Teachers' Salary Adjustment Plan
St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic School
Teacher Salary Adjustment Plan
Effective July 1, 2005
Revised May 2008
I. Mission for the Teacher Salary Adjustment Plan
II. Participation Requirements
III. Contributions to the Teacher Salary Adjustment Fund
IV. Disbursements from the Teacher Salary Adjustment Fund
V. Fund Growth
VI. Changes to the Teacher Salary Adjustment Fund
I. Mission for the Teacher Salary Adjustment Plan
This Salary Adjustment Plan has been created in order to attract and retain highly qualified teachers. The mission is to increase salaries for the St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic School teachers, assistant principal, and Principal by regular use of the interest from the Teacher Salary Adjustment Fund. Teachers who work full-time or part-time (20 hours or more per week) as regular employees and meet the qualifications outlined below will receive additional pay. The fund goal is to bring all teachers to 75% of Fairfax County's Teacher Salary Scale. The additional pay will enable St. Andrew the Apostle School to continue to attract and retain qualified teachers and pay our teachers, assistant principals, and principals a more equitable pay. The continuation of this Plan is within the discretion of the Pastor. The Plan may be discontinued at any time for any reason, including but not limited to Parish financial reasons. Teachers will be provided advance notice of Plan discontinuation.
II. Participation Requirements
A) Full-time or part-time Regular Employee
A teacher must be a regular employee of St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic School and work at least 20 hours per week to qualify for the adjustment in pay. If an employee changes from full-time to part-time (less than 20 hours per week during a school year), then effective with the change in hours he or she would no longer receive the additional pay from the Teacher Salary Adjustment Fund.
If a teacher, assistant principal, or the Principal terminates their employment before the end of the school year, their additional pay would also terminate at the same time as their regular pay.
B) Employed as a Teacher, Assistant Principal, or Principal
The Teacher Salary Adjustment Fund is being implemented to adjust the pay of those employed as teachers, assistant principal, or principal at St. Andrew the Apostle School. Teacher's aides, office staff, and administrative or other positions are not covered by this plan. Employees of the parish or religious education programs are also not covered by this plan.
C) Has a State or VCEA license
The attempt to provide more equitable pay for teachers and principals is based upon the fact that they could earn a higher salary if they taught in the local county school system. Therefore, the teachers and staff must be qualified to teach in the county school, that is possess either a State or VCEA license to receive the pay adjustment.
The Principal of St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic School is responsible for keeping a copy of documentation on file for each teacher who qualifies for this plan.
If at the beginning of the school year an employee of St. Andrew the Apostle School does not have a State or VCEA license but then acquires a license during the year, he/she will be eligible for the additional pay effective once the requirement is met.
III. Contributions to the Teacher Salary Adjustment Fund
The Pastor, with input from the Finance Committee, will determine the amount contributed annually to this fund from unrestricted parish funds. A special envelope will be included in all parishioner envelope packets for contributions to the Fund. Other contributions may be designated using TSA envelopes obtained from the school or parish office. Any other contributions will be made payable to St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic Church with a memo or special envelope designation to Teacher Salary Adjustment Fund. These donations are tax deductible.
IV. Disbursements from the Teacher Salary Adjustment Fund
A) Minimum Funding Required
A minimum balance of $500,000 will be maintained in the DIAL Teacher Salary Adjustment Fund account before any disbursements of interest are made.
B) Prorated Payments
Interest will be paid bi-weekly to employees who meet the qualifications and earn less than 58-75% percent of the Fairfax County Salary Scale. Each year as the interest generated by the Fund increases, the percentage of pay to Fairfax County pay will also increase. For example, for the 2008-2009 school year all teachers should be earning approximately 60% of the Fairfax County pay scale. Every year after, the percentage of pay should increase.
Note:
The Fairfax County Salary Scale (attached) used in the calculation is the Teacher Salary Scale for 194-day employees, not extended day. For teachers with a BA, the salaries under the first column titled "BA" will be used. Columns "BA+15" and "BA +30" will not be used. For teachers with an MA, the salaries under the column titled "MA" will be used. Accordingly, "MA+30" is only used for those teachers with 22 or more years of experience. The updated Fairfax County Teacher Scale will be obtained from their website annually for use in the adjustment calculation.
The St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic School Principal and Assistant Principal's salary is adjusted by an amount determined by the Pastor. Either of these amounts will be prorated if either the Assistant Principal or Principal is not full time.
C) Payment Schedule
Effective with the 2008/2009 school year, the additional pay amount will be added with school payroll funds and the total salary will be on the annual contract for all qualified participants. During the up coming school year the additional pay will be paid out evenly over the 26 payroll cycles with the regular pay through the payroll system. As with any compensation, this additional pay is taxable compensation. It will be included in the payroll, have taxes withheld, and will be reflected on the year end W-2. If, during the school year a qualified employee terminates their employment, then the contract pay, which includes the Teacher Salary Adjustment Funds, is prorated based the date of termination. There is no "payout" of the TSA funds upon termination. Since the Fund's goal is to attract and retain qualified teachers, the teacher salary adjustment payments are for current teachers.
Calculation of the Annual Payment
I. Determine the qualified employees who meet the participation requirements of this Plan and do not earn 60-75% of Fairfax County Salary scale.
(2) Determine the amount of interest available for disbursement. This is the sum of all interest earned from June to May on the Fund's principal.
(3) Complete the spreadsheet with all applicable information. Note all qualified employees who are less than 40 hours per week will be prorated. The number of hours per week they work divided by 40 hours per week. The corresponding Fairfax Co. pay will also be prorated. If an employee switches from 40 hours per week to 20 per week during the school year, there will be a proration. The inverse of this is also true.
The interest generated from the Fund will also cover the corresponding employer FICA and Medicare payment (7.65%) in addition to the teacher's, assistant principals, and the Principal's pay adjustment.
D) Changes to the Annual Payment
As the principle donations grow in the Teacher Salary Adjustment Fund, so will the interest. However, the annual payment amounts cannot be guaranteed. Changes, such as a decrease in interest rates from the Catholic Diocese of Arlington (where the fund is deposited) or personnel changes, will change the distribution amounts.
E) Administering the Teacher Salary Adjustment Plan
The school office manager is responsible for providing a copy of the Teacher's Salary Adjustment Plan to all eligible employees. School teachers and the Principal must sign the acknowledgement form indicating that they received a copy. This acknowledgement form must be kept in their personnel file.
The school office manager is responsible for providing the following information to the payroll administrator during May of each year:
Names of all teachers who worked the full school year
Position – Grade or Specialty
Number of hours worked per week
Annual Salary
Current year step
BA or MA
Other salary or bonus information (see below)*
License held by each teacher and the Principal
*A teacher or Principal's salary will include the contract amount, and any signing bonuses or other bonus amounts, except for Christmas bonuses or Teacher Salary Adjustment funds.
The school payroll administrator will work with the parish financial manager in requesting the interest funds from the Catholic Diocese of Arlington quarterly, depositing them into the school payroll account along with the school and preschool's normal bi-weekly payroll deposit.
V. Fund Growth
The fund principle will grow to an amount that earns enough interest to adjust teacher's salaries to 75% of Fairfax County Public School Salaries and make the assistant principal and principal pay adjustments.
VI. Changes to the Teacher Salary Adjustment Fund
The Pastor, with input from the Finance Committee, can make changes to the Teacher Salary Adjustment Plan. The parish financial manager will report annually on the balance of the fund, annual principal growth, and the amount of interest generated per year and used for additional pay.
