up using THIS LINK.