ObamaCare Impact, part 37: Fayetteville (AR) to outsource substitute teacher jobs.

Private Correspondence | July 2, 2013 | Private Correspondence

[theBuckwheat]

Today (Tuesday, July 2nd) the Fayetteville Public School District (Arkansas) publicly announced that it was outsourcing all Substitute Teacher jobs because of Obamacare. Substitute teachers will have their work hours cut to keep them under the threshold that triggers mandatory insurance benefits. The outsourcing of Substitutes will go to a private contractor who will bear the burden of keeping all Substitute Teachers on a half-time basis.

[theBuckwheat]

Obamacare regulations will impact the schools substantially when limiting Substitute Teachers' weekly hours. 1) Teachers who are on maternity leave, having surgery, or suffering illness will not be able to have one continuous substitute teacher in the classroom for the duration of the regular teacher's absence. 2) 50% to 100% more Substitute Teachers will need to be hired on a part-time basis. This means that the bar will be lowered regarding Substitute Teacher qualifications and it will increase the personnel management expenses. 3) Substitute Teacher turnover will increase if work hours are reduced, thus creating more expense for the schools. 4) Substitute Teachers may not work in multiple school districts if the multiple school districts use the same private contractor to supply Substitutes. Working for multiple employers may work for the fast food industry, but not for schools. 5) Student behavior erodes when there is inconsistency in the classroom. 6) Student academic performance deteriorates when there is inconsistency in the classroom. 7) Regular teachers will be faced with greater planning and transitional difficulties if they are unable to have consistent Substitute Teachers.

This move also affects Homebound Teachers - those certified teachers who work on an hourly basis to handle the educational needs of students who are unable to come to the school for reasons of health, disability, or other life circumstances. By limiting the Homebound Teacher weekly work hours, two or three part-time Homebound Teachers will have to be utilized to serve one student, thus causing logistics problems and eroded student performance.

Certified Substitute Teaches are used to supplement regular staff during periodic, state-mandated, academic testing. However, by limiting the work hours of the Substitute Teachers, the specially trained Substitutes may not work for the entire testing period. Instead, additional part-time Substitutes will have to be hired and trained - a seasonal waste of resources that also contributes to inconsistency in the classroom.

Other school districts have already made the decision to limit the work hours of their part-time or seasonal employees.

This reduction in hours per employee is also applicable for the classified school substitutes who work in food services, custodial services, or grounds & maintenance. Turnover will increase and the administrative costs will necessarily rise.

[bert]

I wonder why the substitutes are nor contracted.

That is, they come to work as independent contractors. They are paid a contractually negotiated fee. The independent contrctor then becomes liable for dealing with witholding and payment of taxes and compliance with Obamacare. They can then work as many hours as available.

[TomGuy]

Other school districts have been using temp agencies to fill substitute teacher needs for over a decade.

This is nothing new.

Three decades ago, businesses were using temp agencies to preview potential full-time candidates.

[randita]

A lawyer recently told me that the rules for considering independent contractor status have tightened so it’s more difficult to get by with that than it used to be.

One of the main criteria is whether or not the employee is being supervised and given specific instructions on how to perform the job. That definitely applies to a sub.