CST - WISEstaff Solutions--Salary & Contract Questions

COMMON CONTRACT & SALARY QUESTIONS & ANSWERS:

• We use Teachers on Call to supply our subs.  Would our long-term subs from TOC be considered subcontracted?
  

• Yes, if they are subcontracted through a contracted agency.

• I have had two long-term subs since the start of the school year (hiring purposes).  One is a special education teacher and the other one is a music teacher.  When I put them in and say long-term sub, it asks for their salary, years of experience etc...  Should I report all this info, or is there another way to report long-term subs?

• Make sure the long-term sub question is marked yes.

• If they’re hired directly by your agency, then you must report contract data.

• If they’re subcontracted, mark the subcontracted check box. There’s no need to report contract data for subcontractors.

• For a LT sub, you say to report the FTE for the Sub and the remaining FTE for the teacher, but won't that show a teacher’s salary as way too high? If I say the LT sub is there for 10 percent and the teacher 90 percent, but the teacher's entire salary comes in, because the teacher is on a paid FMLA, the salary amount is going to look high to someone looking at the report.

• I believe FMLA is part of benefits under object code 200.  Please also change the contract days. If not, please just report actual data. If the teacher is only there 70 percent and the salary is full, please report this. We don’t need to change salaries; just report what is actually happening.  If someone questions the salary, then we can explain the teacher was out on FMLA for part of the year.

• Should teacher salary include all coaching/extra-curricular assignments, mentor contracts, ticket taker pay, etc. and should FTE also include these assignments?

• On the WISEstaff Help page you can locate the Assignment table. On the Assignment table http://dpi.wi.gov/wisedata/help/wisestaff,  there is a list of Assignment types that require Salary. Only if you have, for example, a zero and one assignment would you report the salary information for that assignment.

• If a teacher has an overload contract, do we add that to their salary total?

• Look in the data definition under ‘Salary,’ and remember that if a person has multiple assignments, it’s his or her primary assignment.  

• Contract Salary: That amount of money specifically cited in the regular contract between the staff member and the hiring LEA. Do not include pay for extra duties, i.e., coaching, advisor to student, etc. The National Education Association has requested that states report only “regular” salaries for instructional staff. NEA specifically says states: should not include salaries for “extra curricular” duties” or payments for teaching summer school.

• If a teacher has a teaching assignment which is of assignment type 1, then salary is required to be reported. If they have an additional assignment of coaching, which is assignment type 3, then it does not require salary to be reported. Essentially, we just want to capture salaries for the teaching part of their assignments. So you could report the overload if it is a teaching assignment overload, but we do not require that to be reported by the definition of Salary. If the overload is an assignment that does not require salary to be reported, such as a coach or advisor to a student club, then that overload amount should not be reported.  

• If I delete contract information, does that delete the staff person from the report, or is there another way/step that we need to do?

• You would have to delete contracts AND assignments. We do have on your list to add the ability to delete all directly from the Staff List. We’re not there yet.  For now, click Edit on the Staff List, and it will take you to the Staff Edit page where you can delete all contracts and assignments individually.

• On which assignments will we be reporting salary and benefits? Paras? Food Service?

• On the assignment table, report for a 0 or 1 Assignment type unless subcontracted, in which case you don’t need to provide salary and benefit information.

• If I had previously reported our certified staff's total salary, to include all extra-curricular duties and not just their teaching assignment salary, is there something I should do to amend or just correct it for this year?

• Please correct your file. For corrections to a previous year’s data, you can create a data errata letter on district letterhead for DPI to publish.

• Is the staff report based on information that we know as of 3rd Friday Count?  Or is it ongoing?  We had a teacher who left us recently, and I am wondering what to report for this person-- contract as of 3rd Friday or reduced FTE and salary/benefits to date?  We are currently using a short-term sub.

• It is a Point of Time Collection of all staff members in public schools as of the 3rd Friday of September and includes assignments for the entire year as known at that point in time.

• You would not just report what a teacher is doing as of the 3rd Friday.  If the teacher is teaching a Math class and a Reading class for the year, then you would report both assignments.  

• Are Tax Sheltered Annuities considered benefits?
• The Tax Sheltered Annuity (TSA) is recorded under Object 219, ‘Retirement-Other Employee Benefits’. This would be a benefit included in the staff report as an employee benefit.

• Do we include HSAs and Cash in Lieu of as benefits?
• All HSA contributions and payments in lieu of should be recorded within Object 200