This Tri-Cities district’s substitute teachers could make nearly $5k a month next year

Pasco School District is bumping the pay for its most tenured substitute teachers in an effort to consistently fill teacher absences and to woo over fill-ins from neighboring districts.

Back in May, the district bumped its daily “guest teaching” pay from $145 to $175 in an effort to address its rate of “fail-to-fills,” which are classes that don’t receive a sub in the case when a teacher is absent.

The district incentivized subs to come in on Fridays, too, with an additional $25 of pay when they worked on that day. Subs could also earn additional pay for filling in during teacher planning periods, and clock hours for certification and utilize free professional development opportunities.

The initiative meant Pasco subs earned the highest daily wage in the Tri-Cities — and it’ll go further starting in the 2024-25 school year.

Beginning this fall, the district’s most senior subs will earn up to $205 a day, plus an extra $34 per planning period covered. A new pay scale, based on the sub’s assignments and qualifications, will go into effect.

“This has wildly exceeded our expectations,” said Bob Smart, Pasco School District’s executive director of employee services. “I knew this would work when I presented it to the board and our executives and labor partners — I didn’t know we would move the needle that fast.”

The district reduced its fail-to-fill rates by about 30% in the month and a half it implemented higher sub wages. It’s pool of on-call substitute teachers also grew from 280 to “well over 300,” Smart said.

Substitute teaching

Substitute teachers are important for public schools because they ensure quality education for students and keep classrooms functioning smoothly while teachers are gone.

The burden of teaching fail-to-fill classes often falls on a rotating list of building staff, who jump in whenever they have a free period — oftentimes, during their lunch or prep periods — to keep students on track with the curriculum.

Smart said substitutes play a crucial role in lowering rates of teacher burnout and ensuring students receive a quality education when teachers are unable to come in to work.

“It’s a stressful job, especially after COVID,” he said.

Smart said they compared the pay of regular teachers covering fail-to-fill classrooms versus the cost to have a sub do that work. The cost to pull a single senior teacher, with more than 16 years of experience, to cover fail-to-fills all day would cost the district about $575.

“It’s much more likely that a more-experienced teacher, that has been doing this for a while, is going to agree to give up their planning period to do that,” he said.

Smart says more incentives and higher pay raises the standard of subbing in the Tri-Cities and opens up a dialogue about the importance of the position.

Here is the district’s 2024-25 pay structure for substitutes:

• $175/day, with an additional $29 per planning period, for beginning subs for a total $204/day.

• $185/day, with an additional $30 per planning period, for subs with more than five previous assignments for a total $215/day.

• $195/day, with an additional $32 per planning period, for subs with more than 10 previous assignments for a total $227/day.

• $205/day, with an additional $34 per planning period, for subs with additional assignments and qualifications for a total $239/day.

School districts all over the state — and in particular small, rural districts — are grappling with how to attract a shrinking number of on-call subs to work in their schools.

Washington OSPI reports there are 16,000 registered substitutes for nearly 300 school districts.

Subs are paid anywhere from $116 to more than $900 in daily compensation, depending on where they’re working. Substitute pay in Washington schools depends on certification requirements, and some positions are paid higher than others.

The average daily pay across the state is about $192, according to the latest data from the 2021-22 school year.

Job fair

Pasco district staff hosted a substitute teacher job fair on Monday to get applicants hired in anticipation of the 2024-25 school year.

Attendees had the opportunity to expedite the application process, submit their fingerprints for a background check and participate in on-the-spot job interviews.

There are two ways for teaching subs to get certificated to work in the classroom. Both require candidates to have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher in any field of study.

An emergency substitute teaching certification can be obtained through the school district, which needs to be renewed every two years. Or prospective substitutes can earn a regular certification, valid for life, through OSPI.