Substitute teacher shortages a concern in rural areas, especially during cold and flu season

With winter approaching and cold and flu season on the horizon, an obstacle facing schools that are already struggling with teacher shortages—especially in rural areas—is a lack of substitute teachers to fill in for teachers who are ill. (WQOW-TV photo)

The Valley City School District in Valley City, N.D., is discovering that it isn't staffed to handle this problem, Christina Craig reports for Valley News Live. Jimmy Howard, who has worked as a substitute for two years, told Craig, "I just think a lot of younger teachers as they are coming out of school—they are not looking for rural experiences; they want city experiences. And as rural teachers are getting older and start to retire, there's a higher need now."

Valley City School District, which has 22 substitute teachers, has never had to cancel a class because of a lack of teachers, but administration staff members have had to act as substitutes at some schools, Craig writes.

The Chippewa Falls school district in Chippewa Falls, Wisc., currently has about 200 substitute teachers, 50 fewer than in previous years, Bridget Currant reports for WQOW 18 in Eau Claire. Superintendent Brad Saron told her, “I think our substitute shortage is a symptom of less people considering the field of education as a career choice."

Carmen Manning, the Dean of the College of Education and Human Sciences at UW-Eau Claire, told Currant, “I think it has to do with the fact that substitute teachers do not get any benefits and they work very part time." And substitutes in rural areas often earn less than those in urban ones, with the Chippewa Falls school district paying $85 per day, compared to $110 in Eau Claire.

Last year the Sun Prairie Area School District in Dane County, Wisconsin, posted 14,458 substitute teacher openings, with 426 of the postings going unfilled, Rebecca Rudolph reports for The Star in Sun Prairie, Wisc.

The average teacher misses 11 days per school year, and finding help has been a real problem, Rudolph writes. Annette Mikula, the district's human resource director, told Rudolph, “Years ago, it was easier to find subs because if someone didn’t find a job (out of college), then they’d sub to get a foot in the door. In today’s economy, many people don’t have that luxury.” (Read more)