Some members of the Carmel Clay Schools board of trustees are asking district officials to consider forming a plan to increase pay for substitute teachers.
The request came during a presentation on district staffing presented by CCS Assistant Supt. Thomas Oestreich at the Sept. 26 school board meeting.
During the presentation, Oestreich compared substitute teacher pay at CCS, which begins at $80 per day, to nearby districts. He said subs in Zionsville also make $80 per day, while those in Westfield make $85, in Hamilton Southeastern make $90 and in Noblesville make $95.
Part-time CCS substitute teachers are eligible to earn a bonus for working a minimum number of days each semester, which Oestreich said helps the district stay competitive with market rates.
School board members Louise Jackson and Greg Brown, however, said they don’t believe the pay is enough. Jackson described the rate as “not livable” and said she would like CCS to be proactive and “set the bar” in this area.
“It’s fine that (other school districts) are paying what they’re paying, but I think we should be paying more,” Jackson said. “How do we make our district the destination district?”
Brown suggested increasing substitute pay by 25 percent but said it should not be done by taking funds away from teachers in set classroom positions.
Oestreich said the district spends more than $1 million on substitute teacher pay each year, meaning CCS would need to reallocate $250,000 to accommodate Brown’s request.
“(Paying substitute teachers more) is something we’re continually looking at,” Oestreich said. “We have finite funds, so if we pay substitute teachers more, who do we pay less?”
Oestreich said administrators will continue to review district funding to determine if substitute teacher pay can be adjusted.
Board President Katie Browning, who worked as a CCS substitute teacher before being elected to the board, said the benefits of the job go beyond pay, such as flexibility scheduling.
Because the district is not experiencing a severe shortage in substitute teachers, board member Jennifer Nelson-Williams said she believes the issue is one that doesn’t need to be addressed immediately.
Also during his presentation, Oestreich said the district’s efforts to recruit and hire instructional assistants, especially for special education classrooms, have been successful. He said the district received more than 50 applications within two days of using social media and email communications to alert the CCS community about the staffing shortage.
