Summer Jobs for Teachers and Subs: What Actually Pays

The last bell of the school year is a financial cliff for most subs. June, July, and August are 10 to 12 unpaid weeks if you don't have a plan. Summer jobs for teachers can replace 60% to 80% of your school-year sub income if you stack the right ones, but most of the lists floating around online lean on roles that pay $14 an hour or require months of advance applications you've already missed. This is the honest version, written for substitute teachers and full-time teachers who actually need the money.

Why summer is a financial cliff for substitutes

Most subs are paid only when they work. No PTO, no summer paycheck, no benefits package smoothing things out. In a typical 9-month school calendar, the district takes about $0 from you between June 10 and August 25. If you earned $30,000 during the school year, that's roughly $7,500 of “missing” income unless you replace it.

Unemployment usually isn't available either. Most states treat substitute teachers as having “reasonable assurance of returning to work,” which disqualifies them from summer benefits even if the actual fall schedule is unconfirmed. California is the rare exception that has allowed it in some cases. Check your state's labor department site, but don't budget on it.

The other trap: district summer school slots are usually filled by March. If you're reading this in May or June, that train left. The good news is the highest-paying summer jobs for teachers don't run through the district at all, and many of the year-round sub roles on our jobs board (daycare programs, charter networks, paraprofessional positions) keep paying through summer.

The five summer jobs for teachers that pay best (ranked by hourly rate)

1. Private tutoring ($40 to $80 per hour)

This is the highest-margin work most teachers and subs never seriously pursue. Parents will pay $50 to $80 an hour for a credentialed adult who can sit at their kitchen table for 90 minutes and move their kid through summer math. The supply of qualified tutors is thinner than people assume, especially for middle school math, ACT/SAT prep, and reading interventions for grades 2 to 4.

The fastest path: post in three local Facebook parent groups with a clear pitch (subject, grades, rate, availability) and message every parent who said “looking for a tutor” in the last 60 days. You'll get a client in two weeks. Platforms like Wyzant and Varsity Tutors are easier to start on but take 20% to 30% of your rate, so use them for filler and move clients to direct billing after a few sessions.

The math: 15 hours per week at $50 an hour is $750 a week, $9,000 over a 12-week summer. That alone replaces most of the lost school-year income.

2. Extended School Year (ESY) and district summer school

ESY programs serve students with IEPs who need year-round services. Pay is typically the district sub rate or close to teacher rate, depending on your credentials. Summer school for general ed students pays $25 to $40 an hour in most regions, more in California and the Northeast. If you're already credentialed to substitute teach special education, ESY is the most natural extension of school-year work.

If you're reading this before April, apply now. If you're reading this in May or later, apply anyway. Slots open in late May and early June when teachers back out. ESY in particular often has unfilled paraprofessional positions a week before start because the original hires take other jobs. Email the special education coordinator directly, not HR, if you want a fast yes.

3. Camp counselor or camp director roles

Day camps pay $400 to $700 a week. Residential camps pay less per week ($350 to $600) but include room, board, and laundry, which means your living expenses for the summer drop to near zero. A residential camp counselor earning $500 a week with everything covered is netting more than a day camp counselor at $650. We hire seasonally for summer camp counselor roles in Denver every year, and the math beats most district summer school postings.

YMCA, JCC, Boys & Girls Clubs, and outdoor education programs hire heavily through May and early June. Specialized camps (sports, STEM, music, arts) pay more if you have the relevant background. Camp roles aimed at teachers pay better than the general counselor pool because directors want adults with classroom management experience. Camp directors and head counselors clear $1,000 to $1,500 a week. If you've already subbed for a year, you have more relevant experience than most of the college kids you'd be working with, and you can negotiate a senior role.

4. AP exam scoring and test-prep roles

This one is underused by subs. The College Board hires thousands of readers each June to score AP exams. Pay is roughly $30 an hour for online scoring, plus a stipend. The session runs about 7 to 10 days in mid-June. To qualify, you generally need to have taught the subject (AP US History, English Language, etc.) at the college or high school level, but the bar is interpreted loosely for active educators.

ETS hires similar readers for the TOEFL, GRE, and Praxis. SAT prep companies (Princeton Review, Kaplan, local outfits) pay $25 to $50 an hour for summer tutoring, and they hire May through June.

5. Outschool, Cambly, and other gig teaching platforms

Outschool lets you design and teach your own classes to kids 3 to 18. Established teachers earn $30 to $60 an hour, but you eat the design time upfront. Worth it if you build one strong class and run it on repeat through summer. Cambly and iTalki pay $10 to $30 an hour for conversational English with adults overseas, with no curriculum work required. Cambly is the easier start; the ceiling is lower.

Curriculum writing for Teachers Pay Teachers, Newsela, or smaller ed-tech companies pays $40 to $100 an hour for experienced teachers willing to write detailed lesson plans on deadline.

What to skip

Some of the “summer jobs for teachers” listicles on the first page of Google are written by people who have not done the work. A few roles to think twice about:

Retail or food service. The pay-per-hour math rarely beats one tutoring session a week. You're also burning the rare summer your body has to recover.

Tutoring centers that take 50% of your rate. Sylvan, Mathnasium, and the rest will pay you $20 to $25 an hour to teach students whose parents are being charged $60 to $80. Go independent or use a platform that takes 20% instead.

Substitute teaching summer school at the lowest sub rate. If your district pays $85 a day for sub roles in the summer and you can earn $300 a day tutoring privately, the math is loud. Sub if the rate is genuinely higher than your alternatives, and check the open jobs in your city before accepting the first summer school offer; daycare and year-round programs often pay more than school district summer school.

Babysitting through Care.com. The supply of college students undercuts you on price, and the work is often more draining than camp.

Stacking: combining roles to replace your salary

Most subs who survive the summer well combine 2 to 3 income streams. A realistic stack for a sub earning around $30,000 during the year:

Mornings: ESY paraprofessional, 8 a.m. to noon, $20 an hour, four days a week = $640/week.

Afternoons: private tutoring, two clients at 90 minutes each, $55 an hour, four days = $660/week.

Weekends: curriculum writing or AP scoring during the June scoring window = $400 to $800/week for that stretch.

That's $1,300 to $2,000 a week, $5,500 to $8,500 a month. It's not nothing. And almost none of it requires anything you don't already have.

How to start in the next two weeks

The shortest path to summer income, by week:

This week: Post a tutoring offer in three local parent Facebook groups. Apply for AP scoring if you've taught a tested subject. Email the ESY coordinator at your district and at the two neighboring districts. Check open paraprofessional and sub positions near you. Sign up for Outschool and draft one class.

Next week: Take the first tutoring clients who reply. Apply to two day camps and one residential camp. Submit your first Outschool class for approval. If you're a paraprofessional, ask your ESY coordinator directly about late-fill openings.

Week three: First sessions happen, money starts moving. Adjust your stack based on which roles pay fastest. Tutoring pays end of week. School districts pay end of month, on a one-month lag.

The tax thing most subs miss

Tutoring, Outschool, AP scoring, and most camps issue 1099s instead of W-2s. That means no taxes are withheld at the source, and you owe quarterly estimated taxes if you'll clear about $5,000 in self-employment income. The IRS quarterly deadlines fall on April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15.

Track every mile you drive to tutoring sessions (the 2026 IRS rate is around $0.70 a mile). Track home office hours if you teach Outschool. Save 25% to 30% of every 1099 dollar in a separate account until tax time. A teacher who clears $9,000 in summer tutoring and remembers to set aside taxes ends the year with $6,500 net. The one who doesn't gets a surprise bill in April.

The bottom line for substitutes heading into June

Summer for a sub is short, and the high-paying work is already moving. The teachers who land the best summer income in 2026 won't be the ones with the most credentials. They'll be the ones who posted a tutoring offer in May, emailed an ESY coordinator before the calendars locked, and signed up to score AP exams before the College Board's mid-June window closed. Pick two of the five tracks above this week and look at what's currently open. The math gets a lot less scary by July.