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Board reviews Kelly Education plan to outsource substitute staffing, projected to boost fill rates
Summary
District leaders and Kelly Education representatives described a proposed managed substitute staffing model intended to raise same-day fill rates toward 95%, recruit and train local substitutes, and convert existing substitutes into a centralized system; board members pressed on costs, staff time, benefits, and special-education coverage.
Volusia County School Board members spent substantial time at the May 12 workshop on a proposal to contract with Kelly Education to manage the district’s substitute and paraprofessional staffing.
Dr. William Reer, the district’s executive director for human resources, said the district manages roughly 70,000 absences a year and that unfilled classrooms and same‑day calloffs impose instructional disruption and added costs. Kelly Education representatives said they would transition the existing substitute pool to Kelly, grandfather credentials, recruit locally to expand the pool, provide onboarding and site-specific training, and aim for a same‑day fill rate in the mid‑90s.
Why it matters: presenters said higher fill rates would reduce the need for teachers and paras to cover other classrooms — a practice that they said currently costs the district substantially. Kelly projected operational gains and said the model is broadly cost‑neutral by consolidating and billing only for hours worked; district staff cited roughly $1.2 million currently expended to cover unfilled classrooms as the comparator the district already pays into the system.
Board concerns and vendor responses: trustees asked whether substitute pay rates would change and whether employees would keep access to previously approved benefits. Kelly said it pays at the board‑approved rates and that employees could opt into group insurance at group rates; the vendor said it assumes responsibility for background checks, drug testing and payroll processing and bills the district weekly for hours worked. Kelly also said there is no placement fee if the district later hires a Kelly employee full time.
Special needs and long‑term coverage: the vendors described specialized ESE (exceptional student education) pools and training for substitutes assigned to complex classrooms, and said long‑term substitutes for leaves (for example, maternity leave) could be provided through the same program.
Next steps: board members expressed both support and caution and asked for contract details; staff said a performance period and initial benchmarks would be part of any agreement and that the matter would be returned for a formal decision at a future meeting. No contract vote took place at the workshop.
Representative quote: "This model is projected to increase fill rates to 95% or above," a presenter from Kelly said during the presentation.
