By JIM BUTLER

In the end there was little support for returning paddling to Rapides schools.

The proposal died on a 1 yes, 2 no vote in the Education Committee this week.

Chair Linda Burgess said several parents had suggested to her that corporal punishment needs to be in the system discipline package. Committee members Wally Fall and Mark Dryden disagreed as did apparently most of those offering opinion on the matter, professional or otherwise.

Also Tuesday the Finance Committee sent to the full board the question of substitute teacher pay.

According to available information, the system in the 2024-25 school year averaged about 85 teacher absences a day (there are about 1,600 teaching positions), with a total cost for substitutes of $1.43 million.

Substitute pay is in three classifications – non-degreed, degreed and certified.

Non-degreed substitutes are paid $7.25 hourly, $50.75 a day (and more and more difficult to attract); degreed $65 a day (and on the 21st consecutive substitution for the same teacher increasing to $125 a day); certified $125 a day.

Certified substitutes were paid about $1.04 million of the cost in the 2024-25 term. Average total substitute teacher costs over the past three school years was $1.5 million A proposed increase to $10 hourly would cost about $94,000 based on the just- completed year.

According to board figures, the same 38 percent bump in degreed substitute pay would cost about $62,000 and taking the certified rate to that level would require about $399,000 in the upcoming school year. 

The administration has indicated support for the non-degreed and degreed changes if funding is available.