NAMPA, Idaho – When a school district (or any other place of employment) is facing financial difficulties, it’s usually understood that everyone must make sacrifices for the common good.

But the leaders of the Nampa Education Association, the school district’s teachers union, are having a hard time grasping that concept.

Facing a budget deficit of $5.1 million, the Nampa school board made a series of spending cuts last fall. That included cutting the substitute teacher fund from $750,000 to $270,000.

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That meant regular teachers were asked to cover for absent colleagues more often. The extra duties apparently did not sit well with the teachers.

Even though the district continues to face an immense deficit, school officials have now agreed to increase the substitute budget to $600,000 for the 2013-14 school year, according to the Idaho Press-Tribune.

That should allow the district to hire more subs and count on regular teachers less frequently.

But that’s still not good enough for the union. NEA leaders do not want teachers to have to sub at all, and they’re making that an issue during current teacher contract negotiations, according to the news report.

But school officials aren’t willing to make that promise. The number of teacher absences and cost will always be considerations, and the availability of substitutes will factor in as well.

Amy White, an attorney representing the district, said in the past there were not enough substitutes to cover for absent teachers. There were more than 5,000 substitutes needed in 2012-13 because of sick, personal and bereavement days, she said.

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That sounds like teachers get a lot of paid days off and take full advantage of them. The school board may want to address that issue before it causes any more problems.

Interim Superintendent Pete Koehler said, “We will always do our best to honor the substitute pool, but there will be times when we’re just physically not able to do that,” according to the Idaho Press-Tribune.

It sounds like this issue could prove to be a sticking point in contract negotiations. It would be a shame if the situation got ugly because teachers don’t want to suck it up on occasion and cover for missing colleagues.

Is there a worker in any profession anywhere on earth who doesn’t have to pull extra duty from time to time?  Welcome to the real world, teachers of Nampa.