Staffing of Primary Schools / Banking

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	• • • • • •	Introduction School boards employ teachers Staffing Paid for by the Crown Monitoring Staffing Usage Banking Staffing Possible Banking Staffing Traps

Introduction

Principals can seek advice and assistance about staffing matters from NZEI field staff, regional secretaries or national office executive officers.

School boards employ teachers

While schools are able to employ as many teachers as they wish, the Crown will meet the cost of only a specified number of teachers for each school. Any other teachers are a cost to the school’s bulk grant.
The principal takes responsibility for making sure all teachers are paid correctly and coded to either “Teachers Salaries” (TS) the coding for teachers the Crown is paying for, or “Bulk Grant” (BG) the code for teachers paid for by the school. Every school receives a Staff Usage and Expenditure (SUE) Report at the end of each pay period. These must be checked by the Principal then signed and dated if correct, or actioned immediately if there are errors.

Staffing Paid for by the Crown

Schools are allocated a level of staffing for the school year. The staffing is expressed as Full Time Teacher Equivalents (FTTEs). The cost of employing the teachers is met by the Crown if coded to Teachers Salaries. The Ministry of Education has no direct interest in how schools manage this or any other staffing.
The role of the Ministry is to notify the school of:

the level of staffing the Crown will pay for
any alteration in the level of that staffing from one year to the next
progress at March in each year towards meeting the estimated provisional roll that determined the staffing for the school year
the staffing used by the school in each pay period and charged to Teachers Salaries.

The way the staffing is managed is over to the school and so becomes a prime responsibility of the principal. Within certain requirements there is some flexibility around deciding:

how the staffing is used
when the staffing is used
how vacancies are advertised; part-time, permanent or fixed-term.

Schools can:

employ more or fewer teachers than their allocated staffing entitlement at any time during the school year ( called ‘banking staffing’);
shift a teacher's payment from Teachers Salaries (TS) to Bulk Grant (BG), or vice versa, for any pay period.

Curriculum Staffing Improvements 2008-2009

The 1:15 Staffing for Year One Students

The Government has made a number of policy commitments about staffing. The improvement to the ratio for a year one student is substantial: from 1:23 to 1:18 beginning April 2008, and the expectation that the policy will be fully implemented with a further improvement to 1:15 in 2009.

Monitoring Staffing Usage

Staffing usage must be monitored carefully at the school level.
Most principals manage all this very well. It is possible however for decisions that appear to be sensible, or expedient at the time, to have a negative effect on employees’ conditions or on the school’s future resourcing level.

Teachers can be moved between Teachers Salaries and the Bulk Grant for payment purposes. Ensuring payroll is informed correctly is vital. (Ministry of Education Funding Staffing and Allowances Handbook Chapter 9).

Banking Staffing

Banking staffing allows the MoE to extract from schools the cost of any ‘overuse’ of staffing charged to Teachers Salaries. If too many teachers in a school are paid from Teachers' Salaries and the entitlement is exceeded over the school year the school has until pay period 26 in the following year to balance that over usage. If this is not achieved the cost of the extra staffing is taken from the school’s Operations Grant in April. The cost is calculated using the top step of the basic scale salary.

A Banking Staffing Report is issued to every school every fortnight along with the SUE Report.
Any ‘under use’ of staffing provided by the Crown must also be dealt with by pay period 26. After that date the benefit of the staffing is no longer available to the school. In the past a few schools tried to over come this by paying teachers ‘in advance’ for work to be carried out after pay period 26. This practice is illegal.

Principals must:

check all information going to Payroll is accurate. It is important to correctly identify the salary source for teachers (Teacher Salaries or Bulk Grant) if any benefits of 'banking staffing' are to be maximised
check that every Ministry of Education (MoE) SUE/banking staffing report is correct before signing
inform Payroll immediately if adjustments are required to fix errors or if there is a change to the salary source of any teacher
inform the Resourcing Division of the MoE immediately if adjustments to the usage are required or there has been a difficulty sorting out a payroll mistake
have all decisions on banking staffing minuted as noted, or agreed, at a board meeting as part of the principal’s report.

Principals should:

make use of the MoE website banking staffing spreadsheet to explore possible banking options
minimise the cost of any over-usage by switching payment of less experienced teachers from Teachers Salaries to the Bulk Grant
be proactive. Follow up anomalies quickly. Adjustments can take time to get sorted
log phone calls and file all correspondence on banking staffing so that the history of communications can be traced if necessary
seek advice from the pay roll service manager, MoE resourcing help desks, principals' networks and NZEI Te Riu Roa field staff.

Principals should be aware that:

holiday pay and ACC can cause variations to the staffing balance. Check with the MoE when these are noted
banking staffing information is financial information. It will be audited. The documentation must be kept for seven years.

Possible Banking Staffing Traps

Boards and principals need to be aware that if a teacher is employed from the Bulk Grant the cost of all that teacher’s remuneration will come from that grant e.g. sick leave and ACC.

Provisionally Registered Teachers must be paid from Teachers Salaries for the school to be eligible for the MoE funded Beginning Teacher Time Allowance (0.2 FTTE for the first year and 0.1 FTTE for the second year).
If there is a reduction in entitlement staffing, the school might consider 'avoiding' identifying anyone as surplus by using the Bulk Grant or banked staffing to maintain a position. Any principal contemplating this action should be aware that the school could become responsible for surplus staffing costs at a later date as the MOE timeframe for meeting surplus staffing costs has a finite date.

Newly appointed principals should check the school’s Banking Staffing Report as soon as they take up the position so that the consequence of any previous over-usage is minimised and the benefits of any under usage can be maximised.

(MOE Funding Staffing and Allowances Handbook chapter 2 pages 37-40 and Appendix 2, Chapter 9)

How the number of entitlement teachers the Crown will pay for in each school is decided

In September of each year schools receive notice of the staffing entitlement for the following school year and the total number of teachers (FTTE) that can be employed at a cost to the Crown.

Calculation
Staffing for the following school year is first calculated in July of the current year. (MoE Funding, Staffing, and Allowances Handbook, Chapter 2)

On 1 July the principal supplies the Ministry of Education with information on the actual roll at that date and the 'likely' roll for 1 March of the following year
The ministry then estimates a staffing roll for the following school year:
- a 10 October roll for full and contributing primary and special schools; and
- a 1 March roll for intermediates
The ministry compares that estimated roll with the board's 'likely' roll. The ministry also estimates the number of students on the roll approved for the Ongoing and Reviewable Resourcing Scheme
The ministry informs the board of the provisional staffing entitlement for the following year
The board has the opportunity to challenge the ministry estimate of the staffing roll by a certain date.

Confirmation
The staffing entitlement for regular primary schools is confirmed in the following March.

In March of the new school year the board supplies the ministry with the actual numbers of children enrolled at each year level
The ministry re-estimates the 10 October roll and staffing
If the recalculation shows an increase over the provisional staffing then the increase is backdated to the beginning of the school year
If the March roll count shows the number of students estimated is on track the staffing is confirmed as ‘roll-based’
If the March roll indicates a drop in student numbers the provisional staffing is confirmed as ‘assured’. The school maintains the staffing level for the full school year even if the roll drops further but there may be a restriction on the tenure of appointments made to vacancies arising during the remainder of the school year
If the roll rises above the staffing roll during the year there is a process for increasing the staffing up until November.

Comparison of staffing levels at September
After the July returns the ministry sends a staffing notice to the school. On this there is a comparison of the staffing for the current school year and the staffing estimated for the following year.

Increase in staffing: If the school is entitled to employ more teachers for the next school year, the appointment process must be put into action. More teachers may mean

an increase in the number of designated deputy or assistant principals the school can employ
more salary units to allocate.

Decrease in staffing: If the school has too many teachers for the next school year the surplus staffing process must be put into action. It is the principal's responsibility to ensure that the timing of the action and the process followed is correct. (Primary Teachers Collective Agreement; NZEI Udates on Surplus Staffing/Surplus Units and MOE Funding, Staffing and Allowances Handbook Chapter 2)

A change in the roll may mean a change in the principal's salary grade.

Helpful Resources

NZEI Te Riu Roa. updates on Surplus Staffing - Surplus Units.
Primary Principals' Collective Employment Agreement 2004-2007.
Primary Teachers, Deputy Principals, Assistant Principals and other unit holders' Collective Employment Agreement 2004-2007.
www.minedu.govt.nz
Ministry of Education: Funding Staffing and Allowance Handbook, Resourcing Division.
Ministry of Education Resourcing Helpline.
Ministry of Education. Circulars on funding and staffing; confirmation of staffing rolls.

An example of the staffing notice received by schools in September is reproduced below

NB: Please note that the Staffing Notices are under review and the format will change. NZEI will update this section when the change occurs. In the meantime the details in the following remains accurate.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
2007 PROVISIONAL STAFFING ENTITLEMENT
Provisional Staffing Rolls in Primary and Intermediate Schools
Are subject to Confirmation following the 1 March Return of actual enrolments
Effective Date: Beginning of School Year

Laws Street School
PO Box 1
Milford Sound

School Number:
School Type:
Regional Office:

8168
20
Southern

STAFFING ROLL

Year	Regular Students	Maori Med Studs
1 1 Adj 2 3 4 5 6 7 8	27 9 27 27 30 22 22 24 23	0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total	211	0

ENTITLEMENT STAFFING (1)

FTTE

UNITS

Curriculum
Management (includes 0.4 of P.L.)
2007 Roll-based Staffing
Comparable 2006 Entitlement Staffing difference

8.10
1.10
9.20
10.10
-0.90

5
6
-1

Staffing Roll 221

NOTES (2)

The 2007 entitlement staffing is lower than the 2006 staffing entitlement by 0.90 FTTE and 1 UNIT. The board needs to assure itself that this reduction will be effectively managed by either; banking staffing, attrition, or where appropriate the identification of surplus teachers.

SUMMARY (3)

Description	FTTE	UNITS
2007 Staffing Entitlement Special Education Staffing Additional Staffing	9.20 0.21 0.32	5 0 0
Total	9.73	5

Page 1 of the Staffing Notice

Laws Street School

School Number:

8168

SPECIAL EDUCATION STAFFING (5)

Description	Category	Start Date	End Date	FTTE	UNITS
John Smith Mary Jones	High High	27-Oct-2005 6-April-2006	Ongoing Ongoing	0.10 0.10
ORRS Staffing ORRS Management ORRS Salary Units				0.20 0.01	0
TOTAL				0.21	0

ADDITIONAL STAFFING (6)

Description	Start Date	End Date	FTTE	UNITS
Classroom Release Time	1-Feb-2007	30-Jan-2008	0.32	0
TOTAL			0.32	0

Page 2 of the Staffing Notice

The following is an explanation of the information shown on the Laws Street School staffing notice

ENTITLEMENT STAFFING (1)

On the notice the box ENTITLEMENT STAFFING records the curriculum and management staffing in full-time teacher equivalents (FTTEs) and the number of salary units (UNITS) the school can employ in 2007 at the Crown’s expense.
One FTTE equates to a full time teacher, or 25 hours per week. Part time hours are stated as a fraction of 25 i.e.
                0.1 FTTE is two and a half hours
                0.2 FTTE is five hours
                0.3 FTTE is seven and a half hours etc

The curriculum FTTE for Laws Street School is 8.10 FTTE.

Schools with Maori Medium students will have a note beside CURRICULUM stating “includes – for Maori Medium”
Intermediates and schools with attached manual centres will have a note stating “includes … –1:120 staffing”
Schools with rolls of less than 176 might have a note stating “includes MACS adjustment”.

The management FTTE for Laws Street School is 1.10 FTTE.

This includes 0.4 FTTE of Professional Leadership Time (P.L.)
The total of the curriculum and management staffing FOR 2007 is 9.20 FTTE, shown as “2007 Roll-based Staffing”.

The Salary Unit allocation for 2007 is 5.

These are recorded in the UNITS column alongside the 2007 roll-based Staffing.

For 2007 Laws Street School can

employ 9.20 FTTE as entitlement staffing and
allocate 5 salary units (at least three must be permanent units)
designate up to two Deputy or Assistant Principal positions

and the Crown will pay.
(The MOE Funding, Staffing and Allowances Handbook:Chapter 2 section 2.4.1 gives details of how the resourcing is calculated).

The Comparable 2006 Entitlement Staffing shows that in 2006 the school’s entitlement was 10.10 FTTE with 6 salary units. This is more than will be allocated for 2007

Staffing Difference shows that in 2007 Laws Street School will have to reduce its entitlement staffing FTTES by 0.9 FTTE and salary units by 1 unit.

Some schools will have exactly the same entitlement staffing for 2007 as they had in 2006.
Other schools might have an increase in staffing for 2007. The “Difference” would then be expressed as a positive number and the principal would begin an appointment process for 2007 or offer extra part-time hours to staff for 2007.

NOTES (2)

The Ministry NOTES inform Laws Street School it must ‘manage’ the staffing loss. NZEI advises that a principal considering managing the reduction by “banking staffing”, as suggested in the Ministry notes, should seek advice from NZEI before doing so.
Laws Street School has a staffing surplus situation for 2007 and the principal must begin the staffing surplus process. (Primary Teachers Collective Agreement Part 4)

Laws School is losing less than 1.0 FTTE.

It is very likely that the reduction of 0.9 FTTE will “eat into” a full-time position. If this is the case the principal should immediately contact their NZEI field officer to assist in analysing the situation and, if appropriate, make a case to have the surplus staffing costs paid by the Ministry.
(NZEI Updates on Surplus Staffing/Surplus Units. MoE Funding Staffing and Allowances Handbook: Chapter 2, section 2.2.2).

SUMMARY (3)

The SUMMARY totals the number of all the FTTEs the Crown will pay for.
It includes the Entitlement Staffing (see above) and, for this school, Special Education Staffing and Additional Staffing.

The details of these two components are recorded on the second page of the staffing notice.

PRINCIPAL’S GRADE (4)

The box PRINCIPAL’S GRADE shows the salary grade for the principal and the roll that determines the grade, including the extra weighting for any special education ORRS students.
The salary grade of the Laws Street School principal is U4 and is generated by the grading roll of 215 which is made up of:

the staffing roll of 211 plus

an additional 4 for the ORRS students.

SPECIAL EDUCATION STAFFING (5)

The SPECIAL EDUCATION STAFFING box on page 2 of the staffing notice shows the school has a total of 0.21 FTTE staffing for special education. This is made up of:

Ongoing and Reviewable Resourcing Scheme ORRS Staffing of 0.2 FTTE. The two students, each generating staffing of 0.1 FTTE (two and a half hours per week), are named and the principal must inform the Ministry if either of these students is withdrawn from the school roll

A further 0.01 FTTE (quarter of an hour each week) is allocated as ORRS Management staffing to assist the school manage the ORRS teachers.

A significant amount of ORRS FTTE would also generate a salary unit but this is not the case for Laws Street School.
Laws School must be able to demonstrate that the ORRS resourcing is used in a manner which assists the learning needs of the named students. These students are also counted as Regular Students or Maori medium students in the staffing roll and as such contribute to the generation of the curriculum and management FTTEs.

ADDITIONAL STAFFING (6)

The ADDITIONAL STAFFING box on page two shows Laws Street School has additional staffing of 0.32 FTTE (eight hours a week) for Classroom Release Time. This is to provide the required 0.04 FTTE (one hour per week or 10 hours per term) release time for each eligible full-time classroom teacher. All schools get this staffing.
Part-time classroom teachers of 0.8 FTTE or more have a pro-rata entitlement to classroom release time.

Other additional staffing some schools might receive include:

Resource Teacher Support Time Allowance
Reading Recovery Allowance
Senior Teacher Special Duties (Normal Schools).

Other staffing boxes that might appear on a school’s staffing notice include:

ATTACHED TEACHING POSITIONS

BEGINNING TEACHER TIME ALLOWANCE: Includes the eligible teacher’s name and a start and end date for the 0.2 FTTE allowance

SECOND YEAR TEACHER TIME ALLOWANCE: Includes the eligble teacher’s name and a start and end date for the 0.1 FTTE allowance

SUPERNUMERARY TEACHERS: Incudes the eligble teacher’s name and end date of the redeployment option

STAFFING ALLOCATED TO OTHER SCHOOLS

STAFFING ALLOCATED BY OTHER SCHOOLS

TUAKANA-TEINA ALLOWANCE: For schools assisting a kura teina to achieve Kura Kaupapa Maori status.

SALARY UNITS
The formula for determining salary units is 0.72 x (total staffing entitlement-1) - 0.77
If the result is not a whole number it is rounded up to a whole number.
Sixty percent of the units must be allocated as permanent units
Up to forty percent may be allocated as fixed-term.

Laws street school with 5 salary units could have:

A deputy Principal with 5 units or
A deputy principal with 4 units and an assistant principal with 1 unit or
A deputy principal with 3 units and an assistant principal with 2 units or
A deputy principal with 2 units, an assistant principal with 2 units and a senior teacher with 1 unit or
Some other combination using the 5 available units.

DEPUTY AND ASSISTANT DEPUTY PRINCIPAL POSITIONS
Up to two management positions in schools with 21 FTTE or fewer may be designated as deputy principal or assistant principal.
In schools with more than 21 FTTEs up to three positions may be designated as deputy principal or assistant principal.
Teachers employed in designated deputy principal or assistant principal positions are paid at the top of the basic scale (including Q3+ if they hold the relevant qualifications to move to that step) plus salary units.