Substitute teachers are getting hard to come by, and that may be due to low pay. At upcoming school committee meetings across the tri-town Superintendent Doug White will ask members to approve a rate increase.

Tri-town rates are currently lower than surrounding towns, said White.

Two increases are proposed for teaching aids, certified teachers and non-certified teachers, one effective at the start of the new year and the other at the start of the 2016-17 school year.

If approved, aides, also called paraprofessionals, would go from $8.50 an hour to $65 a day on Jan. 1 and $70 on Sept. 1. Substitutes with a teaching license would receive an increase from $70 a day to $75 on Jan. 1 and $85 on Sept. 1. Non-certified teachers would get a bump from $65 per day to $70 in January and $80 in September.

White said each of the four school districts in the tri-town (Marion, Mattapoisett, Rochester and Old Rochester Regional) will vote separately in an effort to increase the rates as soon as possible.

"We're going to go district by district so we can get some help," said White.