Substitute teaching, teacher pay and teachers’ student loans each have their own rules, and only the loans are national. Each state sets its own floor for substitutes, and districts add steps of their own. Pay is set by each district’s salary schedule, within any minimum the state sets in law. Teacher Loan Forgiveness (TLF) and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) are federal programs run by the U.S. Department of Education. This guide explains all three and points to the page with the detail.
This page is general information, not legal or career advice. Each state’s licensing agency decides every application, and rules, tests and fees change, often on 1 July. Confirm the current rules with the agency before you pay for a program, a test or fingerprints.
Every figure below carries its source and the date it was read. Where a state’s rule was not confirmed in official text, the pages say so and link the agency.
Substitute teaching: a state floor, a district decision
There is no national substitute teaching license. States handle substitutes in one of three ways:
- A state document issued to you, used with any district in the state. New Jersey’s substitute credential (N.J.A.C. 6A:9B-7.2) and Colorado’s substitute authorizations work this way.
- A permit the district requests in your name, often valid only with that employer. Michigan’s Daily Substitute Permit is granted to the school, not the person; Indiana’s Substitute Permit is tied to the requesting employer.
- No state document at all. Texas and North Carolina issue no state substitute credential, and districts decide. Florida and Georgia set a floor in law or rule and leave hiring to districts.
The state minimum varies widely. As read in each state’s own rules and agency pages on 12 and 13 November 2026, it runs from a high school diploma (Alabama, Florida and Indiana, for example) through 30 to 60 college credits (New Jersey, Missouri, Michigan, Iowa, Nevada and others) to a bachelor’s degree (California, Pennsylvania and Minnesota’s standard license). State fees read run from nothing for Kentucky’s emergency substitute certificate to $182 for a first Oregon substitute license, plus $15 in system fees ($247 for an out-of-state applicant). Nearly every route adds a fingerprint check.
Day limits
Many states limit how long a less-qualified substitute can stay in one class. New York allows 40 days a school year in a district for an uncertified substitute not working toward certification (NYSED, read 13 Nov 2026). New Jersey allows 20 instructional days in the same classroom on the substitute credential, plus up to 20 more by the Commissioner’s extension (N.J.A.C. 6A:9B-7.3(a), read 13 Nov 2026). California’s Emergency 30-Day Substitute Teaching Permit allows 30 days for any one teacher a school year, 20 in special education (CTC leaflet CL-505p, read 13 Nov 2026). Districts may set shorter limits of their own.
Our page on how to become a substitute teacher in each state has a row for all 50 states and DC, with each state’s minimum, fee, day limits, who applies and the source, plus the usual steps in order.
A substitute document is not a teaching license
The Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact counts only an “unencumbered” license, and a substitute license is not one (model legislation, read 11 Nov 2026). California’s out-of-state route does not count day-to-day substitute experience toward its years of teaching (CTC CL-561, read 12 Nov 2026). Some states give more room to people working toward a license: New York lifts its 40-day limit for an uncertified substitute who takes at least six semester hours a year toward certification (NYSED, read 13 Nov 2026).
If subbing is a step toward your own classroom, how to become a teacher sets out the routes in order. See also emergency teaching certificates and from paraprofessional to teacher.
Teacher pay: three sources, kept apart
There is no single “average teacher salary”. Three public sources measure pay in different ways, and our pages never blend or average them:
- BLS OEWS, May 2025: national median wages of $63,970 for elementary teachers, $64,370 for middle school teachers and $72,040 for high school teachers, counting public and private schools (read 13 Nov 2026).
- NEA estimate, 2024-25 (teachers’ union): an average public-school teacher salary of $74,495 and an average starting salary of $48,112 (read 13 Nov 2026).
- State minimums in law or a state schedule: read for 13 states, from $18,500 in Pennsylvania (24 P.S. 11-1142.1) to $60,000 in Maryland from 1 July 2026 (Educ. 6-1009(e)), read 13 Nov 2026.
They differ for plain reasons. BLS counts public and private schools; NEA counts public schools only. BLS gives medians; NEA gives averages, which a few high salaries can pull up. They measure different years, a minimum describes only the first step on a schedule, and none adjusts for the cost of living.
What a particular teacher is paid is set by the employing district’s own salary schedule: a grid with a step for each year of service and a column, often called a lane, for education. The page on teacher salary by state gives the BLS and NEA figures for all 50 states and DC side by side, the 13 state minimums with their laws, and how to read a district schedule.
What substitutes are paid
Districts set substitute pay, and a few states set a floor. BLS puts the national median hourly wage for short-term substitute teachers at $20.03 (BLS OEWS, May 2025, read 13 Nov 2026). North Carolina’s law sets daily floors of $142 for substitutes with a teaching certificate and $109 without one for 2026-27 (G.S. 115C-12(8); DPI, read 12 Nov 2026).
Teachers’ federal student loans: TLF or PSLF
Two federal programs can cancel some or all of a teacher’s federal student loans, and the same years can’t count for both:
- Teacher Loan Forgiveness cancels up to $17,500 for a secondary mathematics or science teacher or a special education teacher, and up to $5,000 for other teachers, after five complete and consecutive full-time years at a school or agency listed in the Department’s Teacher Cancellation Low Income (TCLI) Directory.
- Public Service Loan Forgiveness cancels the remaining Direct Loan balance after 120 qualifying monthly payments, not necessarily in a row, while working full-time for a government or qualifying not-for-profit employer, which includes public school districts.
The federal regulation bars TLF for the same teaching service that earns a PSLF benefit (34 CFR 685.217(c)(12), read 13 Nov 2026). In practice, if you receive TLF, the payments made during those five years drop out of your PSLF count (studentaid.gov, Teacher Loan Forgiveness, read 13 Nov 2026). Both can apply to one borrower only for different years.
TLF also asks that the teacher be “highly qualified” for all five years, which the studentaid.gov page describes as including full state certification with no requirement waived on an emergency, temporary or provisional basis. The $17,500 tier for special education teachers turns on teaching children with disabilities matching their special education training; the special education teacher certification page covers the state licenses behind it.
Repayment plans changed in 2026
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed 4 July 2025, changed which plans count for PSLF. For borrowers whose Direct Loans were all first paid out before 1 July 2026 and who take no new loans, the qualifying plans listed are the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP), IBR, ICR, PAYE and the 10-year Standard plan, with ICR and PAYE available only through 1 July 2028. For loans first paid out on or after 1 July 2026, only RAP payments count (StudentAid.gov/bigupdates, last updated 30 October 2026, read 13 Nov 2026).
The Teacher Loan Forgiveness vs PSLF calculator puts the two paths side by side on your balance, interest rate, monthly payment and the qualifying payments you already have. It shows each path’s balance at the end, total paid and months from today, as an estimate. It also sets out both programs’ rules as read and two worked examples on made-up figures. Your loan servicer and the Department of Education decide every TLF and PSLF request.
Where to start
- To sub: find your state’s row on the substitute page, then ask the district what it requires beyond the state minimum.
- For pay: ask the district for its current salary schedule and the step and column it would place you on. For the federal estimates, the BLS OEWS tables give every state; NEA’s state figures, the teachers’ union’s estimates, are on its salary page.
- For loans: check your loan types and PSLF count on your StudentAid.gov dashboard, your school’s listing for each year you taught in the TCLI Directory, and your employer in the PSLF Help Tool.
Rules and figures as read on 12 and 13 November 2026 in each state’s own rules and agency pages, BLS OEWS (May 2025), NEA’s 2024-25 estimates (teachers’ union), studentaid.gov and 34 CFR 685.217 in the eCFR. State fees and minimums often change on 1 July. Teaching License Handbook.
