School Committee discusses pay for substitute teachers

Matt Bower
Posted 1/20/15

Although the School Committee discussed the possibility of increasing the pay rate for substitute teachers at its meeting last Tuesday, it doesn’t appear the measure will move beyond the discussion …

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School Committee discusses pay for substitute teachers

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Although the School Committee discussed the possibility of increasing the pay rate for substitute teachers at its meeting last Tuesday, it doesn’t appear the measure will move beyond the discussion stage any time soon, as there’s no money in the budget to support it right now.

The matter was brought up by school committee member Karen Bachus, who said she felt substitutes deserve to make more money.

“Substitutes are getting $75 [per day] for the first 30 days they work, and $90 [per day] for every day afterward; that’s lower than a lot of places in the state,” Bachus said. “That’s less than $25 an hour, and teachers are making over $40 an hour. That amount is disrespectful; substitutes have no union protection, no worker’s compensation if they get hurt on the job, no nothing.”

Bachus said she wasn’t looking for a vote, but rather discussion and feedback from her colleagues on the committee.

“We need to look at this and make some plans,” she said.

Committee member Terri Medeiros said it’s important to remember that the responsibilities of a classroom teacher are different than those for a substitute.

Rosemary Healey, school department director of human resources and legal counsel, said she reviews the substitute pay rates each year to prepare for the following budget year.

“Per-diem [daily] substitutes statewide are treated differently than long-term substitutes,” she said.

Healey said she didn’t have a lot of time to look at other communities before Tuesday’s school committee meeting once she learned the topic would be on the agenda, but she said the ones she looked at were comparable with Warwick.

“In Cranston they get $80 per day, in South County they get $75 per day, and in East Greenwich they get $75 per day,” she said. “Everybody I reviewed does something for substitutes short-term and something else for long-term substitutes; we do $90 per day, some other communities do $100 per day.”

Healey warned that if the pay rate is increased, it could have a tremendous impact on the budget by affecting the formula used to determine sick leave pay.

She explained that teachers are allowed to use 90 days of personal illness or bereavement time for extended family members, such as aunts and uncles.

“We’re already paying teachers $400 a day for their absence,” she said, adding if teachers use more than five days, they are then responsible to chip in for the shared cost of paying substitutes. “The point is to encourage teachers to not use sick days gratuitously.”

Last year, Healey said the school department set aside $337,000 toward its share of the substitutes cost and the total cost was $640,000.

“If we raise the per-diem daily rate, we have to increase the amount the district pays toward substitutes for illness and bereavement,” she said.

As an example, Healey said if the rate was increased from $75 per day to $125 per day, which was “one of the numbers being bandied about,” it would cost more than $600 per teacher absence instead of $405, resulting in an overall budget increase of $250,000.

“It would have a negative budget impact of $100,000 if we do it for half of a year, or $250,000 for a full year because we would need to add more to the sick leave formula,” she said.

Healey said it’s premature to increase the rates now.

“Neither substitute rate is presenting a disincentive for people to work for us,” she said. “We’re competitive with others.”

Healey said if substitutes stay in the Warwick school system for 30 days, their rate is bumped up from $75 per day to $90 per day, and if they stay in the district for six months, they go on steps and begin receiving benefits.

Chief Budget Officer Anthony Ferrucci said the district spent $2.5 million on substitutes last year, $1.2 million of which was for teacher substitutes.

“There’s a significant potential budget impact to doing this,” Ferrucci said of increasing the pay rates. “If we increase from $75 per day to $100 per day, that’s a 30 percent increase, and 30 percent of $1.2 million is $360,000, plus the $200,000 from Healey’s end, and you’re looking at half a million dollars.”

School committee member Beth Furtado concluded the discussion, saying, “I agree the rate needs to be looked at, but we don’t have the funds at this time.”

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