School District vs. Substitute Teaching Staffing Agency—Which Is Better?

When school districts could only hire enough substitute teachers to cover 54% of absences, staffing agencies stepped in.

Over the past six years, staffing agencies have grown to help address a serious teacher shortage. Districts that are stretched thin can turn to a staffing agency to save time recruiting, training and onboarding substitute teachers.

Agencies and districts collaborate well together, but what about the individuals navigating these systems? Is going with one more beneficial than going with the other? To find out, we searched a few subreddits to get opinions of people with direct experience.

Read on to determine which option is best for you.

What’s the biggest difference between being hired by a school district and being hired by a staffing agency?

When you’re hired by a staffing agency, generally you can work for more than one district, which opens up more opportunities. However, I believe building subs make more money per day/hour, since the school doesn’t have to give the agency its share. If there’s only one district you can/want to sub in, building sub might be better. If you have lots of districts around you, an agency might be better. You also might have a bit more freedom with the agency.

Lifeisabowlofbs, r/SubstituteTeachers

You get hired by the district, you work directly for the district and have district support and district union and district pay and district benefits.

You get hired by the company, the district pays the company a salary and out of that salary the company pays you. Company supports can be better or worse than district, depending on company, but in my experience companies provide worse and less support.

Benzar00, r/SLP

 

Is it better to work for an agency or directly for the school district?

I'm currently employed with an agency and I don't like it. There are days on the calendar where I'm not paid because kids aren't in school. Holidays are not paid either. At Christmas, I missed almost 3 weeks of pay. If I were you, I'd run the numbers and do a pro/con list. Honestly, we need to boycott all of these agencies and push districts to hire us themselves. Not sure what state you're in, but where I am, there's a shortage of speech staff. We should be able to cut out the middleman and go directly to the district for employment. Also, make sure your agency doesn't have a noncompete, that will tie you up from obtaining district employment for 1-2 years.

Heyythere1999, r/SLPA

The district is almost invariably going to pay more than an agency—the district just has to pay you, whereas if you're working through an agency, the agency gets a cut.

I also think—though it may vary—that district subs tend to have more job security. If you're working through an agency, you're like a temp. The schools can say "nah, send another sub tomorrow," and the agency has to do it. Whereas if you're in the district pool, you're in the district pool. Your direct employer and indirect employer both want to get you work, because they're the same employer, and therefore you're unlikely to get removed from a job or blacklisted from a school without a reason.

Ryan_Vermouth, r/SubstituteTeachers

When I was a sub, I liked working for an agency as they offered me multiple districts. It was all in one app and I didn't need to worry about double-booking.

I definitely tried some districts that I otherwise would NOT have signed up for if I had to go through the process of signing up to sub with them directly. Actually, I probably wouldn't have signed up for any of the favorite districts that I focused on in the end (and I'm now a full-time certified teacher at one of those).

Some districts pay more, so I might choose one over another (i.e. wait longer before grabbing shifts from the lower paying district).

What it let me do is figure out what districts I liked and disliked (I'd drop the districts I didn't want), and once I got my teaching certificate, I knew where I wanted to go.

Garylapointe, r/SubstituteTeachers

The pro to a district or building sub is the rapport you build within the school and district. Compared to an agency you’re probably in multiple districts. … Overall, there’s pros and cons to each, I think it depends on your reason and goal for subbing. I’m doing it for more experience in teaching and opening me up for more job opportunities once I graduate.

Expensive-Ninja6751, r/SubstituteTeachers

Do school district prefer direct hired or staffing agencies?

When I helped to hire in a school district, we used agency hires as a last resort. Not because of the people, but strictly from a financial standpoint.

Adribug354, r/SLP
 

My district considers any position filled by a contractor as an open position and prefers to have direct hires. The district saves money with a direct hire instead of paying a contract company that includes having to pay for benefits for direct hires.

Phoebewalnuts, r/SLP

 

A program that caters to substitute teachers

If substitute teachers in New Jersey want to take the next step,  an accessible option is available.

An NJDOE-funded teacher apprenticeship initiative, ParaPreppED helps districts support college-degree-holding substitutes and paraprofessionals in becoming full-time licensed K-12 teachers. We know paraprofessionals and substitute teachers have foundational, on-the-job training that makes them great full-time teachers. Now, the path to career growth is easier.

Resources from the Teacher Apprenticeship Network provide additional support for Rutgers Graduate School of Education to partner with districts to promote the apprenticeship, establish new USDOL-approved teacher registered teacher apprenticeship programs, and recruit talent.

The program’s format accommodates the unique experiences and needs of substitute teachers and paraprofessionals, making the appropriate channels easy for them to reach.

Overall, the program aims to:

• Increase the number of Registered Teacher Apprenticeships in the state;
• Expand the teacher pipeline, leveraging the existing district talent;
• Address barriers for aspiring teachers through targeted support like Praxis prep; and
• Conduct and disseminate ongoing research on the implementation and impact of the initiative.

ParaPreppED is driven by the expressed interests of district leaders who wish to identify overlooked or hidden teaching talent among eligible paraprofessionals and substitutes the district can support to fill teaching vacancies, including those in Special Education, Science and Math, and English as a Second Language or Bilingual Education.

If you’re considering following your dream of teaching, Rutgers Alternate Route can offer you the support and training you need to succeed. Be sure to follow Rutgers Alternate Route on Twitter and sign up for Alternate Route’s monthly newsletter for more information and stories from the field of education.