Clark County School Board to discuss long-sought raises for subs

After months of protests and public pressure for a pay raise, Clark County School District substitute teachers may be close to achieving their goal.

A possible pay increase is scheduled to be considered at Thursday’s school board meeting.

“The most promising thing is the simple fact that they’re going to talk about it,” said substitute Fernando Valenzuela. “It’s an opportunity for them to discuss it as a board instead of us just talking at them.”

But Valenzuela said that while substitutes were happy to see the item on the agenda, some were dismayed at the content of the proposal, which includes a $10 to $30 bump in daily pay depending on the type of position.

It’s simply not enough, Valenzuela said, given that the group hasn’t seen a raise in well over a decade. He added that substitutes were hoping to see proposals on sick days, paid time off and health benefits, which currently aren’t available to first-year substitutes.

“We’d also like to see retired teachers get a bonus. They’re a big portion of our pool and they’re among our most valued subs,” he said. “They’ve been teaching for 20 or 30 years, but you want to pay them the same as a first-year substitute.”

The proposal would allot a $20 increase for the district’s standard rate for subs, from $90 to $110. Long-term subs would be paid $130 after their 10th day teaching, and vacancy substitutes would receive $140 per day.

Special education and other hard-to-fill substitutes would start at $150 per day.

Proposal would cost $4.8 million

The proposal would cost the district, which is expected to face new budget pressures as a result of the downturn in state revenue caused by the coronavirus’ impact on the state, an estimated $4.8 million.

CCSD initially did not plan to pay any substitutes during school closures, but later announced it would pay vacancy substitutes and certified tutors.

Some others have found other work on the district’s new learning hot line, or by picking up virtual subbing assignments — though substitute Gregory Barone said those have been hit-or-miss as some subs accepted the jobs only to learn they were canceled.

Barone said that he’s been fortunate to find work distributing meals with Three Square, but added that he struggled to get clarification initially on whether he’d be eligible for unemployment benefits during school closures.

He said while delays aren’t unexpected given the crush of people applying for benefits, and substitutes’ unique circumstances, he filed a claim on Mar. 16 and has not yet received any payment.

Substitute and violinist Brandon Summers said he was hit doubly hard by the loss of teaching work and performances. He has not received unemployment checks either.

He said that when he left his last teaching job on Mar. 13, he didn’t expect it to be his last day working in nearly six weeks. He added that he’s still deciding if he’ll come back to the district given the low rates of pay but acknowledges he may not have a choice given the state of the economy.

‘It’s several years overdue’

“I’m glad they’re doing this, but it’s several years overdue,” he said.

Trustee Danielle Ford said she doesn’t see the item as a raise, but the minimum currently possible to show substitutes that they’re valued.

“It’s not like they’ve had adequate pay this whole time and now they’re getting a bonus,” she said. “This is an attempt to give them an adequate amount of funding.”

While the board won’t take any action on the discussion item, Ford says she expects to hear any potential news about substitute raises when the district announces its final budget in mid-May.

Asked whether the right time to consider a pay bump is when the district is facing potential budget reductions of 4 to 14 percent, Ford said she believed it is a necessary expense.

“The correct time to look at something like this was 10 years ago,” she said. “But subs are critical for the operations of the district and we can’t have them left out.”

Contact Aleksandra Appleton at 702-383-0218 or aappleton@reviewjournal.com. Follow @aleksappleton on Twitter.