Local Budgets for Sub Teachers Drop

As a new substitute school teacher in Post Falls this year, Aspen Elbin figured it would be at least October before she would be called to a classroom. But she went to work much sooner. Just a few weeks into the school year, Elbin has already put in a few days at Frederick Post Kindercenter and has some days lined up at Mullan Trail Elementary. “I'm happy to have the opportunities so early,” said Elbin, a substitute in the Kamiah and Kooskia districts before her family moved here. School districts still rely heavily on subs, but their budgets for teacher sub costs have declined in recent years like most other budgeted items. … Tom Taggart, Lakeland's finance director, attributed that district's budget decrease to a lower number of regular teachers in recent years resulting from attendance declines/Brian Walker, Coeur d'Alene Press. More here. (Jerome A. Pollos' Coeur d'Alene Press photo: Patsy Hargrave, a substitute teacher, helps students during a first-grade reading class Thursday at Sorensen Magnet School in Coeur d'Alene)

Question: Do you think that the job of a substitute teacher is a tough one?