Arizona may allow substitute teachers to stay at a school indefinitely

By Vaughan Jones
Published: Friday, January 14, 2022 - 2:41pm
Updated: Saturday, January 15, 2022 - 9:44pm
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Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced Friday that the state is taking new measures to keep students in classrooms, including potentially removing limits on how many days substitute teachers can teach.

Currently, a substitute teacher in Arizona can teach a maximum of 120 days in the same school.

Ducey is proposing a removal of these limits, allowing schools to utilize a single certified substitute until a contract teacher is hired. He also suggests more flexibility for districts to move substitutes into different schools to fill vacancies.

Another proposed change is increasing the length of an emergency substitute contract to two years, which Ducey says may “reduce the administrative burden on substitute teachers and schools.”

Ducey says the Arizona State Board of Education will consider these changes at its Jan. 24 meeting.

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