TUSD substitute teachers unionizing

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — You can often find full-time substitute teacher Dolores de Vera at the Tucson Unified School District meetings voicing her opinion during the call to the audience. She’s been letting the TUSD governing board know what she thinks about the way the handle substitute teachers’ pay since around 2015.

Now the issue at hand for her is getting raises whenever other TUSD staff gets raises, an issue she’s been fighting for for years. TUSD said their teachers recently got a raise this school year, but substitute teachers did not.

“It makes you feel overlooked. It makes you feel taken for granted,” de Vera said.

However, recently things have changed for de Vera and many substitute teachers. TUSD’s governing board recently approved the Tucson Education Association to represent them as a union.

TUSD said there are over one thousand subs that are able to work in the district. The union will represent all of them, whether they pay into the union or not.

They said subs don’t get the same raises as regular teachers because regularly-certified teachers are paid salary and subs are paid daily rates based on when they want to work. Substitute teachers, they said, are also considered as-needed employees.

Full-time substitute teacher Jerry Schuster has also been attending meetings with de Vera since around 2015. He’s also feeling the sting of not getting raises.

“If we don’t get raises, that we’re not going to be able to keep up adequately with ever-skyrocketing inflation,” Schuster said. “If teachers get x percent and other employees get y percent, we should get a reasonable percent that would be comparable to what we do.”

In the 2021-2022 school year, TUSD said subs got a 9 to 50 percent raise based on their sub category.

De Vera said that brought her up from making $107 dollars a day to $145 dollars a day. After the first 20 days she said she started earning $160 dollars a day.

“Every bit counts. It helps you keep your head above water,” she said.

Two years ago TUSD said they reintroduced a 25 dollar raise on top of subs’ established rates for working at specific schools subs were hard to fill there.

The Tucson Education Association president Jim Byrne said they are the conditional bargaining representative for subs. He said the TEA is working with TUSD on a survey that will weigh the subs’ priorities.

“That gives us the mandate to come to the table with the district with articles that reflect those priorities,” Byrne said.

TUSD’s governing board approved a raise for regular teachers this school year.

Subs are making $125 to $200 based on their certification and the school they are working at.

De Vera is hoping subs negotiate a contract with TUSD that includes raising their pay whenever regularly certified teachers also got a raise.

“If you’re a sub out there, come to our meetings, get involved. We want to make things better and fair for everybody,” she said.