http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/01/16/462181638/solving-the-special-ed-teacher-shortage-quality-not-quantity# One of my colleagues shared an article about teacher shortages and subs procedures for her district. It sparked some interesting conversations about the subject. I share your frustrations when having to be pulled out to sub for another class! Being in special education, our front office likes to make phone calls to our rooms first because it is easiest to pull us out of a co-taught class. As painful as it is to sub for a teacher in a class that I know nothing about (I had to sub for a physics and chemistry class many times this year), I understand the legal ramifications if there was not a credentialed teacher present. I think it is a difficult situation that school sites and administrators should address and have a plan that will not burn out their own staff. My daughter attends school in the same district I teach at. Her classroom teacher has been teaching all year with a Short Term Staff Permit. I had HUGE reservations about this at the start of the year because when looking her name up on CCTC, she had no valid credentials. I thought she would just be a thirty day sub until they filled the position. When I spoke with the Principal, she said she had no plans of filling the position and wanted to keep this teacher. I felt strongly that this teacher did not have the theoretical knowledge or skills to handle my daughters class. I even filed a complaint with our quality assurance program to inquire about the legality of this issue. Our district response was that she was issued the Short term staff permit to teach for the remainder of the year and this was approved by CCTC. I feel strongly that it is the district's responsibility to continue looking for qualified teachers but they felt that this was acceptable. Long story short, this teacher has tried to do all she can to be a good teacher. However, I feel that my daughter has lost a whole year of quality education because she did not have access to a credentialed teacher in the classroom. Sorry to vent, but it has been a frustrating year for my daughter. Offering more money for substitutes sounds like a good short term plan, however, I still believe we have to uphold our substitutes to a standard and the CBEST should not be waived. As a credentialed teacher, we have so many different certifications, P.D.'s and requirements to be able to teach. Why should we lower our standards when it comes to substitutes?