San Benito High School trustees unanimously approved increasing the pay for substitute teachers by about $20 a day, as part of an effort to fill positions despite a relatively small pool of temporary instructors.
“Actually, it’s a really nice, competitive rate and we think it’s going to help our situation in our district,” Shawn Tennenbaum, the school’s director of human resources, told the Free Lance this week.
The statewide—and actually nationwide—shortage of credentialed teachers has affected the substitute teacher pools, the director explained.
Trustees at a board meeting last week unanimously approved allowing the district’s pay rates to jump from $140 to $160—a $20 increase—for substitutes teaching a full school day. Retired teachers filling the role will take home slightly more and receive $175 per day, a $20 increase from the former amount. Substitutes teaching zero periods and a full day of classes are eligible for even more pay.
The cost of the decision is estimated at $26,275 in salary and statutory benefits from the general fund, assuming that the district will need five to eight substitutes each day, according to background information from the meeting agenda packet.
