Advertisement 'It's terrible': Teacher battling breast cancer forced to pay for substitute while on leave Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Kids at Glen Park Elementary in San Francisco are learning that sometimes life isn’t fair.A second-grade teacher at the school is on leave for at least the rest of the school year as she battles cancer. Parents were shocked when they discovered the school district is charging her for her own substitute.“Parents were outraged and incredulous — like, this can’t be,” said Amanda Fried, who has a daughter in kindergarten and another in third grade. “There must be some mistake.”"She's an incredible teacher and that's not fair. That's crazy!" parent Elia Hernandez told KGO. "She's wonderful, she's a beautiful lovely great teacher. She's one of the best teachers. It's terrible," parent Abby Hipps agreed. The teacher, who doesn’t want to be named for privacy reasons, really does have to pay for her own substitute while she’s out sick, and it’s because of state law. “This is not unique to San Francisco,” explained school district spokeswoman Laura Dudnick. “This is not a district-only rule.”Teachers in California don’t pay into the state disability insurance program, so they can’t draw its benefits. The governor and state Legislature in 1976 inserted into the education code that public school teachers can go on leave for an illness or an injury for five months and that their paychecks will be whole, minus the cost of a substitute teacher.The law allows districts to deduct the pay of a substitute even if no substitute was hired.Cynthia Butler, spokeswoman for the California Department of Education, directed questions to the school district and teachers’ union.In San Francisco, teachers can first use their allotted 10 sick days per year and then go on leave for 100 days, during which they’ll be paid their regular salary minus the cost of a sub, which ranges from $174.66 to $240.26 per day.After that, teachers can dip into the catastrophic sick leave bank, which is run jointly by the teachers’ union and school district. Those are sick days donated by teachers around the district for their peers, and there are currently 511 days in the bank, according to Susan Solomon, president of the teachers’ union.A teacher can draw up to 85 sick days from the bank, and that pay isn’t cut to offset the cost of a substitute teacher.“Officially, we have nothing in the contract beyond that,” Solomon said. “I think we could always do better. In a broader sense, I think single-payer health care is the answer.” Fried said that while parents are angry on the teacher’s behalf, the school’s staff doesn’t seem riled up.“The teachers have sort of shrugged — like, 'Yes, that’s how it is,'” she said. “That makes it even more sad, because teachers expect to be treated poorly.”In the meantime, families and staff at Glen Park Elementary have contributed to a GoFundMe campaign for the teacher. The campaign recently stopped accepting donations.