WASHINGTON COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — Leaders at Lincoln Consolidated School District saw a substitute teacher shortage last school year.
"You call it in, you hope that you're going to get people and then, usually, before school starts, we figure out these positions aren't going to be filled," Lincoln High School Principal Stan Karber said.
Karber said they've had to be resourceful to fill positions in years past.
"I've gone into classrooms. My assistant principal's gone into classrooms," he said. "We use every resource we can to make sure that those classes are covered and they are covered, but it's not the same as having the original teacher in the classroom."
The district pays substitute teachers $105 per day and it doesn't matter if you have a degree or not. But after 30 days, which is considered a long-term sub, you go to the daily pay rate for educators in the state.
Karber believes wages are likely a reason for the shortage, but he said substitute teachers in Northwest Arkansas mainly go to the "big four" schools: Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale, and Fayetteville.
"I think we're competitive within the schools that are our size," Karber said. "When you talk about our schools and our demographics and what we have, I think we're very competitive within the rates, probably at the top. But we can't compete with the big four. You're not gonna compete with Fayetteville, Springdale, Bentonville, and Rogers like we can't pay them as much as they do."
On the other side of Washington County, at Springdale Public Schools, the school board voted 7-0 Tuesday night to increase pay for substitute teachers. Previously, wages were $91 per day and now rates start at:
- High school diploma: $105
- Four-year college degree: $120
- State teaching certificate: $135
"It's very important that we have people fill those roles and quality people that we can call on, and so that is what played into us increasing the rate of pay so that we can get those quality folks that we need to help us in our district," Springdale Public Schools chief financial officer Stacy Hopkins said.
The pay increase officially starts this school year. As for long-term subs, the pay depends on whether they have a teaching certificate or not.
"If they don't have a teaching certificate, it varies depending on the number of consecutive days that they are substituting in that same position," Hopkins said. "It could be anywhere from $145 per day from day 11 to day 20, then it would increase at day 21 to $189 but there are some specific qualifications to that our business office manages. And if you have a current teaching certificate, day 11 through day 20 would be at $169 per day, and anything past day 21 would be $213 per day."
In Fort Smith, substitute pay ranges from $43-$100 per day depending on the job.
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