The Board of Educational Examiners formulated the rules regarding the substitute authorization after extensive study of the issue and input from various stakeholders. These rules state, "a substitute authorization allows an individual to substitute in a middle school, junior high school, or high school for no more than five consecutive days in one job assignment. An individual who holds a paraeducator certificate and completes the substitute authorization program is authorized to substitute only in the special education classroom in which the individual paraeducator is employed."
There was discussion on the part of the rule that dealt with the level where a person would serve as a substitute. The stakeholders' overriding concern was that a person who would substitute teach on the elementary level needed extensive training in educational strategies beyond what was required for the substitute authorization. Thus a paraeducator as well as anyone else who holds a substitute authorization is not authorized to substitute on the elementary level.