Substitute teachers aren't immune to cuts

After furloughing teachers and shrinking their support staffs, some Georgia school systems have a new target for budget cuts:  substitute teachers.

In Fulton County schools, substitute teachers are making 10 percent less a day this year.

And in other school systems – including Marietta City Schools – administrators are trying to reduce their reliance on substitutes by asking the colleagues of sick teachers to pick up the slack.

One South Georgia system is going a step further – soliciting community volunteers, from retired teachers to the mayor, for free help.

Kelly Henson, executive secretary of the Georgia Professional Standards Commission and a former Floyd County school superintendent, said it makes sense that school systems, facing dramatic cuts in state and local funding, would look at a big-ticket item like pay for substitutes.

“When I was superintendent (about two years ago) we looked at it,” Henson said. “Quite honestly, in these times, local districts are looking at every conceivable way to save money so they can keep the right amount of money in instruction.”

In Fulton, officials expect to save $960,321 this year, with the 10 percent cut in pay for substitute teachers, said Allison Toller, school system spokeswoman. The county's subs are now earning $83.70 a day, down from $93 a day, Toller said, noting that other full-time employees have also experienced a loss in pay "due to a decrease in days on their contracts."

"Categories of full-time employees also experienced a loss in pay due to a decrease in days on their contracts," she said.

Marietta City Schools expect a sizable savings as well in their budget for substitute teachers.

Late last year, school administrators decided to eliminate most subs for early intervention teachers (EIP) and Title I, gifted and English as a Second Language classes, as well as its media specialists.

When teachers in those subjects are absent, the students stay with their homeroom teachers, and coverage is provided in the media center by a paraprofessional, said Debra Pickett, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.

“It has been a cost effective measure,” Pickett said. “We received no negative feedback from parents or teachers.”

The system saved about $77,000 on substitutes between January and June of this year , said Thomas Algarin, district spokesman.

Officials in several systems in metro Atlanta, including Gwinnett, Fulton and Cobb and the city of Decatur, said reducing substitute teachers is not an idea they are pursuing.

School systems receive about $19 a day from the state for each of the eight sick days most teachers accrue in a year, according to the state Department of Education.

That fee hasn’t changed in decades, even though it costs about $50 a day to hire a substitute teacher and more in the metro counties.

In the Brantley County school system, headquartered in the small South Georgia town of Nahunta, officials said they expect to cut in half their $200,000-a-year bill for substitutes by deploying some of their paraprofessionals, or classroom aides, as stand-ins for absent teachers.

When parapros aren’t available, other full-time teachers are giving up their planning periods so no classrooms go unsupervised, said Dr. Drew Sauls, school superintendent.

“It’s not popular, you understand,” he said. “But teachers understand the situation.”

Sauls said the decision was made in August, after the latest round of budget cuts from the state. “[The last state cut] hit us pretty hard because we operate pretty lean anyway,” he said.

In Valdosta city schools, officials decided they could avoid the three-day, unpaid teacher furloughs ordered by the governor this year if they reduced their spending for substitutes, said Jennifer J. Steedley, the school system’s director of public relations.

Teachers in the system who don’t feel well are being encouraged to come in unless they have a fever, Steedley said.

When a teacher’s absence is unavoidable, the system is using parapros as short-term fill-ins, said Dr. William “Bill” O. Cason, school superintendent.

The school system also is leaning on folks in the community, mainly retired teachers and employees at Moody Air Force Base who have teaching degrees, Cason said.

Even the local banks are sending some of their workers to help. "It’s working out quite well,” Cason said.

He expects to be able to cut the $500,000 budget for substitutes in half this year.

Jeff Hubbard, president of the Georgia Association of Educators, said he has questions about systems using parapros as subs.

“They [parparos] are hired for specific purposes regarding specific students … who are harmed when the parapros aren’t serving them.”

Tim Callahan, spokesman for the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, said the cuts in funding for substitutes are understandable and an indicator of the financial pressures on school systems.

“The ‘cupboards are bare’ so to speak, and reserve funds are depleted,” Callahan said. “Every Georgian should be concerned because we are rapidly reaching the point where real harm is going to be done to the educational programs that systems around the state are desperately trying to protect.”

In Valdosta, the local chamber of commerce has helped solicit the volunteers, and about 35 people have come forward to donate their time, subject to a criminal background checks.

Valdosta Mayor John Fretti, who has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, was one of those who came forward to help.

On Oct. 1, Fretti took over an 11th grade chemistry and physical science class at Valdosta High School.

“This was not a celebrity substitute,” Fretti said, describing how he used iced tea and grilled cheese, what he calls “kitchen chemistry,” to teach some lessons about energy, before moving on to a discussion of thermodynamics.

“It was truly an adventure for me, and I hope for the students,” Fretti said. “I had a blast and would do it again in a minute.”

School budgets for substitutes

DeKalb CountyAverage substitute pay per day: $902009 budget: $7.7 million

Clayton CountyAverage substitute pay per day: $88 with college degree2009 budget: $6.2 million

Cobb CountyAverage substitute pay per day: $792009 budget: $7.1 million

Gwinnett CountyAverage substitute pay per day: $872009 budget: $7.9 million.

City of Atlanta:Average substitute pay per day: $150 for certified teachers, $82 for non-certified2009 budget: $8.3 million

Fulton CountyAverage substitute pay per day: $83.702009 budget: $9 million