Any schoolteachers in the Lounge? I have a question...

[kay1864]

As I understand it, you get a paycheck throughout the entire year, even though you don't work at the school during summer vacation.

What if you quit for another teaching job? Who pays you in the summer? Or do most teachers make their resignation effective the day before school starts in the fall, so you get paid through the end of the summer?

Inquiring minds and all that...

[crimsonblue]

1. depends on the district

but here your pay is split up into monthly or bimonthly payments throughout the year. If you work a full school year, then you will likely get paid for the full school year.

[kay1864]

2. Well yeah, that part I know (the payments part)

But if you resign, you're no longer working there. My question is, if you do resign (at the end of the school year, that is, not in the middle), does the "old" school system still pay you through the summer?

[crimsonblue]

3. you are still entitled to back pay.

if the school owes you back pay for year's work, then they will usually pay you what they owe you.

[kay1864]

5. Ok, that's what I thought

The school you're leaving still pays you through the summer. Thanks!

[pagandem4justice]

4. In my district,

we get paid 12 months for working the school year from August start date (usually a week before the kids come back) to June end date. If you worked the full school "year," you get paid until the end date in August. You're not being paid for "not working" -- this is salary for the school year, split into 12 segments rather than 9 to aid teachers as well as districts.

[kay1864]

7. Thanks!

Does your district pay you once a month, twice a month, or every two weeks?

Any idea what frequency other school systems pay?

[MorningGlow]

6. I worked one whole year as a high school English teacher

:woohoo:

One year was enough for me, thank you very much.

Anyway, I got a fairly large paycheck every two weeks during the school year, but none during the summer months. So I got a full year's salary (full year = September to August) between October (I started late) and June, and no paychecks after that. So the district didn't owe me anything (or I didn't lose anything) when I quit in June.

[kay1864]

8. Was that the norm there?

Other teachers I've talked to work 9 months but get paid 12 months. Otherwise it'd be difficult to manage their money in the summer.

[MorningGlow]

13. It was for that district

It was a weird place all around, though, so I wouldn't be surprised if that practice was rare.

It sure taught me a lot about money--I had OODLES during the school year, but by the end of the summer--pffft!--my surplus vanished.

[crimsonblue]

9. You can talk to the administration and accountants

if you prefer it one way or another, sometimes they will be flexible and work out a pay schedule that benefits both sides.

[hellbound-liberal]

10. My last school system gave us a choice between 9 months and 12 months

In fact the default procedure was 9 months, you had to request that your checks were spread out over the entire year. Personally, I can't understand why anyone wanted to get all of their pay over the course of nine months rather than spreading it out though many of my coworkers did.

[LWolf]

11. It depends on your district.

I don't know that all districts across the country do "summer pay." I've worked in 2 districts, in 2 states.

In the first district, summer pay started in the mid 90s. People who had a contract signed for the coming year would get checks in July, August, and September as an advance on the contract, dividing the annual salary into 12 months and paying 3 months ahead.

Anyone who changed jobs and did not honor the contract had to pay that amount back, plus interest.

When I moved out of state, I took a job with a district that does things differently. The salary is divided into 12 months, with the last 3 paid on the last day of school, in 3 separate checks. The first check of the new school year/contract comes on October first.

I couldn't take the summer pay from the old district when I moved, since it was an advance for a contract I wasn't going to work. I had to support myself during and after the move on savings, waiting for that October paycheck.

It all depends on how the district you leave, and the district you move to, set things up. Personally, I prefer to get it at the end of the school year, than to worry about having to pay it back if I change districts or move.

Of course, if I wanted to make my move in reverse, which I absolutely do NOT, I'd get paid double over the summer; the end of last year's contract from the district I left, and the beginning of the next year's from the district I moved to.

[WinkyDink]

12. If you resign, get your pro-rated "summer pay" in one lump sum check before you depart.

[LostInAnomie]

14. My check is pro-rated. So, I would get a check until the beginning of the next school year.

It's not that we get paid for the whole year, we get paid for the 9 months that we work. We just have that money split up over 12 months. So, the money that we receive over the summer we've already earned.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. All but one of the colleges I worked for paid us on a nine-month basis

It forced one to save or teach summer school.

When I finally got a job that paid on a 12-month basis, I got a paycheck on July 31, a full month before I started working there. When I left, several years later, my last paycheck was on June 30.