Extra pay for extra days: Cape Girardeau Public Schools aims to attract more substitute teachers

Cape Girardeau Public Schools is offering an extra incentive for substitute teachers who work more than 20 days within the district during the 2024-25 school year.

The CGPS Board of Education recently approved a $40 increase to the district’s base substitute teacher pay, which will begin after a substitute has surpassed 20 days of work at any CGPS school during the school year. The base pay of $110 per day — $55 for a half day — will remain the same until a substitute reaches their 21st day, after which the sub will receive $150 per day for each day they work for the remainder of the year.

The increase is meant to incentivize regular substitutes to work more days during the school year as well as help draw more substitute teachers in because of a shortage in the workforce.

“Not just Cape Public Schools, but every district in the southeast region is having major, major challenges with getting substitute teaching jobs filled at the appropriate rates you would be looking for at their different districts,” said Brice Beck, assistant superintendent of K-12 Education. “We did an analysis based on our absence and sub-management system last year, and when you're looking at substitute teaching jobs for classroom teachers across the district as a whole through the entire academic year, we actually only covered between 60 to 70% of the jobs.”

Beck speculated that a large reason for a lack of substitute teachers lies in the amount they’re paid, but said it’s likely “a combination of a lot of different factors.”

“I think pay is one of the main things that, obviously, is considered when people are looking at what districts pay for substitute teaching jobs,” Beck said. “I think it’s also the availability of other hourly jobs that are out in the market right now. There's a pretty high demand for increased workforce across the board for a lot of companies, whether that's retail or the financial industry. I know in the last year, we've heard of many private-sector employers increasing what their standard of minimum wage was.

“I don't think there's one specific factor that you could say, ‘This is what's creating the sub shortage.’ I do think it does have a direct effect on the number of people that are just entering the field of education as a whole, because that is down as of now, according to the most recent data. They've shown there's less people that are staying in the field of education after five years, and there's less people entering teacher ed prep programs across the board.”

Beck said Cape Girardeau’s current substitute pay is competitive in the southeast region but is ultimately less than what a sub may earn in more populated areas such as Jefferson County or St. Louis.

“They're going to be paying a much higher rate, but they also have a much higher starting salary across the board than we do,” Beck said. “There’s a much larger volume (of teachers), obviously. There are a lot more districts and it's a lot more competitive. A lot of the districts up there are two to three times the size of Cape Public Schools as well, so you’ve just got more and more students everywhere.”

The lack of available substitutes can be problematic for individual teachers within the school district who may have to use their preparation hour to fill in for a class, also known as “drop subbing”. This can prevent them from collaborating with their teams in the building, ensuring curriculum assessments are being followed correctly and, for new teachers, meeting with mentors. Beck said teachers are compensated to “drop sub”, but the amount depends on how much time a teacher spends subbing down to the minute and the building’s schedule.

Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education certified substitutes may apply with the district on its website, www.capetigers.com. For more information on receiving DESE substitute teaching certification, visit www.dese.mo.gov/educator-quality/certification/substitute-teachers.

Southeast Missouri State University also offers a substitute teacher training program to help provide school districts with “well-trained professionals”. For more information about SEMO’s substitute training program, visit www.semo.edu/economic-workforce/skill-development/education.html.