The Frisco ISD board of trustees approved a $2.2 million budget amendment for the 2019-20 school year for a substitute staffing agreement with ESS South Central LLC, a substitute teacher staffing company, at a July 10 special meeting.

The approved contract aims to address the substitute teacher shortage at FISD schools.

At a June 25 special meeting, Anna Koenig, school district managing director of human resources, updated the board on substitute teacher and aide shortages. While pay incentives increased the substitute fill rates in teacher-absent classrooms to 88% since March, Koenig said the district did not reach the desired 95% fill rate.

The additional $2.2 million is a 25% markup to achieve the 95% fill rate and to fund staffing services, FISD Chief Financial Officer Kimberly Smith said at the meeting.

“There’s no guarantee in the contract for a 95% fill rate,” Smith said. “But in conversations with the company and other districts that have used them, we feel like that is a reasonable estimate that our fill rate might get up to.”

The agreement with ESS South Central is an annual contract, and the district will see if fill rates improve after the first year, Smith said.