[SchoolFinance] [EXT] Minimum Hourly Wage Data Required Update
Heather Reale
hreale at wocsd.org
Tue Apr 22 13:12:32 EDT 2025
We also pay on a daily rate for Substitutes.
*Heather A. Reale, MBA, Finance*
Director of Finance
Wells-Ogunquit Community School District
hreale at wocsd.org
207-641-6909
On Tue, Apr 22, 2025 at 11:16 AM Gravelle, Paula B <
Paula.B.Gravelle at maine.gov> wrote:
> Hello Katie,
>
>
>
> This is a question for your legal counsel.
>
>
>
> If they are paid a daily rate and not an hourly rate, I am not sure if
> this would apply to them or not.
>
>
>
> Perhaps others on this listserv have already asked this question and can
> assist.
>
>
>
> ________________________________________
>
> *Paula Gravelle*
> Director of Public School Finance
> Maine Department of Education
> 23 State House
> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/23+State+House?entry=gmail&source=g>
> Station
> Augusta, Maine 04333-0023
> *Email: *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/>
>
>
>
> *From:* SchoolFinance <schoolfinance-bounces at maillist.informe.org> *On
> Behalf Of *Katie Gourley
> *Sent:* Tuesday, April 22, 2025 11:04 AM
> *To:* Moderated information sharing for school business managers <
> schoolfinance at maillist.informe.org>
> *Cc:* Cookson, Alexandra <Alexandra.Cookson at maine.gov>; Hall, Kimberly A
> (DOE) <Kimberly.A.Hall at maine.gov>
> *Subject:* Re: [SchoolFinance] [EXT] Minimum Hourly Wage Data Required
> Update
>
>
>
> *EXTERNAL: This email originated from outside of the State of Maine Mail
> System. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the
> sender and know the content is safe.*
>
> Paula,
>
> I know you addressed the issue of substitutes in the questions that have
> been asked, but what about the subs we pay on a daily rate such as ed
> tech/teacher subs? How are these being handled with the mandatory minimum
> wage for next year? How are others handling this? Do we just figure out
> what the daily rate is divided by the number of hours they normally work to
> see if that meets the min requirement? If they are subbing for an ed tech
> do they need to meet the other support staff or is it the ed tech minimum?
> How do other subs such as nurses fit in? Any thoughts from others on this?
>
>
> Katie Gourley
>
> RSU 25
>
> Business Manager
>
> 207-469-7311
>
> katie.gourley at rsu25.org <katie at rsu25.org>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 22, 2025 at 10:00 AM Gravelle, Paula B <
> Paula.B.Gravelle at maine.gov> wrote:
>
> 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.
>
>
> 1. This one-time pull from your local payroll system will need to
> include:
>
> i. Names of all
> hourly staff paid in FY 25
>
> 1. Student workers
> 2. Substitutes
> 3. Food Service Workers
> 4. Education Technicians
> 5. 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
>
> 3. 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.
> 4. 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.
> 5. 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?
>
>
> 1. Problem: student workers cannot be entered into the NEO staff
> module because it then creates violations for certification.
> 2. Solution: do *not* enter students into the NEO staff module.
> 3. 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.
> 4. 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?
>
>
> 1. Problem: salary and wage data for substitutes are not collected in
> NEO Staff because they only work as needed.
> 2. Solution: continue to enter substitutes in NEO staff for
> purposes of criminal history records checks and verification of employment.
> 3. 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.
> 4. 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?
>
>
> 1. 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.
> 2. 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?
>
>
> 1. Yes, food service workers are eligible for the additional funds.
> 2. 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
> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/23+State+House?entry=gmail&source=g>
> Station
> Augusta, Maine 04333-0023
> *Email: *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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