Evening star., 1925-03-12
Substitute Teachers Pay.

The rejection by the Board of Edu-
cation of the proposal OF the Ieach-
ers' Council to rescind the increased
schedule OF pay for substitute teach-
ers should not be taken as indicative
of a lack of sympathy on the par |
Of the board with the arguments as
presented by the representatives OF
the teachers. The superintendent Oh
schools. in the course of his remarks
at the conclusion of the hearing. made
il quite clear that such is not the
case.
The protest Of the teachers against
the increased pay of substitutes as
put into effect last month by action
of the board was not to the effect
that substitutes should not receive
more nav, but was frankly based
upon the fact that the increase
given them came out of the pockets
OF those teachers for whom substl-
tutes had to be provided. The posi-
ton of the board was that, while II
deprecates the law which makes a
sick teacher pay the salary of his or
her substitute, it must of necessity
act under that law as made by Con-
gress. and that the interests of eff
ficient education in Washington re-
quire that a larger salary be paid
substitute teachers when they have
TO be employed
Both the teachers and the board
are logical and right in their re-
spective contentious. 1t is true that
the policy of requiring a sick regu.
lar teacher personally to pay a large
portion of her salary to her substi
tute during the first so days of illness
and then, if the Illness continues, to
drop her from the pay roll entirely
is inequitable. not in accord with
enlightened business practice, and
against the. interests OF efficient edu
cation, in that it tends to persuade
sick teachers to come to work when
they ought to stay away. And it is
equally true that where substitute
teachers have to be provided the
proper type cannot be secured at the
old rate of pay =.
The solution to the problem must
be found through persuading Con-
gress to alter the, existing law deal
ing with the employment of substi-
tute teachers. All concerned are con-
WINGED of the fact that it is unjust
end impractical. AS Supt. Ballou
has asserted, the regular school
teachers of Washington schools
should, when taken sick, be given a
brief leave of absence on full pay,
with d longer period following, if
necessary, upon part pay. And the
employment of substitutes under such
conditions should be negotiated and
paid for by the school system of the
District.
Such a change in the. law would
obviously work to the Improvement
of the local educational conditions. II
would be in accord with the methods
of modern industrial establishments
in handling the problem of sickness
among the employees. Adequate pro
lection against malingering could be
adopted in the case of the schools
as in the case of business establish
ments, although the probability Of
such practice, owing to the high
grade of personnel involved, would
be remote.
That both the Board of Educat ton
and the Teachers Council will press
for congressional action along the
above indicated lines at the next seq
sion of Congress may be anticipated
from their unanimity of viewpoint.
And that Congress, which so ef-
fectively demonstrated its sympa-
thetie appreciation of local educa-
uonal needs at the last session, will
adjust the matter to the end of
further increased efficiency in the
schools of the National Capital may
be logically believed.