Pennsylvania, like the rest of the nation, is experiencing a shortage of substitute teachers. State house lawmakers are ushering a bill to hopeful passage that would allow some substitute teachers to work longer periods during a school year. In the Senate, plans have been announced for a bill to make a temporary substitute teacher program permanent.

The goal is to help ease the state’s long-running concern about teacher shortages, an issue exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. While most districts have not yet reported severe shortages, many schools are expecting upcoming retirements and resignations, and the number of individuals seeking instructional licenses to become teachers dropped by nearly half from 2011 to 2018. There could be a significant shortage in the offing.

In the short term, state lawmakers are on the right track. Building up a bank of substitutes to handle the day-to-day needs of school districts and students during this pandemic is essential, especially as educators have begun receiving vaccinations and moving back toward teaching in person.

In the long term, however, the state must not rely on a bank of substitutes as a way to forestall the hiring of qualified full-time teachers. The decline in the number of professional teachers must be addressed in way that is not stopgap.

Teacher absences and shortages impact the existing roster of full-time teachers who may be asked to teach additional classes or supervise bigger/combined classrooms. Burdening those who show up for school is not smart. What has always been important — creating the best environment for teaching and learning — takes on even greater importance after more than a year of patchy online instruction.

Substitutes, effective as they can be on a short-term basis, simply do not have the same expertise and training that the state mandates for full-time educators. A full teaching certification is not required to be a substitute teacher in Pennsylvania. Individuals with a four-year college degree can earn an emergency substitute teaching certification by completing a short course of study.

Relying more heavily on subs could prove detrimental to public education in the long run. Substitutes should be tapped for the occasional sick day. But subs are simply not a substitute for a fully staffed roster of full-time teachers.

— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS