Yorkville School District 115 increases substitute teacher pay rates

In an effort to attract high-quality substitute teachers and relieve the stresses of full-time faculty filling classroom vacancies, the Yorkville School District 115 board approved increasing substitute teacher pay rates and loyalty incentives.

The district-wide increase lifts substitute daily pay from $135 to $145. It is the district’s first substitute pay raise since 2021.

Associate Superintendent for Human Resources Nick Baughman said that, while the pay increases add an estimated $253,280 to the annual budget, that figure does not include the estimated savings generated by hiring additional substitutes.

Baughman said because it’s more expensive to fill classroom vacancies with full-time teachers instead of external substitutes, hiring additional substitutes will save the district an estimated $60,000 to $80,000 this year based on last school year’s pay rates and average classroom vacancies.

“The increases will help relieve some burdens and stresses for our great teachers filling in extra duties and create a better culture,” Baughman said. “The hope is this gives us an advantage in the marketplace.”

According to an executive summary Baughman provided to the board at the Aug. 26 meeting, out of the district’s daily average of 75 classrooms needing substitutes, and about 15-20 classrooms can’t be filled by the district’s current pool of substitutes. At the secondary level, these vacancies are filled by current full-time teachers at $46 an hour. At the elementary level, the classroom vacancies are filled by paraprofessionals, like teacher’s aides and non-classroom teachers, like literacy and math coaches.

During the 2023-24 school year, filling classroom vacancies with internal teaching staff cost the district $217,653, according to Baughman’s summary.

Last school year, the district employed 189 total substitute teachers, with an average of 60-80 being available to fill classrooms daily, according to Baughman’s summary, about average for the region.

Baughman said while Yorkville’s 2023-24 daily substitute teacher rates of $135 were above those of nearby districts in Plainfield and Oswego, increasing Yorkville’s rates is imperative because both of those districts are also raising their sub pay.

“Regionally, the substitute pool is not very deep; this can result in shortages,” Baughman said. “In this market, school districts are trying to get very creative to attract high-quality substitutes.”

Baughman said additional solutions include providing a loyalty raise to a daily rate of $160 if a teacher subs in the district for at least 40 days. The plan increases the quarterly bonus from $500 to $600 a substitute receives if they achieve a 90% attendance rate for all student days within their respective schools. The long-term substitute rate, is also going up from $185 to $210 daily.

The district’s further solutions for remaining competitive in the marketplace also include incentivizing retired district teachers to substitute, offering them $210 daily. The substitute daily paraprofessional rates is also going up to $120 daily.