Hawai'i substitutes warn that schools here can't always properly cover for absent teachers, and that a shortage of substitutes is growing and can only worsen under new DOE conditions and the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Already, educational assistants, and even security guards, are often required to supervise students when no teachers or substitutes are available, many say.

"The schools are scrambling to get subs," said John Hoff, a substitute on Kaua'i. "One night I got 32 phone calls from schools that couldn't find subs. The teachers are constantly going to meetings or something. They're constantly being pulled out of the classrooms."

Hoff founded the Substitute Teachers Professional Alliance to organize support for a union, and said the movement is gaining momentum. Substitutes receive no sick days, vacation leave or medical benefits, and the state cut their daily pay in January from $119.80 to $112.53.

"Constantly, every day at some of the schools, they're short," said Garner, a plaintiff in two lawsuits against the state over back pay and the pay cut. "Educational assistants and security, and even principals, sometimes end up having to watch the students. I've been to schools that were so short that the principal and vice principal were both working as substitute teachers for the day."

State schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto said she's aware that assistants and guards are sometimes called in to monitor classes but could not say how common the practice is.

She said there is no widespread shortage of substitutes on a regular basis, but that individual schools may have frequent problems, especially in rural areas. Special events, such as teaching workshops, also can create brief shortages for other schools, she said.

The state has a pool of 4,400 substitutes and an average of 1,000 work on any given day, according to the Department of Education. That means substitutes are filling in for teachers in 7 percent of the state's classrooms each day, on average.

The job offers lots of flexibility, and minimum standards aren't as high as for regular teachers, said Jeanetta Ma, who manages the DOE's substitute teacher program. Substitutes can choose day-to-day whether or not they want to work, and they can turn down assignments at schools they don't favor, she said.

"If it's a nice sunny day and they want to go surfing, they don't have to teach," Ma said. "It's casual employment. We don't dictate to them where they should go. They tell us where they want to go. So in a way, the subs are creating their own employment, which is really ideal, I think. It's not a bad job for what we pay per day."

Many Mainland substitutes belong to teacher unions, but separate ones for substitutes are rare, and there are no statewide substitute unions. Hawai'i law does not provide a collective bargaining unit for substitutes, who are not considered full-fledged state employees. Substitutes have so far been unsuccessful at changing the law, which would allow them to affiliate with an established union or create their own.

Garner, the Maui substitute, said he believes a union for substitutes is long overdue, and hopes Hoff's group will lead to one.

"I think that's our only hope for just treatment in the future," he said.

The DOE opposes the union drive, with Hamamoto saying that could set a precedent for nearly 50,000 additional casual employees, and could drive up school operating costs.

On the Mainland, pay for substitutes ranges from $60 per day to about $140. Many school districts in rural areas pay less than $100.

"When our subs complain at not being paid very high, I kind of cringe," Ma said. "Of course, our cost of living is high. But if you go across the nation, we are paid high."

Based on a seven-hour day, Hawai'i's pay for substitutes is almost $17 per hour, Ma noted.

"Where are you going to go out and find a job that pays that per hour? I know McDonald's doesn't, for sure," she said.

Although pay for Hawai'i's substitutes has been cut, federal requirements have raised employment standards. Until 2003, the minimum educational requirement for substitutes was a high school diploma. New hires must now have a bachelor's degree, but about 10 percent of current substitutes lack one, according to Ma. A grace period gives them until next year to earn one, she said.

Catherine Bratt, principal of Kohala High School on the Big Island, said the requirement could exacerbate a shortage of substitutes there.

"I don't want to sound like we don't appreciate and understand that we need to get our most qualified people into the classrooms, but sometimes our local people, even though they don't have a bachelor's degree, they often do very well because they already have the allegiance of the students," she said. "The students know them on a familiar basis. They're aunties and uncles. If there's a good lesson plan left by the teacher in charge, these people can come in and do a very credible job because they don't have to deal with the discipline end of it."

Bratt said she largely agreed with the intent behind the new standards for substitutes, but that she hoped there could be exceptions.

"It's going to be a major hardship for us when that's not allowed," she said.

Kristine Kosa-Correia, principal at Waikoloa Elementary, said the degree requirement is unrealistic for some substitutes.

"The state has given them a few years to try to get a college degree, but they're just not going to do that," she said. "They're maybe in their late 50s, and they've been wonderful, and it's just not that time in their life to even pursue that."

Kosa-Correia said she did not blame substitutes for being unhappy with the recent pay cut.

"These guys work hard," she said. "Anyone who questions it should go spend a day in a kindergarten class with 24 little 5-year-olds and see how they feel at the end of the day. It's not a piece of cake, and until they've walked in those shoes, they just don't understand.

"The substitutes really do a wonderful job, and they need to be recognized for it."

The state also now requires all substitutes to take a 30-hour substitute teaching course that costs $100. Many are grumbling about the added expense.

Hamamoto said it's not unreasonable to ask substitutes to cover the cost, and that the fees don't generate a surplus for the state. The intent is to make sure substitutes are well-qualified, she said.

Hoff, who has a bachelor's degree, said the new requirements likely will drive away some substitutes. He said it's frustrating that substitutes aren't included in decision-making and have no way to air grievances.