[SchoolFinance] Minimum Hourly Wage Data Required Update

[Gravelle, Paula B]

Good morning,
After the release of the plan for collecting the current year (FY 25) hourly staff data in NEO Staff in order to calculate the one-time additional funds for the upcoming school year (FY 26) as required by the new minimum hourly wage statute<https://legislature.maine.gov/legis/statutes/20-A/title20-Asec4016.html>, we realized nothing is as simple as we originally thought.
Some questions have come up that have required the Maine Department of Education (DOE) to consider many other issues that cannot be resolved simply by updating the hourly wage data in NEO Staff.
Summary of final requirements:

  1.  All hourly wage data will still need to be updated for the current FY 25 year in NEO staff for all hourly staff that are currently in NEO staff.
  2.  Maine DOE will also require a one-time pull from your local payroll system in order to validate payments are accurate for this one-time payment of additional funds.
     *   This one-time pull from your local payroll system will need to include:

                                                    i.     Names of all hourly staff paid in FY 25

           *   Student workers
           *   Substitutes
           *   Food Service Workers
           *   Education Technicians
           *   All other hourly staff

                                                  ii.     Hourly wage for each hourly employee paid in FY 25

                                                iii.     Total number of hours worked for each hourly employee in FY 25

  1.  If you do not have hourly employees paid less than $16.85 per hour for other support staff, and $18.31 per hour for education technicians, then you do not need to do anything at this time since you would not be eligible for additional funding.
  2.  Additional funding will not be allocated until after verification of continued employment of all hourly staff eligible in the FY 26 school year is completed.
  3.  Hourly wages will need to be updated annually in NEO staff going forward for all hourly staff that are collected in the NEO Staff module.
Here are answers to some of the questions we received:

  1.  What about student workers that are paid hourly?
     *   Problem: student workers cannot be entered into the NEO staff module because it then creates violations for certification.
     *   Solution: do not enter students into the NEO staff module.
     *   If you have students that are working in the current FY 25 school year and are paid less than the new FY 26 minimum of $16.85; and they will still be working for you in the FY 26 school year, then you will need to send the Maine DOE a list of those students with their current hourly wage and how many hours they worked in FY 25.
     *   This can also be included in the one-time pull from your local payroll system.
  2.  What about substitutes that are paid hourly and only work as needed?
     *   Problem: salary and wage data for substitutes are not collected in NEO Staff because they only work as needed.
     *   Solution: continue to enter substitutes in NEO staff for purposes of criminal history records checks and verification of employment.
     *   We will need to collect information from your local payroll system for the FY 25 year after the year end (6/30/2025); to include the substitutes name, hourly wage, and number of hours worked in FY 25.
     *   We will also need to confirm that they are still employed by the same SAU using the FY 26 data in NEO Staff.
  3.  What about CTE Regions?
     *   Problem: The statute did not specify that the additional funds would be for CTE Regions, and since they are not considered a School Administrative Unit by definition in Title 20-A; CTE Regions are not eligible for the additional funds for hourly staff.
     *   CTE Centers that are within a School Administrative Unit are eligible for the additional funds and therefore should update their hourly staff data in NEO Staff.
  4.  Does this include food service workers that are paid using federal funds?
     *   Yes, food service workers are eligible for the additional funds.
     *   Even though they are paid using federal funds, the statute requiring one-time additional funds for the minimum hourly wage is not restricted to a specific funding source.  So, all hourly support staff, no matter what the source of funding, will need to be updated in NEO staff to include the hourly wage information.
Thank you for your assistance and continued patience as we work together to make this work possible.
Sincerely,
________________________________________

Paula Gravelle
Director of Public School Finance
Maine Department of Education
23 State House Station
Augusta, Maine 04333-0023
Email: paula.b.gravelle at maine.gov<mailto:paula.b.gravelle at maine.gov>
Phone: 207-624-6792
Maine DOE<http://www.maine.gov/doe> | Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/MaineDepartmentofEducation1/> | Twitter<https://twitter.com/mdoenews> | Instagram<https://www.instagram.com/mainedepted/?hl=en> | Maine DOE Newsroom
<https://mainedoenews.net/>
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