Rochester School Committee members unanimously agreed to increase pay for substitute teachers and teaching aids at their meeting on Thursday night.

Superintendent Doug White is approaching each school committee in the tri-town to ask for increased payment as substitutes have become increasingly harder to find.

“We continue to find ourselves in a position where we’re not having enough substitutes and not having enough coverage when teachers are out or we need to have them participate in professional development,” White said.

White said the fees in the tri-town are lower than many at districts in surrounding towns. Additionally, the school does not use an online platform that makes it easier for substitutes to select an opening without waiting on a call.

Rochester averages about 2.6 substitutes a day, but only has a database of 11 people, and some of them also substitute at other tri-town schools and beyond.

“We need a bigger pool, considering our needs,” White said.

School Committee member Sharon Hartley said she knows of another area school that has a list of 40 to 50 substitutes.

The proposed change is two-tiered with an increase effective immediately and another increase at the beginning of the 2015-16 school year. It would cost the school an estimated $7,000 more per year.

Hartley suggested only approving the first set of increases while the committee takes time to consider the additional raise. That raise brings certified teachers from $70 to $75 a day, non-certified teachers from $65 to $70 and teaching aids from $8.50 an hour to $65 a day.

As a point of comparison, certified teachers in Fairhaven, Bourne and Barnstable receive $75; in Acushnet $80; and $90 at Cape Cod Vocational Technical High School.

The committee unanimously approved the increase.

Tri-town schools will also need to figure out how to attract more substitutes. White said schools across the board have seen a dip.

White said, “We’ve created a substitute subcommittee that is looking into how we currently are attracting substitutes, how we’re interviewing them, how we’re putting them on our substitute list.”

Some substitutes have dropped off the list due to the new requirement for background checks, which costs individuals $35 for unlicensed teachers and $55 for licensed.

White said a new computer system specifically for substitutes is also being considered. That would cost $10,000 across the three towns, a cost that would be covered, at least in part, by the existing efforts to contact and schedule substitutes.

Hartley also suggested periodic advertisement to bump up numbers. The committee is expected to discuss the topic further at a future meeting.