Attention to laid off teachers: Do not substitute teach If You Could Afford It

I was reading the Houston Chronicle when I came across some very important and surprising information for my fellow teachers. Being a certified teacher since 2000 and a friend of many who were given their notice that their position was being cancelled or no longer needed, this is a MUST KNOW. The Chief Spokesperson for the Texas Employment Commission, confirmed any income from substitute teaching will cause laid off teachers their unemployment compensation that they would receive during holiday school breaks and the summer. WHAT THE PHYSICS!
The Labor Code designed this reasonable clause to keep educators from seeking unemployment benefits in the summer when they have a job lined up in the fall. The code states school personnel cannot get benefits during a break if they were employed before the break and "there is a reasonable assurance that the person will perform the services" after the break.
It does not matter if you were part-time or substituting. The commission ruled that if a school district is using you to substitute in the Spring or Fall, there is a reasonable assurance they will offer you work. Under that language, you cannot be paid unemployment benefits during breaks. Crazy right? You could be reimbursed only if you tried to substitute the next school semester and was turned down? Huh?
The commission is working on new written benefit explanations that will allow teachers to know substitute teaching can be a very expensive hobby, considering the unemployment benefits you will lose. So laid off educators who may need a little more money to supplement your employment checks, do anything BUT substitute, you can tutor, babysit, help Walmart out but don't teach. UNLESS you have some other means of financial support.

One teacher a GalvestonISD Social Studies teacher had been earning $46,000 per year throughout the year before being let go and continued to receive paychecks in the summer while looking for a new job. She had no luck and applied for unemployment compensation. When she accepted a substitute position she was told she could make up to $130 a week or 25% of her benefits without them being affected. So she subbed a day and a half at $90 per day to support her son and her husband who is unable to work, due to a disability. In March, the unemployment checks stopped coming because the Texas Workforce Commission had "overpaid" her during Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks and she received no checks until they recovered 4 weeks worth of payments. Then it got Worse because she had been working as a substitute PART-TIME it would cost her about 15 weeks worth of unemployment benefits compensation or more than $6,000. I am not telling teachers not to work but it could be expensive to substitute while looking for work..YOU DO THE MATH.

I am not saying to live off of it because teachers are by ANY means looking to use the system ,even though the system tend to put teaching at the bottom of the list.
 I did not say "do not work", I am saying the way it is worded according to the commission, TEACHERS would not get paid over the breaks unlike other people who may be laid off and working part time in another arena while seeking employment.  If they feel the need to substitute and can go without pay during the breaks when they would normally be getting a teacher's paycheck AND then do not find employment they need to have a plan c and d.
To each its own, teachers are smart enough to figure out what is best for them.
Comments? Questions?