Why finding enough substitute teachers is a daily challenge for Wichita schools

In the gig worker era of Uber and DoorDash, Wichita Public Schools seeks its own on-demand employees — substitute teachers.

COVID-19 pandemic troubles , low wages and licensing hurdles have over the last five years tamped down the number of people signing up to substitute teach.

“There’s assignments that don’t get filled almost every day,” recruiter Penny McNeill said. “So, I know we don’t have enough.”

Today’s problem is a legacy of pandemic pressures. Teachers were absent more often, and the supply of substitutes collapsed.

Pre-COVID, schools found substitutes nine times out of 10. During the height of the pandemic, in 2020-2021, Wichita Public Schools struggled to fill half of open slots. That improved to more than 80% by the end of the last school year, yet some months saw one in four go unfilled.

Generational turnover makes things worse. As baby boomers retire, schools struggle to replace them, and require more subs. The U.S. Department of Education found 86% of school districts couldn’t keep up with the demand.

Last fall, 41% of schools in the Midwest reported deep concern that they couldn’t find subs. Two-thirds of the same districts considered substitute teacher recruitment a significant problem.

Competing with local wages

Many substitute teachers in Wichita earn only a few dollars an hour more than a cashier at Walmart or other retail jobs.

The average retail worker in Wichita earns $16.47 per hour, according to ZipRecruiter. A substitute teacher makes $119 per day, or $17 an hour for a seven-hour school day.

The rate goes up to $161 a day if a sub fills in at the same school for more than two weeks, or about $23 an hour. If substitutes work more than seven hours, their daily pay stays the same.

“There’s a little bit of additional time for setting up and, you know, closing out the day,” said Stacie Denison, Wichita Public Schools’ director of guest workers.

Districts that pay below local retail wages often struggle to find substitutes, according to the National Council on Teacher Quality.

A short-term substitute teacher who works three days per week, for the 36-week school year, will earn about $12,850 before taxes. A substitute’s maximum earnings top out at around $30,000. To earn that, a long-term sub would have to work every class day. USD 259’s average full-time teacher salary is about $75,500 .

Denison said the district’s daily pay level meets industry standards.

“Pay is one of the major aspects of recruitment and retention,” she said.

Five nearby suburban districts average a little more — $124 for short-term and $171 for long-term subs. Maize pays significantly more than its neighbors — subs start at $135 and get paid up to $200, based on the district’s needs and their experience.

Not everyone can do this work

Certified substitutes in Kansas must have finished about two years of classes in a college or university.

Missouri requires a high school diploma and 20 hours of online study. Oklahoma has no state standards for substitute teachers, leaving districts to set their own.

For now, Kansas has made it easier to substitute teach. The Kansas State Board of Education approved a temporary program to increase the pool of qualified subs. A Kansas emergency substitute license only requires a high school diploma and about 15 hours of online training. But the program expires at the end of June 2025.

Wichita Public Schools accepts the Kansas emergency license, with an eye on that expiration.

“We want our subs to have that valuable collegiate training to put into the classroom environment,” Denison said.

Denison said there are other temporary roles to fill — including paraprofessionals, clerical workers and custodians — that pay $14 an hour or less. Substitute school nurses earn about $25 an hour.

“So if they don’t have the college credits or can’t get certified,” she said, “they can still come and work with our kids.”

Paraprofessionals gain experience toward becoming teachers, Denison said, by helping with classroom tasks, supervising students and offering one-on-one tutoring.

Administrators have several options to close the gap when no substitutes are available. Unpaid volunteers can help supervise kids, classrooms can be temporarily combined and subs sometimes work a half day.

Recruit, recruit, recruit

McNeill and about 10 colleagues sat at small desks spread across an expansive meeting room in June. They were waiting — and hoping — to sign up a new crop of substitute teachers.

“There’s a lot of good people out there,” McNeill said. “Our job is to find them.”

A young educator with a familiar face settled into one of the desks. Tatiana Bell was a substitute teacher at L’Ouverture Elementary last year.

She came to the event to get recertified for the coming year, which subs must do at least every two years.

“It’s all about the kids, to be honest,” she said. “You have to be willing to come here and work for them.”

About 900 people worked as subs in 2023-2024. As of mid-July, the district had received 65 new applications to be a substitute teacher.

Wichita Public Schools spent nearly $20 million on substitute teachers and $258 million on full-time teachers in the 2023-2024 year.

School-by-school incentives might help

Other districts have filled positions by paying some substitute teachers more.

Some Chicago schools — often historically Black and Hispanic schools — had trouble finding subs.

A 2022 study of Chicago schools found that paying daily bonuses at specific schools helped fill gaps and cost less than hiking pay across the board. Most of their subs earned $165 per day.

The bonuses for working in schools with the biggest shortages increased substitute wages between 18% and 27%. On average, the stipends improved fill rates by 21 percentage points.

But not all subs were wooed by the cash. More than 40% said they were at most slightly interested in working at one of the schools, even with a bonus.

Prospective subs also consider a school’s location and experiences working there.

Wichita Public Schools saw no large differences among fill rates at different schools, and the district doesn’t offer any building-specific incentives.

The district does offer one bonus — $25 for subbing on Fridays, the day teachers are most likely to take off.

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