[SchoolFinance] Question on Paid Time Off (PTO) Practices

[Dawn Fickett]

Amen!

On Wed, Mar 18, 2026 at 10:24 AM Lucie Tabor <ltabor at vuesc.org> wrote:

> We have not gone with PTO, we have Sick and EPL buckets for teachers.  It
> has been asked for in negotiations and we've refused.  It's difficult
> enough having to deal with 5 days' worth of EPL for teachers who only work
> 182 days a year and get AMPLE time off during a calendar year, it does not
> make any sense (to me) to allow even more flex time for which they would
> not have to provide a reason to even use.
> The EPL bucket costs us more in Subs and that's enough of a headache.
>
> For recruiting subs, we have had to increase the daily rate and offer
> multiple incentives - free lunch, mileage, and EPL!
> We now also provide a higher hourly rate ($5 to $6/Hr extra) for any Ed
> Tech that covers for teachers for any period during the day.
>
> And let's throw the new PFML in there for fun!  (Grrr).
> - Lucie
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 18, 2026 at 10:00 AM Andrea Disch <adisch at msad11.org> wrote:
>
>> I am looking to see if there are districts that currently offer Paid
>> Time Off (PTO) instead of separate sick, personal, and other accrued
>> absences.
>>
>> Our teachers have raised PTO in current negotiations, and we are already
>> dealing with a high number of staff absences, so I’m especially interested
>> in how a PTO model has impacted absence rates and overall leave usage.
>>
>> If your district offers PTO, I’d appreciate hearing how it’s structured
>> and how it’s working in practice.
>>
>> Thank you,
>> Andrea
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Lucie Tabor
> *Director of Finance*
> *Valley Unified Educational Service Center (VUESC)*
> *Serving the School Districts of MSAD 27, MSAD 33 and Madawaska School
> Dept.*
> *Upper St. John Valley*
> _______________________________________________
> SchoolFinance mailing list
> SchoolFinance at maillist.informe.org
> http://maillist.informe.org/mailman/listinfo/schoolfinance



-- 




*Dawn L. FickettAssistant SuperintendentRSU/SAD #37*
*1020 Sacarap Road*


*Harrington ME 04643Telephone: 207-483-2734Fax: 207-483-6051*

*"The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from
you." *— *B.B. King*
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