Schools are increasingly relying on a dwindling pool of substitutes to replace teachers leaving the profession.
A poll commissioned by the National Education Association reported earlier this year that 55% of public school teachers, administrators and staff plan to leave education sooner than expected due to pandemic-related stress.
“When you’re desperate, you’re desperate,” Jim Politis, president of the National Substitute Teachers Alliance, told The Washington Times. “It’s hard to tell what long-term substitute teaching means now, things are so confused.”
Mr. Politis, 81, said the trend of school districts tapping uncertified substitutes to fill in indefinitely is problematic since most substitutes do not have state certifications to teach full-time.
And school districts find themselves relying more and more on fill-in teachers at a time when the pool of available substitutes is shrinking.
The pressure of covering virtual learning classes for teachers who were absent more often during the pandemic led many substitutes to seek new work as office temps and bus drivers, Mr. Politis said.
“The schools are having a very difficult time finding teachers to do substitute work,” said Mr. Politis, who taught full-time for 32 years in Maryland’s Montgomery County Public Schools. “I don’t know what we’re going to do next year.”
Relying on substitutes usually creates even more staff volatility for schools. Desiree Carver-Thomas, researcher and policy analyst for the Learning Policy Institute, said uncertified substitutes “are teachers who are more likely to leave that school or the profession entirely” after districts invest money in their training.
“If those teachers are coming in and out, having to constantly be replaced, those costs walk out the door with those teachers,” Ms. Carver-Thomas told a House subcommittee meeting Wednesday on the teacher shortage.
In March, the American Psychological Association reported that 49% of K-12 public school teachers surveyed during the pandemic intend to quit the profession. They cited a COVID-era uptick in physical violence and verbal harassment from frustrated families as their reason for quitting.
Sara Rimm-Kaufman, a professor of education at the University of Virginia, said this week that using uncertified substitutes as long-term replacements results in “students with the least economic resources” getting “lower quality” teachers.
“Typically, it’s better to have a long-term substitute than many substitute teachers in and out for a long stretch of time,” Ms. Rimm-Kaufman said in an email. “That having been said, hiring substitutes often means that students are not getting the highest quality of instruction.”
Pam Benigno, director of the Education Policy Center at the free-market Independence Institute in Denver, said substitutes “should not be used as a solution for teacher shortages.”
“Substitute teachers are not required to have any education training or related college degree and some school districts only require a high school diploma,” Ms. Benigno said.
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.
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