The number of substitute teachers available in the Yukon is down by 50 per cent or more, says the president of the Yukon Teachers’ Association.

Sue Harding said in an interview Thursday it’s a reflection of the teacher shortage across Canada, particularly in B.C.

She suspects the additional demand in B.C. that came about as a result of a 2016 B.C. Supreme Court decision on class sizes has had an impact on the availability of substitutes here.

The province had removed the provision for maximum class sizes, but the teachers went to court and won, she pointed out.

As a result, Harding said, the province has had to expand its number of teachers on call by 5,000.

If you’re a substitute – teacher on call – working in the Yukon, and have a shot at a full-time job in Prince George, for example, there’s a chance you’ll take it, she said.

Harding said raising the daily pay for substitute teachers would likely help as well. She noted that substitutes in the Yukon earn $218 a day compared to the $325 they earn in B.C.

Adding more financial incentive to the mix may be enough to keep teachers from moving to Prince George or somewhere else in B.C., she said.

The association president said substitutes here can work pretty much every day if they choose.

So making it more lucrative could keep them here, she said.

Harding explained at the end of April, before the arrival of post-secondary students on their summer break who sign-up as substitutes, there were approximately 350 names on the list of substitute teachers.

Currently, there is somewhere in the neighbourhood of 175, she said.

Harding said there’s no one reason to explain it, other than it’s part of the teacher shortage across Canada.

Graduating more teachers across the country would definitely help, she said.

Harding explains that having fewer substitutes available means if a school can’t find one, the other teachers have to fill in.

That means they have to use the 40 minutes a day they have for preparation time, wind-down time, or time to work one-on-one with students who need extra help.

It’s a case of one teacher using his or her prep time to fill in, followed by another teacher for the next 40 minutes and then another until the day is done, she explained.

“Otherwise, you have to start sending kids home, and you don’t want to do that.”

The association president said the risk is teacher-burnout, or having teachers feeling compelled to show up even when they’re ill and should be staying home.

The vast majority of substitute teachers in the Yukon have their teaching degree, she explained.

She said there are allowances for substitutes who do not have a teaching degree.

For those who don’t, but have another university degree, the daily pay is $180 rather than $218 for qualified teachers, she said.

There’s also a provision for substitute teachers without a degree, she added, though they must have been out of high school for three years, and their daily pay is $130 or a $140.

Substitute teachers in the Yukon are not covered by a collective agreement nor represented by a union, though the teachers’ association is trying to bring them under its collective agreement.

The association currently represents 800 members. They include educational assistants, vice-principals, principals and administrators.

Of the 800, between 450 and 500 are teachers.

Earlier this week in the legislature, Scott Kent, the Yukon Party’s Education critic, said the official Opposition has heard the Liberal government is slashing the budget for substitute teachers as part of its initiative to save money.

“Substitutes play an important role in the day-to-day operations of a school,” Kent told the legislature during question period.

“They cover teachers in a multitude of circumstances and schools depend on them.

“We have heard Holy Family has been asked to cut their budget for substitute teachers in half. Does the premier believe that cutting the substitute teacher budget is appropriate?”

Premier Sandy Silver notified Kent he wouldn’t comment on the source of the Yukon Party’s information. But he did tell Kent he was mistaken.

“... These are not the words of the territorial government,” Silver said.

“They are the words of the Yukon Party. They keep on talking about cuts. Now they’re talking about cuts to substitute teachers. This is not something that is being contemplated right now by this government.”

Harding said she has not heard anything about any cuts to the Holy Family Elementary School’s substitute teachers budget.