Alamance-Burlington school board members voted unanimously Monday night to increase pay for substitute teachers by an additional $15 per day – which is on top of a similar increase that the board approved two weeks ago.
Non-certified substitute teachers for ABSS will be paid $115 per day, which represents an overall increase of $28.50 per day (or 33 percent) from the 2020-21 school year, when non-certified subs were paid $86.50 daily.
Certified substitute teachers (or those who hold a state teaching license) will be paid $130 per day, representing an overall increase of $27 per day (or 26 percent) from the 2020-21 school year, when certified substitutes were paid $103/day.
ABSS currently employs 432 substitutes, “with a fairly even split between certified and non-certified [subs],” ABSS finance officer Jeremy Teetor confirmed Monday for The Alamance News. Teetor estimated that the higher pay rates for subs will cost ABSS an additional $500,000 per year.
The higher pay rates will go into effect immediately for the current 2021-22 school year that began Monday.
By comparison, Guilford County schools will pay certified substitutes $140 per day and non-certified subs $115 per day, Teetor told the newspaper this week. Orange County schools will pay $120/day for certified and $112.65/day for non-certified substitute teachers, he said.
Earlier this month, school board members voted 7-0 to use approximately $900,000 in federal Covid-19 stimulus funding to raise pay for both certified and non-certified substitute teachers by about 15 percent across the board. Other funding sources would be used to maintain the higher pay rates once the federal stimulus money runs out, Teetor told school board members earlier this month.
The annual cost for substitute teachers averaged approximately $2.3 million, based on figures that Teetor had provided to school board members this spring.
The increase, approved 7-0 Monday night, follows a request by school board member Patsy Simpson, who urged the administration earlier this month to pay substitutes “whatever we can afford” while the federal stimulus funding is available.
See related stories from August 23 school board meeting:
School board votes, 6-1, on distribution of $69.5 million Covid funding: https://alamancenews.com/school-board-votes-6-1-how-to-spend-69-5-million-in-federal-covid-funding/
$37.5 million to be spent on air quality at 16 schools: https://alamancenews.com/37-5m-to-be-spent-on-air-quality-projects-at-16-schools/
Pay boosted (again) for substitute teachers: https://alamancenews.com/school-board-votes-to-raise-pay-for-subs-even-more/
