TEXARKANA, Ark. - With school districts around the country setting COVID-19 protocols that require teachers to quarantine when they have come in close contact with infected individuals in classrooms, the demand for substitute teachers has risen to an all-time high.
The Texarkana Arkansas School District recently saw an increase in their 2020-2021 budget for substitute teacher costs because of uncertainty about how many full-time teachers will be available throughout the school year, with some possibly having to take COVID leave to quarantine.
Arkansas Department of Education Commissioner Johnny Key addressed these concerns in a press conference Tuesday.
"That is an ongoing challenge," Key said. "The issue of substitute teachers and the capacity is usually a local issue anyway, and there are some districts traditionally that have challenges doing that."
Four weeks into the school year, he called on districts to survey what their needs are to possibly adjust their Ready for Learning plan, which is a planning and guidance document for how they go about making decisions for the 2020-2021 school year.
"Right now, what we're asking scholars and districts to look at, as they've seen those first four weeks and what that availability can be on a district by district level, what are the other modifications they could make?" Key said. "What are the changes to their Ready for Learning plan that might be necessary now that they have four weeks behind them? The availability of substitute teachers is certainly one of the factors."
Key said the state relies on local districts to make decisions about substitute teachers because of the uniqueness of each district's needs.
"So at this point, there is not a state-wide effort because the recruiting of substitute teachers is very much local, and has local flavor and connotations," he said. "We could recruit substitute teachers, but it would be very difficult for a statewide campaign to really solve the needs of a substitute teacher shortage.
"We are continuing to work with the districts to help them identify what other possibly changes they could make to their Ready for Learning plan."