In an effort to cut down on costs without sacrificing students’ instruction, West Windsor-Plainsboro school officials are looking to cut down on the number of substitute teachers by instead holding study halls. According to WW-P school board President Hemant Marathe, the board is looking to reduce the absences of its teachers, but also wants to “come up with a better system if teachers are absent for some reason.” The idea is that rather than hiring substitute teachers for each classroom where a teacher is absent, a few substitutes would be hired to oversee larger study halls. “Students will get the lesson plan and everything that the actual classroom teacher does prepare,” said Marathe. School officials also acknowledge that, while some substitutes can be helpful, many are not capable of providing continuity, particularly in the higher level courses. The officials add the policy ensures that taxpayer money is being put to best use, and money saved from the hiring of fewer substitutes can be used elsewhere. “We can use a few of the substitute teachers when teachers are absent, and we’ll see how the pilot program works,” said Marathe. “We can save a significant amount of money.”
The new pilot policy, which will be implemented at high schools North and South, came as a result of a re-arranging in the district’s 2009-’10 budget. “We did have extensive discussions at the board and committee meetings,” said Marathe. Instead of voting on the policy itself, however, Marathe said the board votes on the number of substitutes it hires instead. “During the budgeting process, we did find out how much reduction the principals can achieve in their substitute budgets, and a new number was included in last year’s budget,” Marathe said. Cutting back on the substitute budget allows the district to save costs without cutting instructional programs and the students’ experience in the classroom. Marathe said that the average cost for paying a substitute can range from $75 per day, if the substitute is not certified, up to $90 per day, if the teacher is certified. While it is hard to determine how much savings the school district would see as a result of the policy, estimates are that the figures are in the six digits.
The study hall alternative will be used “not only when teachers are absent, but when teachers are doing professional development or are out of the classrooms for other reasons,” Marathe says. How many substitutes are hired and where the study halls are located are details that will be handled and decided by the schools’ principals, who are responsible for the day-to-day activities, Marathe said. At North, for example, the study halls will be held in the cafeteria, where two substitute teachers will take attendance and hand out materials from the absent teacher. The number of students sent to the cafeteria will be monitored. “Each principal, depending on their needs, will decide how many substitutes to hire,” he said. “As we go along in the first two to three months, we’ll learn more as we get some experience.”
Meanwhile, Marathe says the district has been working with the teachers union to reduce employee absences, although he admits that the teacher attendance rate is extremely high, at 95 percent in some places. “Our attendance rate is pretty good, but we are trying to still get it even better,” he says. “The union has been very cooperative. Sometimes, unfortunately, teachers have to take time off because they are sick, but they have been very cooperative, and we’re trying to work with them to see if we can do better.”
Marathe also said that if a teacher is sick, district officials would prefer the teacher stay at home, “especially with the increased pressure because of the flu and other things,” he said. “The state has also issued guidelines for late last year, saying if you have the flu symptoms, you have to be out a certain number of days.”
WW-P Employee Health Costs Rise
While many of the 240 school districts enrolled in the State Health Benefits Plan may be scrambling to find money to cover a huge increase in their employee health benefits coverage come January 1, WW-P officials say they have the 25 percent increase in their costs covered. Two state commissions, including the state Health Benefits Commission and the School Employee Health Benefits Commission — which is run by appointees of the New Jersey Education Association — approved hikes in healthcare costs up to 25 percent. Larry Shanok, the WW-P Assistant Superintendent of Finance, said the commission kept rates artificially low and Aon, which is the insurance consulting firm, have reported each year that they would be running a big deficit. “We were very much aware,” said Shanok. “Over the last 10 years, 5 of the 10, we had health costs that increased by 14 percent or more, including one year that it increased by 21 percent.”
It was nice to have lower premiums for the last two years, said Shanok, but “it was inevitable that there was going to be a big increase.”
Thus the district budgeted enough money in the budget to carry the 25 percent increase the district will face this year. “Fortunately, we won’t have the situation I gather most districts are in, where they don’t have enough money in their budgets at all,” Shanok added. “While it’s a healthy increase, it’s for the second half of the year.” However, “whatever increase they do the following January, we will need an increase in next year’s budget,” Shanok added.
