Top Frequently Asked Salary Questions Stemming from the 2014-15 State Budget NCAE has gone on record saying the 2014-15 budget serves as a small down payment on North Carolina’s IOU to public education. Our consternation over the plan centers on the methods used to find funding, continue tax breaks for the wealthy and build a budget that is unsustainable for the future. For example, an experience step has been granted each year since 2008-09, but no new funds were appropriated for the steps. The same salary step pay has remained frozen each of the past five years. (Please note that at step 31 in this example the teacher would make a one-time bonus of $1,000.) Therefore, the salary for 2014-15 is the first salary step increase (beyond those who received longevity) since 2008-09. Raises range from 0.291 percent to 18.5 percent on the new salary schedule. To create the new salary schedule and include raises, longevity has been folded into the salary schedule benefiting all teachers, not just those who have served North Carolina for 10 or more years. Please Note: It was NCAE that brought attention to the fact that the earned benefit of receiving longevity for services rendered in 2013-14 would need to be paid. Teachers with anniversary dates for longevity will receive their bonus one last time as in years past. We have received many questions and concerns from teachers and the general public about how the new salary schedule will impact retention and recruitment, and their bottom line when school begins. Here are the most frequently asked questions regarding salary. Q1: What is the new salary schedule and how are teachers with a master’s degree and National Board Certification being paid? A: Please click here for the new Salary Schedule (based on a bachelor’s degree). Teachers with both National Board Certification and a master’s degree will now receive their salary differentials calculated as a flat 22 percent of their new salary band/pay step based on the Bachelors’ (A) Schedule. To determine this, find your step in the band/tier on the new salary schedule, and multiply that amount by 1.22 (the salary plus 22 percent). This will give you your new total salary. (To determine the differential only, multiply the salary band/pay step by 0.22, or 22 percent.) DPI will have all schedules in the next few days. Previously the differential for a NBCT who also had a master’s degree was calculated from the Master’s (M) Schedule, plus an additional 12 percent. By calculating it this way, the total salary differential paid for a master’s degree plus NBCT equaled 23.2 percent, due to the impact of compounding. The General Assembly now has decoupled the two schedules, so the total increase for a NBCT holding a master’s degree will equal only 22 percent, and not 23.2 percent. Note: If the new calculations result in less total pay, including longevity, than what you earned in 2013-14, you will be held harmless at last year’s (2013-14) total pay, including longevity, plus an additional $1,000. Therefore, if a teacher were to lose money due to decoupling these salary schedules, they would be ‘held harmless’ by receiving their 2013-14 salary, including longevity plus a one-time $1,000. The Department of Public Instruction will produce the 2014-15 Salary Manual in the near future and it will be available online at ncpublicschools.org. NCAE will put a link under “What’s New” at ncae.org. Q2: Will people who have both a master’s and National Board Certification lose wages under the new budget? A: No one will receive a pay cut this year. (See explanation in Q1.) Moving forward, no one will be cut either, since the new NBCT rate (22 percent) v. the old rate (23.2 percent) will be on a higher rate of pay moving forward. While the decoupling does result in a net percentage loss in potential earnings, actual dollars will not go down. Q3: Have our salary steps been restored? For example, this will be the start of my sixth year, but I’ve been frozen at salary Step 0 since I started teaching. Do I get a raise based on Step 0 or Step 5? A: A new salary schedule was created using tiers or bands of experience. The new schedule has six bands. Teachers move within the band until they reach the next band or tier. See the banding below and or the link showing the new schedule. Note: this is based on a 10-month pay plan, not 12. Years of Experience 2014-15 Monthly Salary A Schedule 0-4 $3,300 5-9 $3,650 10-14 $4,000 15-19 $4,350 20-24 $4,650 25+ $5,000 Q4: Yesterday, I received my longevity payment. My work anniversary is August 4. I am changing districts this year, and July 31 was my last pay date. So did I receive my full longevity when I changed districts? Also, since I got it, will it be docked from my monthly pay this school year? A: Longevity is built into the new 2014-15 salary schedule. Therefore, moving forward, no separate payments will be made for longevity earned after July 1, 2014. Note: Longevity earned in 2013-14 will be paid in full or on a pro-rated basis where applicable. If you worked the entire year or any portion of the year since your last anniversary date (during the 2013-14 school year), you fulfilled the eligibility requirement to be paid longevity one last time. You will be paid in a separate bonus check for the service earned one last time, and then moving forward, it will be folded into the pay step. FYI: It was NCAE that brought attention to the fact that the earned benefit of receiving longevity for services rendered for the 2013-14 school year would need to be paid on the anniversary date. Q5: Is it not illegal to take longevity away especially to the educators who are already receiving it? Is NCAE going to fight this in court? A: NCAE is exploring legal options; however, the longevity funds have been folded into the new salary schedule. Q6. Will LEAs be expected to come up with any additional money for longevity to correct any inequities created by folding longevity pay into the salary step, corresponding to the eligible longevity rate, when monies to LEAs are being cut? A: No. After the last payout for longevity (listed above) is made, there are no further requirements for separate longevity payments. Longevity moving forward (effective, July 1, 2014) is now a part of the pay step, not paid as previously in a separate bonus check. Q7: What happens to those of us in a master’s program? Will we get paid for our hard work? A: Teachers and instructional support personnel who completed at least one course prior to August 1, 2013, are grandfathered under State Board Policy (which indicates that once a master’s, six-year, or doctoral degree is completed and connected to the teacher’s license, the teacher will qualify for pay on the advanced degree). Beginning August 1, 2013 and moving forward, there is no pay for advanced degrees unless the job requires. Q8: What will the Principal and Assistant Principal salary schedule look like? A: We have not seen the new schedule for administrators. However, we know that a new schedule has been created that is not tied to the teacher salary schedule and will provide an approximate 2 percent increase. Any administrator who would make less under the new schedule will be held harmless, and receive a $1,000 bonus plus benefits with a net gross of $809.00 plus longevity. Longevity will still be paid in a separate check. Q9: What are Teacher Assistants and other Education Support Professionals (ESP staff) receiving as it relates to salary? A: Education Support Professionals (teacher assistants, bus drivers, custodial staff, etc.) will receive a $500 bonus, plus longevity, while other state workers will receive a $1,000 bonus, longevity and five annual leave days. Longevity will still be paid in a separate check. Q10: Will teachers’ salaries have a lower cap under this plan? A: Yes. Teachers in North Carolina who currently earn less than $50,000 will be capped at $50,000 under the new A-Schedule. Teachers new to North Carolina and those who are not currently ‘in the pipeline’ for advanced degrees will not be paid for earning them. Other states surrounding North Carolina require them, and pay a salary differential for them.
Posted on: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 21:59:37 +0000
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