New NSD Paycheck Changes

Effective July 1, 2023, the District will be changing its pay dates from the 25th of the month to the last business day of the month.

So, what does this change mean to you?

 

School-Based Personnel

• Level-pay assignments will be paid on the last business day of each month beginning August 31 instead of September 25. This pay will include your regular position, extra days, and extra periods.
• Supplemental pay, stipends, sub coverage, extra hours, and other one-time pay will be paid the 15th of the following month.
• New employees will see their first check on August 31 instead of September 25.
• In the first year only, existing employees will receive two (2) checks in the month of August. Typically, the August check is for work done the prior school year and since you have already earned that paycheck, payment will be received on August 25.  The new school year’s checks will then start August 31 and will pay the last business day of the month going forward.

Year-Round Employees

• Level-pay assignments will be paid on the last business day of each month starting July 31 instead of July 25. This pay will include your regular position.
• Supplemental pay, stipends, sub coverage, extra hours, and other one-time pay will be paid the 15th of the following month.
• Since this year’s pay period will end June 12 and the new pay period is effective July 1, you will be paid from June 13 to June 30 (14 days) at your current daily rate in July (this day hasn’t been finalized yet).

Principals and other employees who are on modified calendars will not receive an additional check the first month of the change as your calendars and paychecks already coincide with the new paycheck timelines.

 

More information to come.  

 

If you have any questions, you are welcome to fill out the form below.  Your questions will be confidential.

 

• • Multiple reasons exist for the District to make this change. Below are a few (but not all) reasons:

• • • Our current pay process creates a significant hardship for new employees when they come to work for us. Most start their assignment in early August and don’t receive their first paycheck until September 25. 
    • The State health insurance plan requires prepayment of premiums. This change allows employees to pay their premium payment in the correct first month instead of having a “double deduction” similar to how everyone in the District paid in September 2022.
    • Our existing period is the 13th of the prior month to the 12th of the current month. These dates were established many years ago and are not consistent with traditional pay practices in other businesses, grants, PERSI, and Districts. This move allows our expenses and contributions to align with the month instead of having to deal with odd dates.
    • Many federal grants have a September 30 end date. Our current pay structure only allows us to capture one month (September) of pay on grants that are ending and that paycheck is based on work performed from August 13 to September 12. Manual calculations are done to be able to allocate all expenses for the month, which are harder to justify when reviewed and/or audited.
    • Splitting up the extra pay from your level-pay position paycheck allows employees to easily track when something is not calculated correctly or received. After September, employees should see the exact same paycheck (with exception of rounding) each month for your assignment and when that amount is different it should be easily found. Payroll has more time to focus on the extra pay instead of having to run everything in the same pay day.

 

• • If you work a traditional school calendar, your paychecks are distributed each month for the same amount starting September and ending in August. Since the new pay period start will be moving up a month, you will receive two checks in August. Your original August check will be paid August 25, 2023, as in prior years, and the new paycheck cycle will begin in August and be paid the last business day of the month.

 

 

• • The system is going to add both payment amounts in the system and deduct taxes based on the total of your perceived income. There is nothing we can do about this. However, at the end of the year, your year-end tax is based on your W-2 income, therefore whatever you paid extra should be in your tax refund. The only other deductions that will be taken out on the first August 25 check will be mandatory taxes (FICA, Federal, and State), and PERSI, and any additional withholding you have signed up from your W-4. Health care and any other insurance deductions will come out of your end-of-month checks.

 

 

• • Your paycheck is based on the number of calendar days you are scheduled to work, then evenly divided by 12 months. This is your “level pay” assignment. Pay date adjustments do not change the amount of money you receive because we don’t pay based on the number of days worked in each month. In reality, the District is actually paying 25 days earlier. For school-based staff, the first payroll was on September 25. Going forward your first paycheck will be August 31.

 

 

• • Unfortunately the system cannot distinguish between the two different kinds of checks, so it will take the extra amount you have set up in the system. However, one solution is if you know you will receive an extra payment each 15th of the month, you can set you amount to half the original deduction so the total you want is the same in the end.

 

 

• • We will continue to pay December to how we have now. Therefore, the payment will be the last day of the month that the District office is open. We will need to determine how we handle November because traditionally paychecks are distributed the day before the Thanksgiving break. This year November 30 is after the Thanksgiving break. Either way, we will let you know how to handle that month in advance so you can be prepared.

 

 

• • Yes, we will be sending multiple emails to remind people of this change.

 

 

• • Yes, the pay period will change to the calendar month instead of the confusing 13th-12th. The August 31 check will be a FULL check similar to what you would have received in September had we not made the change.

 

 

• • PERSI retirement calculations include all pay in a month, not just the main assignment pay.

 

 

• • Every District is different in pay dates. Other districts in the state follow this practice.
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  • This means that teachers who hop districts will become like a first year teacher with no paycheck in August, right? How will you draw back funds if people have part of their pay garnished for absences or leaving their contract?
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  • All new employees with the District will receive paychecks August-July instead of September – August. This pay schedule will be beneficial for people new to the District but could be potentially bad for someone leaving the District if the new District doesn’t pay in August.

 

 

• • This is not effective until August 1 for school-based staff. The change will only be effective in July for other District level year-round staff.

 

 

• • The 15th check will only go to your primary bank account similar to other one-time payments the District has made over the years.

 

 

• • The District considers the employees you reference as “modified” contract employees that already have been getting paid from August to July. As a result, this group of employees would not see a second check in August. 

 

 

• • School based personnel usually have contracts or calendar days that have around 175 to 210 days. Year-round employees are generally all District level staff working through the summer months and have calendars from 248-256 days.  Modified calendars are employees that were part of a year-round school calendar years ago.

 

 

• • This change will not have any effect on your checks. If you're leaving the District at the end of the school year, you can expect to receive your usual payments on July 25th and August 25th as scheduled. Please note that this change primarily impacts ongoing and incoming employees of the District.