As a general rule, substitute teachers earn less than contract staff members. At GIPS, the highest amount a substitute teacher can earn is $200 a day, according to the district’s website. Additionally, the website says there are incentives for replacements who work a high percentage of available days per pay period and/or work 125 days or more.

Contract teachers can earn between $250 and $300 a day, plus benefits, Carter said.

GIEA, the teachers’ collective bargaining unit at GIPS, has requested information on the positions in question. Carter said the application is not routinely submitted.

“Honestly, I never really thought about it,” she said. “But this year there were so and, and so many of them teaching for semesters or the whole year. That’s when we started saying, wait a minute, this sounds like something we need to look into.

Carter explained, “(The district) contacted someone who was a long-termer who has a teaching certificate and asked him to be a substitute in that class. We have long-term replacements who replace things like maternity leave. I have a friend who just had a baby, so she has a long-term substitute in her class while on maternity leave, but when she’s finished maternity leave, she returns to her position. This is a completely separate and legitimate reason to use a long term.