Districts across California are facing increasingly tighter budgets — whether because of declining student enrollment or other unexpected cuts to funding streams — and must find ways to do more with their existing budgets while also ensuring much-needed academic progress for students.

Substitute teaching roles are a great place to start thinking about how to do more with existing expenditures. Virtually every district needs substitutes to cover various classes year-round, and they budget for them accordingly. Substitutes provide a necessary service to keep our schools functioning smoothly, whether it’s because of occasional teacher absences, off-campus professional development or meetings that occur during the regular school day, like for students’ individualized education programs (IEPs). But the funds that districts allocate for substitutes each year are rarely maximized to support student learning experiences or to enhance teacher development — though an increasing number of districts are exploring ways to do just that.

The Morongo Unified School District is piloting an innovative program model to improve the impact of substitute teaching through a substitute teacher residency model by leveraging funds already dedicated to substitute teachers to bring on aspiring teacher candidates who spend two days a week providing reliable substitute coverage while earning their credentials.

Let’s take a look at how much is typically spent on substitute teachers here in California. Districts across the state tend to pay between $200-$300 per day for each substitute. To this you need to factor in required statutory expenses including Social Security, unemployment insurance and worker’s compensation, at an average of 23 percent on top of pay. This brings the cost to between $250-$370 per day. School leaders tell us that there is consistent demand for substitutes across their campuses on Mondays and Fridays, and that substitute “fill rates,” as they are called, can be especially difficult to secure on these days. Substitute teacher shortages are, to little surprise, much more severe for Title I and rural districts. As a result, secondary schools often resort to “period-by-period” subbing, when other teachers on campus step in to cover classes, which can cost schools substantially more than a full-day substitute. In total, districts are budgeting an average of $18,000- $22,000 for a single substitute teacher, to provide a minimum of two days of classroom coverage, over the course of a 36-week instructional calendar year.

There are also important hidden costs that impact campus culture and student learning. Many districts pay for online management systems that process absence reporting and assignments, but very often there are still responsibilities on the front-office staff to greet and orient substitute teachers at the start of the hectic school day, or to frantically coordinate “period-by-period” coverage. Sometimes multiple classes of students must be bundled or split, causing even more disruptions to their learning. And all that stress trickles down. Discipline issues tend to rise when students are not with their regular teachers, pulling administrators away from their focus as instructional leaders and compounding their already heavy workloads. Substitute teachers are rarely familiar enough with the curriculum for teachers to entrust them with core academic instruction, meaning that a day with a substitute teacher is most often a day of lost learning.

Examples of this hectic work environment abound in Morongo USD. “The high school I taught at before my current position needed teachers to substitute for a class period EVERY day. And it was common for us to have multiple period-by-period subs on campus, covering as many as five classes. The waste is astounding,” said Matt Rauch, Morongo USD teacher residency program facilitator.

But imagine if the funds that are already allocated for substitute teachers in your district could be used more strategically? Imagine if these same funds could be leveraged to bring on an aspiring teacher candidate who spends two days a week providing reliable substitute coverage, and the other three days a week learning the academic curricula used with your students, as well as the school’s policies and core instructional practices? Imagine the burden this would take off of the front office staff and administrators at a school if this aspiring teacher, who is a known and trusted adult among students, could step in to substitute whenever another teacher needs to engage in IEP meetings with families or attend a professional learning opportunity to develop their own skills? The district could improve the experience for their students and staff at their schools with little to no additional costs to their existing budgets.

Morongo USD embarked on this system-level innovation two years ago when it launched a substitute teacher-residency model now called Teach Morongo. This school year, the district is set to host a dozen teacher candidates as “residents” — modeled after medical school training programs — who will work part-time as site substitutes while also learning in a classroom alongside an experienced mentor teacher. The schools benefit from having an aspiring practitioner they can rely on to substitute teach at their sites, in addition to the flexibility it offers the administrators to schedule school meetings, professional learning, teacher collaboration time or even campus arrangements for state assessments. The teacher-candidates benefit from the immersive preparation experience in a classroom, with the regular support of their mentor, and the financial incentive made possible through the reallocation of the $20,000 in funding already budgeted for substitute teachers.

Even better, once the teacher candidate or resident completes their training, the district can feel confident that they are not only well-prepared to work with their students but that they will also be up to speed on their instructional priorities and practices. It is a win-win for schools, administrators, students and those who are interested in becoming teachers in the future.