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Kelly Education Alternatives: 5 Options for School Districts in 2026

Five alternatives to Kelly Education for substitute and K-12 staffing — how each model works, who employs the staff, what it costs, and which keeps your existing agencies working.

Robert Flom, Founder of FullbenchOctober 1, 2026 · 3 min read

Kelly Education, the K-12 division of Kelly Services, describes itself as the nation's largest provider of education talent, serving more than 1,000 districts. It runs fills on third-party platforms such as Frontline, Red Rover and PowerSchool and layers its own account teams on top. It is a real service at real scale — and a single bench. Here are the five alternatives districts compare it against.

What Kelly costs, from the public record

Kelly does not publish pricing. District board records show it: a 27.5% markup on substitute pay in a 2023 Florida district and a 1.269 markup factor in a Kansas district. The markup rides on every hour, every year of the contract.

1. Fullbench — every bench you approve, working every opening

Fullbench runs every staffing agency your district uses as one coordinated program.

• Capacity: every agency you approve — including the ones you already use — receives each opening at the same recorded instant. Your coverage is the combined bench, not one employer's pipeline.
• Control: no agency can advance its own candidate; your office decides every status, and no start date can be set until every required document is approved.
• Cost: no program fee to the district. Agencies compete under a maximum bill rate your office sets on every posting.
• Leaving: the agencies stay under your own contracts, so changing program operators never means transferring a workforce.

Choose it if you want more coverage, a cleaner record and fewer calls, without one company owning your bench. Fullbench vs. Kelly Education.

2. ESS — a different single national employer

ESS employs its own substitutes and serves more than 1,200 districts by its own count. Public contracts show exclusivity, a markup of about 29.5% in one Pennsylvania district and an annual escalator. ESS alternatives.

3. Q360 — an agency-funded education MSP

Q360 describes itself as a free "Open MSP" for education and is part of Quantum Education Professionals, whose professionals its site markets with "priority access." Fullbench vs. Q360.

4. Sunburst Workforce Advisors — cross-sector MSP

Sunburst, launched by Amergis in 2022, coordinates suppliers across education, healthcare and government, with Sourcewell cooperative access. Fullbench vs. Sunburst.

5. Your own agencies, coordinated by your staff

Keep several agencies and coordinate them yourself in your absence-management system. The agencies stay yours; so do the phone calls, the credential chase and the invoice reconciliation.

Compared