ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) – The delegates to the National Education Association national convention donated about $13,600 to a Winona teacher and military veteran who had the cost of his substitute teachers deducted from his pay while he was deployed in Afghanistan.

The donations were for Matt Reuter, a 13-year teacher and Education Minnesota member at Goodview Elementary School in Winona. Reuter served in Afghanistan with the Air Force Reserve in 2011.

Under Minnesota law at the time, school districts passed the costs of hiring substitute teachers along to educators who went on active duty. In Reuter’s case, the costs of substitutes was $11,300.

The law was changed earlier this year in the K-12 education omnibus bill. The cost of substitute teachers may no longer be deducted from the pay of active-duty educators.