Vermilion Parish School Board looks at increasing substitute worker pay

Substitute support workers in Vermilion Parish School System have not received a pay raise in 16 years, which could be why the school system is having difficulty finding subs.
At Monday night’s school board committee meeting, Assistant Superintendent Paul Hebert addressed the school board looking for help to address the substitute support worker shortage problem the school district is facing.
Hebert told the board members that not long ago, at least 20 teachers were applying for one teaching job in Vermilion Parish. No longer. Now, the school district is short a handful of teachers a month into the school year.
That shortage is carrying over to substitute support workers, Hebert said.
Hebert said the school district has an average of 90 school employees per day, which require a sub.
The school district can not find 90 subs each day. On average, the district can only find 64 subs, leaving an average of 26 unfilled positions each day.
“This is a serious issue for our schools,” Hebert said.
Hebert explained that the main reason for the high number of absentees is due to COVID-19 and having to quarantine.
The school district is having trouble getting enough substitute teachers daily. Hebert is hoping the reason is because of pay. The last time substitute support workers received a pay
increase was in 2006.
So, at the committee meeting, Hebert proposed raising the daily pay of substitute support workers in hopes of attracting more.
The old pay for a substitute teacher with no college degree was $55 per day. The substitute teacher works 7.5 hours a day, which breaks down to a minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.
Hebert wants to increase the pay to $70 a day, which equals just over $9 per hour.
A substitute teacher with a college degree will make $65 per day to $75 per day. It is still below what Iberia Parish pays, $90 per day, for subs with college degrees.
A certified teacher who subs will now make $80 a day, an increase of $5.
Also, getting extra pay is substitute workers for janitors, sweepers, and bus monitors. For example, a substitute janitor was being paid $7.25 per hour. Now, they will be paid a flat $70 per day for 7.5 hours of work.
A substitute bus monitor will now earn $50 per day.
“We hope that an increase in pay for subs will bring more people who want to work for the school district,” said Hebert.
School board member Jason Roy said while it is a raise, it is still not enough.
“I think we should raise it more, but I understand we have a budget,” Roy said.
Board member Laura LeBeouf wanted to make sure the budget could afford the extra $150,000. Hebert told the board members the budget could handle it.
The committee approved the pay raises, and now the board members will vote on the substitute support worker pay increase at Thursday’s school board meeting for final approval.