Monday, May 7, 2007

Low Pay for substitute teachers


My blog today will be a rant. I am sorry for this rant but I need to vent and this will be the place for that today. I am a substitute teacher in Connecticut. In order for one to be a sub in Connecticut, one must have a college degree. For the achievement of receiving a college degree I am paid $70 a day. I work an average of 7 hours a day with a 25 minute lunch. That makes my pay $10 an hour. If I had not gone to college but I were a cashier or waitress I would make more than that in Connecticut. Why demand a substitute teacher have a college degree if you do not intend on paying him or her for education and experience.
I agree with the fact that substitute teachers should be college educated but I also believe they should be paid the wage of a college educated professional. I would think a parent would not accept any less. The sub pay should start at $20 and hour and go up from there. There are no other benefits involved so the school systems are paying us babysitter wages. Please let your boards of eds. know that you think sub pay should be increased and that you demand a high level of professionalism from the substitutes not just someone looking to fill their days with something to do.

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2 comments:

Christie Cottage said...

Amen sister! I substituted for 1 year after a sudden death in my family (I didn't want to have to commit to work everyday..HA!)

No breaks. I even had playground duty. At one point I had 90 preschoolers to myself of the playground. And the Oklahoma pay was $45 per day, but with a free school lunch. The next year I got a job!

Anonymous said...

it's sad how much our country undervalues the importance of teachers. Even full time teachers are way undercompensated for their work, time, and commitment.