Shaun Bevan, treasurer of WCESC, said the idea for a substitute teacher consortium began about a year ago. The WCESC and Warren County Commissioners entered into a joint venture to form the Southwest Ohio Council of Governments, an organization which will serve as the exclusive provider of substitute processing services.
“It’s a really neat concept; a buzz in government and schools is shared services and this is a really great example of economies of scale,” Bevan said.
Lori Thesken, assistant superintendent for human resources at BCESC, said the proposal for a combined pool of substitute teachers was introduced in March to superintendents, treasurers and human resources staff. School board members for Butler County’s 10 school districts — and three districts in Warren County — have approved allowing the Educational Service Centers to provide substitute teachers, Thesken said.
In Warren County, Bevan said the Wayne, Springboro and Carlisle school districts have joined the agreement, with another three expressing interest in future years. Bevan said the districts are poised to save $300,000 for the upcoming school year by no longer having to dedicate staff for processing payroll and substitutes and calling substitutes in the early morning hours before school.
Thesken estimated the savings to Butler County school districts at a combined $1.3 million for the 2012-13 school year.
Bevan said each Educational Service Center will handle the processing of its county’s substitutes — orientation, paperwork, fingerprinting and ensuring proper licensing — but all payroll services will be handled out of the Warren County office.
“Previously you’d have to be an employee of each district and be on five different sub calling lists,” Bevan said, if a teacher wanted to substitute for different districts. “It’s centralizing it for them to easily gain access to more districts.”
Bevan said when the upcoming school year begins later this month the substitute teacher pool will be at about 1,000 members. He estimates the pool could reach up to 3,000 as more people express interest in becoming substitutes.
Thesken said substitute teachers in Butler and Warren counties are entered into AESOP — an automated system for scheduling substitute teachers. Through the automated software, substitute teachers still retain the freedom to select only certain districts or school buildings to be assigned to.
“Substitutes themselves get in the system and pick their jobs,” Thesken said. “But some positions are held for skill match,” or if a teacher has listed his or her most-trusted substitutes to select from.
Mike Davis, treasurer of Talawanda School District, said the 2012-13 school year will be the first time Talawanda has used a Web-based system for placing subs. He said the process was “labor-intensive” before with a staff member having the extra duty of handling subs.
“They have a deeper pool of substitutes,” Davis said of BCESC. “There are times, especially in May, when we experience a shortage of subs.”
Sharing a similar sentiment, Kathy Leist, assistant superintendent of human resources for Hamilton City Schools, said the new agreement will allow for more choices when it comes to picking subs.
“It allows substitutes to do one-stop shopping,” Leist said. “They can go to BCESC and apply to be a substitute and have access to all the districts. It’s a great service.”
According to Thesken, the Educational Service Center of Central Ohio is the only other district in Ohio to have a substitute teacher consortium. She said the Butler/Warren agreement was modeled after the Columbus-based district.
“It’s a unique system,” Thesken said.
Another cost-saving item of the partnership is the hiring of substitutes as at-will employees by the SWO-COG. Prior to the new system, if a substitute teacher filled a position for more than 60 days they were eligible for increased pay and benefits.
“If hired through the COG, schools can pay the same rate (after 60 days) if they choose,” Thesken said, but added that some districts opt to increase the pay when the teacher’s responsibilities increase to include lesson planning and disciplining of pupils.
For the 2012-13 school year, a number of school districts voted to decrease their daily pay rates for substitutes. Middletown decreased from $101 per day to $85; Butler County ESC decreased from $90 to $80; Monroe dropped from $85 to $80; and Fairfield from $80 to $75.
At Talawanda, Davis said the district also decreased its sub pay but not until reaching the 21st day. The daily rate remains at $80 for the first 20 days; increasing to $95 a day until the 61st day when it increases again to $175. Previously, the district jumped subs from $80 a day to $160 after the 11th day.
The remaining school districts kept their individual rates steady for the incoming year.
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