Illinois is short 600 school substitutes a day, study finds

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Public-school administrators are scrambling to find substitute teachers for as many as 600 Illinois classrooms a day, a survey finds.

The review released Tuesday by the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools revealed that teachers call in more than 16,500 absences each week. School officials have trouble finding replacements for nearly 20 percent of them.

Association president Jeff Vose, who is regional school superintendent for Sangamon and Menard counties, said that a 2012 increase in substitute teacher certification requirements may have discouraged some educators from applying to be fill-in teachers. The law increasing certification requirements raised the application fee to $100, bringing applicants' total registration costs to around $200. It also added a background check to ward off concerns about "educator misconduct with students," which accounts for roughly $50 of the total fee.

http://www.chron.com/news/education/article/Illinois-is-short-600-school-substitutes-a-day-10862887.php