Durango School District 9-R has struggled to fill substitute teaching positions this year.

The district currently has 80 substitute teachers for its 12 schools but the ideal number is 120. 9-R Director of Human Capital Laura Galido said there’s a need for a substitute on a daily basis.

“The unemployment rate in Durango right now in La Plata county is low,” she said. “So a lot of people have found work and a lot of places are hiring.”

There’s been an uptick in substitute applications recently but the school district is still trying to recover from a lack of applicants during the start of the school year.

Galido said many substitute teachers will take on seasonal employment for the summer, which can cause slow periods at the beginning of the year. To incentivize sub retention, the school district has raised daily pay. There are two types of substitute teachers. One is an every day substitute who is available at any time. Other subs can pick and choose which days they want to teach.

Everyday substitute pay was increased to $200 per day, and they also receive a health, dental and benefit package.

Substitutes who do not work on a daily basis are now paid $161 per day, an increase from the $125 per day rate, but do not receive a benefits package. There are also long-term subs who are used when teachers have to take an extended amount of time off. Long-term subs are now paid $219 per day when it used to be $170 per day.

Since the pay rate change, the school district has seen an increase in applications, receiving close to 40. However, some applicants are looking for more consistent employment, so the district will often offer support staff roles in addition to substitute positions.

“If we've got someone coming to us, and they're saying they want to serve every day as a support staff person and we know we've got a vacant custodial position or a vacant paraprofessional position than we try to see if they have interest in filling it,” Galido said.

Bus drivers and paraprofessionals are also positions the district needs to fill. The district is in discussion of what pay increases it can offer to these positions.

Ignacio School District also has issues finding substitute teachers. Superintendent Chris deKay said a lack of employees in the labor pool has also impacted the district’s ability to fill these positions.

Recently, the district has had better success finding subs, and currently has 18 subs for all three of its schools. However, deKay said this can be a tough position to fill. In 2019, the district had 20 subs.

“It's just been hard finding workers since as we've come off the pandemic, but substitutes would fall in that realm,” deKay said.

He wouldn’t speculate whether the shortage of subs is a result of people moving out of La Plata County or a lack of interest in the position. He said its great part-time work with a flexible schedule. Ignacio school district pays substitute teachers $120 per day.

For 9-R, the pandemic had an opposite effect according to Galido. Because there were parents passionate about their kids staying in the classroom, the district had a lot of volunteers to sub.

“There were several people in the community that stepped forward and just said, I want to serve because I feel strongly that youth need to be in school,” Galido said.

tbrown@durangoherald.com