Lansing School District offers $300 daily wage for substitute teachers at its biggest schools

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - As COVID cases keep rising in Michigan schools, the need for substitute teachers becomes even greater.

One Mid-Michigan districting is making an enticing offer to get more help and for a substitute teacher living about 40 minutes away, it might be worth the drive.

Dec. 8, 2021: Coronavirus Report: Michigan reports 15,385 new cases, 351 deaths over past two days

“It’s Dwight Rich, Gardiner and Everett High School -- those are the three that we are offering a $300 daily rate,” said Lansing School District Human Resources director Suzy Corbin.

That’s not a typo. It’s $300 a day to substitute for Lansing’s three largest schools. For other schools in the Lansing School District, they’re offering $200 a day. The incentive comes as schools face major staff shortages.

“Our highest populated schools were having a lot of uncovered classrooms, so once we changed the rate for those three schools we were seeing a lot more coverage,” Corbin said. “Now, we’ll get one or two uncovered classrooms versus the five or six -- or even higher some days.”

Lansing School Board Vice President Rachel Willis said they’re hoping the large need for substitute teachers will be temporary fix until they’re able to find qualified and willing full-time teaching candidates.

“The education industry and certainly the Lansing School District are not exempt from the workforce crisis,” Willis said. “What we want is to have passionate individuals in front of our kids everyday. So, really looking at incentivizing folks to come into the workforce and support our kids until we’re able to fill those spots with full-time teachers.”

Rebecca Wert is a substitute teacher in Jackson County. She said a lot of people shy away from the job because many schools don’t offer much support, but with a $300 paycheck, she said it might be worth the commute to Lansing.

“Some schools are better at supporting their subs and helping out when there are students that cause issues,” Wert said. “It would be a little bit more of a drive for me, but it’s about double what I’m making now in Jackson. So it’s a big consideration I’ve thought of.”

The Lansing School District has reached out to retired teachers to help fill the gap while they find more full-time help.

It’s not the only district ramping up pay to get substitute teachers -- Waverly Community Schools District is raising it’s daily wage for substitutes from $105 to $150. Grand Ledge Public Schools made the same increase and DeWitt Public Schools is going from $90 to $100 a day.

A full list of all of Lansing School District’s job openings can be found here.

Related: How could schools benefit from the Build Back Better Act?

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