Finding enough substitute teachers to fill in used to be a daily struggle for Treasure Coast school districts. But these days — likely thanks to the economy — school districts don’t have a problem getting substitutes.

“For the first time in the history of Martin County — and perhaps any county — we have more substitute teachers than we can actually use,” Martin County Schools Superintendent Nancy Kline said. “Our substitute base has grown exponentially.”

School officials suspect the climbing unemployment rate — which was 9.5 percent in November for the Port St. Lucie metro area, which includes Martin and Okeechobee counties, and 9.6 percent in the Sebastian and Vero Beach region, according to numbers released Friday by the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation — might be fueling the increase. The school districts had limited job openings this year because of declining student enrollment and budget cuts.

“We have seen an increase in the number of folks wanting to be substitutes, and I would say that it is a direct relation to people losing their job,” said Sue Ranew, St. Lucie County School District’s assistant superintendent for human resources.

Although most days the need for substitutes arises when teachers call in sick, substitutes are needed when teachers attend training workshops, lead field trips or accompany students to regional academic competitions. The pay differs with education level and by school district.

Ranew said the district always had more substitutes than it needs on a daily basis signed up with the district. Currently, there are 881 active substitutes, but Ranew said the number needed daily varies and can range from 50 to 300 depending on the time of school year.

“The problem is that when you are a substitute, it is daily work,” Ranew said. “And as a substitute you can decide what days you want to work and what days you don’t. So what happens is people don’t want to work every day, and that’s why they’re substitutes and don’t have a full-time job.”

Those were old reasons, back when St. Lucie district staff spent “two to three hours every morning calling people and begging them to go to work,” Ranew said.

But these days it’s different, likely because people need the money and can’t afford to turn down work.

“We are no longer having issues finding enough substitutes,” Martin County School District spokeswoman Cathy Brennan said.

As of Dec. 17, the Martin County School District has 508 active substitutes in its database, compared with 382 a year ago, Brennan said. On average last week, about 52 subs filled in for teachers each day.

“Most of the active substitutes are hoping to be hired for regular teaching positions,” Brennan said. “Some of them are career changers or experienced teachers looking for an employment opportunity.”

The Indian River County School District uses 80 to 100 subs per day on average, said Butch Teske, the district’s assistant superintendent of personnel. Teske said there are more than 200 active substitutes and a “substantial number” of applicants on a waiting list. “I have a backlog,” Teske said.

“We’re looking at when they actually applied because at this point I don’t necessarily need any more substitutes,” he said.

For now, Martin, Indian River and St. Lucie school districts still are accepting applications for substitutes, yet officials acknowledge that could change in the future.

“I’ve heard in some districts, they’ve actually stopped taking applications for substitutes,” Ranew said. “But we have not done that yet.”

SUBSTITUTE REQUIREMENTS

Here are the criteria and daily pay rates for Treasure Coast substitute teachers:

St. Lucie County: Substitutes need high school diplomas or higher education and must attend day-long training sessions. Substitutes with high school diplomas are paid $50 a day, those with associate’s degree are paid $60 a day, and those with bachelor’s degrees or higher are paid $71 a day. After 20 consecutive days in the same classroom, subs receive $90 a day.

Martin County: Substitutes must have associate’s degrees or higher. A sub with an associate’s degree is paid $64.26 a day, those with bachelor’s degrees but without teacher certification are paid $74.03 a day, and subs with teacher certification are paid $76.23 a day. Long-term subs, those are in the same classroom for more than 20 consecutive days, need to be certified teachers and receive $98.04 a day.

Indian River County: Substitutes must have associate’s degrees or higher. Those with an associate’s degree earn $80 per day, and those with bachelor’s degrees earn $100 a day. Long-term subs must have at least a bachelor’s degree and certification in the subject they teach, and after more than 20 consecutive days in the same classroom, their salaries rise to that of a beginning teacher, about $180 a day.

By Kelly Tyko, TCPalm.com

Tags: substitute, teach, teacher, unemployment

This entry was posted on Monday, December 29th, 2008 at 9:40 am and is filed under Economy, Martin County, Schools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.