A survey of Illinois public school districts says administrators are constantly trying to find substitute teachers for as many as 600 classrooms a day. I spoke with Charleston Superintendent Jim Littleford and he says finding substitutes in his district isn't an issue. He says if it wasn't for Eastern Illinois University, administrators would struggle finding teachers to take over classrooms. Littleford said this month they had three people apply to be a substitute teacher for the school district but typically they would have had fifty or sixty in a particular month. The Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools says teachers call in more than sixteen thousand times per week for absences and this leaves administrators scrambling to fill in for nearly twenty percent of them. Charleston superindent Jim Littleford says over the years he's seen the number of substitutes in the district dwindle. Littleford said, "I report to the board of education every month the number of substitutes that we have enrolled in our school district, so they can teach in our school district on a substitute basis and that number continues to go down, down and down." He says it's affecting the district but not as bad as other areas primarily because of Eastern. He said. "We're very fortunate because we live in Charleston and we have Eastern Illinois University, it's a teacher's college. A lot of people will just stay in the community and it just works out that they come into our schools and help us teach." Eastern alum Jordan Shore says after she student taught she ended up substituting for the same classroom while the teacher was on maternity leave. Shore said, "If I wouldn't had been an Eastern student and student taught at this school then I don't know if I would have gotten that opportunity because I wouldn't have known it was available." Governor Bruce Rauner signed a law this month that would cut the cost of a substitute teaching license. Littleford says there might need to be more than cutting the cost of the license to increase the number of substitutes. He said, "Do I really think that cutting the license cost down that much will make a difference, I don't think so. I don't think that's going to make a huge difference. What I think that could make a huge difference is that they cut down on the educational requirement from a four year degree to a two year degree. I think then you will see a lot more people applying to be a substitute teacher." Charleston currently doesn't have permanent substitutes just a list of teachers they call upon when needed. Teachers are also turning to a phone app called substitute alert to notify people when there's an opening in their area.
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