DALLAS schools have earmarked $1.5 million (pound;1m) for bonuses to encourage teachers not to miss school.

The city is reeling from a $12.3m bill last year for staff needed to cover for the average 678 of its 10,443 teachers who called in sick each day, rising to 823 on Fridays.

“There’s way too much absenteeism,” said Ken Zornes, Dallas’s School Board president.

The city’s problem mirrors an epidemic in US schools. On any given day, an estimated 8 to 10 per cent of pupils are taught by substitutes, according to Utah State University. Over their school career that adds up to one year taught by stand-in staff, who in more than 90 per cent of US education authorities, are inadequately trained.

Scott Norman, an education professor at Arizona State University, said teacher absenteeism ranked alongside recruitment and retention as a major problem cited by school administrators in Arizona.

Dissatisfaction over pay is compounding the problem, according to Mike Cochran, president of TCG Consulting, which advises schools on how to improve staff attendance. “Teachers are underpaid relative to other professions and their 10 to 12 sickness days become part of compensation.”

Dallas education chiefs are considering several types of cash incentives to boost turnout, chiefly one adopted by schools in nearby Arlington, Texas. “We give teachers eight days and anything that they use beyond this comes out of a special sum allocated to each school for substitute teachers,” said a spokeswoman for Arlington Independent School District. “Whatever schools don’t use, teachers get back in cash at the end of the year.”