While the McCleary v. Washington decision and voter-approved Initiative 1351 will be the education priorities for this year’s Legislature, lawmakers also would be wise to address another issue facing public schools: A lack of substitute teachers.
A recent survey conducted by the Washington Office of the State Actuary revealed that most districts across Washington report increasing difficulty in finding qualified teachers to fill in when regular classroom teachers are missing because of illness, professional training, a leave of absence, or vacation. Results of the survey, which are preliminary, were turned over to the Legislature’s Select Committee on Pension Policy, which likely is where possible solutions to the problem will germinate.
Nationally, media reports out of California, Minnesota, New York, Arizona, North Dakota, and elsewhere suggest that the issue is not exclusive to Washington. Still, fixing it in this state might require a bit of legislative wrangling.
Among the reasons for the shortage is a pension plan available to teachers that provides them with an early retirement but prevents them from returning to the classroom. Under that provision, if a teacher under the age of 65 works as a substitute — or for any public employer — for even one day, they lose their pension check for the month. On its face, the logic of that provision might be difficult to discern, but there is some reasoning behind it — it would do taxpayers a disservice to have a teacher retire with a generous pension, and then double-dip from the public trough by working nearly full time as a substitute. According to the Washington State Department of Retirement Systems, more than 1,000 retired teachers statewide under the age of 65 are part of that plan.
Of course, we can argue about the merits of a system that provides public employees with a generous pension well before the typical retirement age, but that is a discussion for another time. For now, the Legislature should consider a tweak that allows retired teachers under 65 to work a couple days a month as a substitute without jeopardizing their pension check. Similar state programs for other professions allow retirees to be rehired for up to 867 hours annually. The concern regarding teachers, according to The Seattle Times, is that relaxing return-to-work rules for teachers would cause more of them to choose that generous pension plan and therefore prove costly for school districts.
Yet, the situation calls for some changes. The availability of competent substitute teachers can vastly impact long-range student outcomes. Studies have pegged the national average of teacher absenteeism at 10 percent on a daily basis, meaning that substitutes play a significant role in learning over the course of a student’s academic career. The notion of a substitute being merely a babysitter or barely holding the fort until the regular teacher returns is outdated and does a disservice to those substitutes who are well-trained and dedicated to their craft. In an age when greater accountability for student outcomes is expected from school districts, those districts need to have a pool of talented substitutes at their disposal.
All of this might seem secondary to concerns over school funding as mandated by the McCleary decision or the unfunded I-1351, both of which call for billions of additional state money for public schools. And it is secondary. But, with McCleary and with I-1351, the ultimate goal is improved education for Washington students — and improved substitute teachers can aid that cause.
