BECOMING A SUBSTITUTE TEACHER
There are several steps involved in becoming a registered substitute teacher in Ohio.
The first step prior to actually applying for an Ohio Substitute Teacher License requires contacting the school or district of interest and notifying the school that it is selected to electronically sign the license application.
Next, an official transcript must be mailed in to the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) to document academic qualifications.
A background check is required as well as an understanding of the differences in substitute license types: short-term and long-term.
Once these four steps are completed, an application can be submitted through the ODE website.
Source: Ohio Department of Education
Several local school districts are dealing with substitute teacher shortages, with explanations ranging from an improving economy to teacher retirements and substitutes being more selective.
School officials throughout Butler and Warren counties said their districts are seeing some level of shortage this school year.
“A lot of districts are having trouble. It’s a concern,” said Joni Copas, Director of Communications for Hamilton City Schools.
In an effort to lure more substitute teachers, Hamilton Schools has raised its daily pay for substitutes by $5 to $90, according to Copas.
“And it’s in our budget to raise it again next year,” Copas said.
The district of more than 9,600 students and 700 teachers plans to raise pay for substitute teachers an additional $5 in August to $95 and then again in 2016 to $97, according to Copas.
A shortage of substitute teachers can be attributed to low pay and a lack of benefits, according to Gina Gentry Fletcher, School and Community Relations Director for Fairfield City Schools. Many substitute teachers are “moving onto other forms of employment” where they can make the same amount of money or more while receiving benefits, she said.
Fairfield Schools does not offer benefits for substitute teachers, but it has raised daily pay by $7 to $82 this school year, according to Gentry Fletcher.
Some school districts are finding success with recently retired teachers.
Beginning Aug. 1, 2015, new State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio rules go into effect, which increase the age and service requirements to receive full or partial benefits.
For full benefits, years-of-service requirements will gradually increase from 30 years to 35 years by 2023. A minimum age requirement will be added in 2026 requiring retirees to be 60 years old to receive full benefits. Also, STRS members may still retire at age 65 with a minimum of five years of qualifying service credit.
School Employees Retirement System of Ohio members with 25 years of service or more by 2017 will be grandfathered in under the old standards when that system’s pension changes take effect that year.
Their requirements for full benefits will change from a 30-year minimum with no age requirement to 30 years with a minimum age of 57, or 10 years with a minimum age of 67.
Many school employees who qualify under the old requirements have been retiring before the deadlines.
Retired teacher Mary Ruehl is four weeks into a long-term substitute assignment at Fairwood Elementary in Hamilton. She agreed that low pay is the biggest reason districts are facing a substitute shortage.
Also, for someone just coming out of school, it can be a very hard adjustment to be in a classroom, especially for someone who may have just graduated from college, said Ruehl, who spent 37 years teaching.
“The pay isn’t important to me. It’s doing the right thing for the kids,” she said.
“To be a substitute teacher you only have to have a four-year degree, but I have heard from several school districts that only use subs who have a teaching background,” said Tom Isaacs, Superintendent of the Warren County Educational Service Center (WCESC). “Because of the testing, many of the districts are using only teachers as substitute teachers (because of test prep). This reflects the fact that subs are asked to do more teaching than in the past.”
WCESC is charged with providing substitutes to the 16 Warren County school districts in its area.
“Our districts are doing everything that can possibly be done at this time” to attract more substitute teachers, Isaacs said. Districts use advertising in newsletters and on websites as well as on campuses to attract new substitute teachers.
“Whenever there’s a graduation from college, we typically pick up subs,” Isaacs said. “Typically they are young people who haven’t gotten full-time jobs yet and older retired people who still want some part-time work.”
Isaacs expects another large group of retirements this spring, which should yield existing substitutes hired as full-time teachers.
To help manage substitute teachers the WCESC as well as the Butler County Educational Service Center use AESOP, a “substitute placement and absence management” program used by almost 4,000 school districts nationwide, according to Frontline Technologies.
The program allows teachers to report an absence and then AESOP notifies subs registered with the district who then reply to the notification via text message or email to accept and cover the absence or deny the request. This program has teachers compile a list of preferred substitutes to contact when needed with a “Top 5” list. These five substitute teachers are contacted first for the job.
According to a study by the Substitute Teaching Division of STEDI.org, principals who use “teacher absence monitoring technology” like AESOP saw a 14 percent drop in teacher absenteeism.
The biggest challenge for subs, as Isaacs sees it, is teachers calling off shortly before school starts; the longer the notice, the easier it is to find a willing and qualified substitute.
Substitute teachers in Butler and Warren counties to have either a bachelor’s degree or a valid teaching credential issued by the ODE and possibly Highly Qualified Teacher documentation.
Staff Writers Katie Wedell and Nick Graham contributed to this report.
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