Fairfax County Public Schools is facing an unprecedented substitute shortage and it is time for the School Board to take immediate action in order to ease the strain this shortage puts on the entire school system. FCFT supports the proposal to increase substitute pay by $2 across the board. We also support the developing plans to pay subs at a higher rate for consistently taking assignments. We are encouraged that the School Board has been discussing compensating staff members who are pulled to cover for an unfilled sub position and urge FCPS to adopt this change. In addition to the solutions that are being discussed, we would like the School Board to consider the following suggestions that FCFT’s Substitute Task Force has developed over the past two years:

Pay
Additional compensation for experience such as a higher rate for substitutes with a teaching license and retired IAs
Additional compensation for hard-to-fill positions such as special education teachers and special education IAs and positions at schools with the lowest fill rates
Add a long-term pay rate for IA positions

Substitute Staffing
Create a central pool of subs on a 1-year contract that can be deployed to a narrow range of schools.
Hire a building sub for every 500 students.
Have a designated local screening sub who covers a different school within the same pyramid each day for their local screening meetings.
Add additional pathways to becoming qualified to sub for a teacher position including previous experience as an IA or in other childcare settings and professional learning through Academy Courses

Reducing Demand
End use-it-or-lose-it leave policy by allowing options such as:
applying unused leave toward service time in the retirement formula
paying out unused leave upon leaving the county
giving a bonus at the end of the year for unused leave
allowing for gifting of leave to coworker who need to take frequent or extended-absences
Build more PD days and early releases into the year to reduce the need for subs for PD during the school day

Training
Provide training for subs including:
An annual sub conference with high-interest topics like classroom management
Provide a paid day of shadowing before a sub covers their own class
Allow substitutes to take Academy Courses and MyPDE courses