The county schools is improving pay for staff members who put in extra time helping students while there is a dire shortage of substitute teachers.

The school system is also improving pay for child care workers and will begin charging more for child care service.

Officials said, "Hamilton County Schools recognizes the sacrifices our employees make when teaching vacancies remain unfilled during the COVID pandemic. Since the pandemic, schools across the nation are facing shortages of substitute teaching staff, and other staff members are often needed to supplement the need, often using their planning time or teaching additional students within their classes.

"Thus, HCS is proposing to utilize the funds that would have been paid to a substitute to the certified staff members filling in the need during this time.

"Effective January 31, 2022, certified classroom staff who cover classes are paid a proration of the highest daily substitute rate available ($114 a day before taxes, excluding the sub attendance bonus) and if more than one teacher splits a class, the reimbursement rate is equally split between them. Administrators and those in administrative/school support roles such as Deans of Students, Instructional Coaches, etc. are not eligible.

Guidelines include:
? A certified employee covering an in-person or virtual class because a substitute is not
available shall be paid the prorated amount based on the classes covered using the highest
daily substitute rate available, exclusive of the substitute bonus.
? Covering a class during a certified employee’s planning time because a substitute is not
available shall be done on a voluntary basis except in urgent/emergency situations or if
there is not a volunteer.
? Such additional compensation shall be prorated for the time period or percentage of the
class that each professional employee covers. When a class is split among several
professional employees, the highest substitute rate will be divided evenly among all
professional employees receiving students.
? All coverage and assignments will be approved by the school’s administration.
For pay processing, certified employees will complete the stipend form for monthly submission
to the school timekeeper (similar to the homebound process). The form will be provided
electronically to certified staff for their completion and payment will be made on the regular
monthly stipend dates.

"We are proposing this plan until the end of the 2021-2022 school year at which time we will
evaluate the potential of its continuance during the COVID pandemic."

Concerning child care workers, these are the raises:

Employee Type          Current Pay Rate      New Pay Rate

Child Care Assistant       $10.7521                      $13.00

Sr. Child Care Asst (Non-Degreed) $13.3858     $15.00

Sr. Child Care Asst (Degreed) $14.4856            $16.00

Site Director                              $17.7706          $20.00

Officials said, "SACC is struggling, like many others, to find quality child care employees due to the current job market. SACC hopes to attract more experienced candidates and be more competitive with the current pay that is offered by other businesses. Our goal is to increase pay so that we are able to hire more applicants in order for us to open our registration back up to those students that we currently have on a waiting list due to our lack of employees.

"Additionally, SACC Administrative staff will receive a 10 percent increase on their salary as well.

"SACC also requests a few rate changes to help us account for the increase in expenses from the employee pay increases. 

"Please see the table below showing the increases we are proposing."

The proposed rates would go into effect Thursday, May 26, 2022.

Rate Type                     Current Rate     Recommended Rate

Morning Child Care          $5.00                  $6.00

Afternoon Child Care        $7.00                 $9.00

Full Day Child Care           $17.00              $20.00

Registration Fee (Fall &    $10.00              $20.00
Summer)

"Our late payment fee also will be increased from $5 per family per week to $10 per family per week. Our current late pickup fee will remain the same for the first 15 minutes children are picked up late. Parents are charged $5 for every 15 minutes or a portion thereof per child. The proposed change would increase the fee to $1 per minute per child after the first 15 minutes."