The Mineola school board voted Thursday to raise the district’s pay rates for substitute teachers in an effort to remedy a substitute shortage.
After starting at $100 per day, substitutes will be able to earn an additional $10 per day for each 10 consecutive days they work, with the maximum wage set at $130 per day.
“We’re trying to figure out a way to attract people to come to Mineola and stay in Mineola, and the idea is if you pay them more, you have a better chance of getting them to come here,” Mineola school Superintendent Michael Nagler said.
The district originally proposed raising pay to $125 per day after a teacher works 30 consecutive days.
But the school board adopted the incremental increases, which Nagler proposed, to make a raise more feasible for substitutes.
“I think it seems more attainable for people,” school board Trustee Margaret Ballantyne-Mannion said. “I think people might look and go, ‘Oh, 30 days — when am I going to get 30 consecutive days?’”
Mineola schools currently pay substitutes $100 per day, which used to be an average wage, Nagler said.
In recent years, the district has had a shortage of substitutes, especially permanent substitutes, he said.
It’s driven by many substitutes looking for work in surrounding districts that pay higher wages, Nagler said, such as $125 or $130 per day.
“At the high school it’s a little easier, because we can do study halls and children are used to that,” Nagler said. “When you get to elementary school and you have classroom teachers out, it’s a whole different problem.”
Nagler said he thinks the raise will be more attractive to substitutes and will eventually create more stability by bringing in more permanent substitutes.
He noted the district will have to account for the higher wages in next year’s budget.
