URBANA, Ill. (WAND) — The Urbana School District is tackling their substitute-teacher crisis by recommending solutions for teachers and substitute teachers.
HR Director Angi Franklin suggested a few ideas to the board during their last meeting. One suggestion for the school district was to raise the daily pay for substitutes from $130 to $150.
“HR Director Angi Franklin came to us with a proposal to increase our daily pay for subs up to $150. Along with that for our full-time subs or building subs who are permanently assigned to specific buildings we’re going to be asked to allow them to participate in the same healthcare benefits that the rest of our employees get,” stated Paul Poulosky.
The Board of Education President Paul Poulosky said they are not the only district struggling with these issues.
“We’ve seen teachers needing time off as well as the increased number of open positions. It’s not just us experiencing this, every district in the state and around is here experiencing the same thing and we’re all competing for the same pool of people,” said Poulosky.
Raising these daily pay rates can also impact the district financially.Â
“What’s happening is because we’ve had these unfilled positions it’s left us under our planned budget. So, we’ve got these excess funds that we can use to raise substitute pay as the result,” explained Poulosky.Â
The Urbana School District plans to discuss these improvements further during Tuesday night's meeting.
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