Substitutes aren’t showing up in Fayette schools. Will an extra $25 to $50 fix it?
In an effort to encourage more substitute teachers to accept assignments each day, Fayette district leaders at Monday’s school board planning meeting proposed adding incentive pay.
Under the substitute salary incentive proposal that the board will consider on November 28, substitutes would earn an additional $50 per day for special education assignments and $25 per day to work in schools where recent data showed more than half of substitute requests had not been filled. The plan also includes an increase for those who are multilingual — $15 per day for teachers and $2 per day for those filling hourly posts.
Superintendent Demetrus Liggins said there are a number of unfilled positions each day. In some cases, teachers are giving up their planning periods to cover a class.
Deputy Superintendent Houston Barber said that in addition to the need for substitute teachers, certain schools have vacancies among the regular staff.
“It is taxing to be pulled during a planning period to cover a class,” said Fayette school board chairman Tyler Murphy, who is also a teacher in the Boyle County school district.
Liggins said the cycle of teachers having to give up planning periods could affect student success.
Liggins said 40% of the substitutes on the district’s rosters are choosing not to work on a given day.
An October report from the Kentucky Office of Education Accountability noted that the demand for substitute teachers in the state has grown while the supply of substitute teachers has decreased.
“This is true for the Fayette County School district and Frederick Douglass High School. Principal Lester Diaz said that unfortunately there have been occasions when a student has called the front office asking if a teacher would be in their class for the period,” the report said.
In 2021, the school board gave all substitute teachers except for retired teachers a $25 per day raise.
This story was originally published November 15, 2022 at 2:33 PM.