CAT Tracks for September 13, 2004 P-DAY, THE 15TH OF SEPTEMBER

Excuse the "history teacher" paraphrase of "D-Day, the 6th of June". Figured you were tired of the "Beware the Ides of..." routine! It's a new year and we WILL think positively...

During the first week of school, you received a "hard copy" of CAT Tracks in your school mailbox - titled "Back to School Specials" (which is still available online). Attached to that edition was a copy of the salary schedule for the 2004-05 School Year and an explanation of how to figure the gross salary for your first new paycheck on September 15th...for confirmation purposes. (The salary schedule and explanation is NOT available online.)

In case you have misplaced the "Helpful Guide to Computing Your Pay"...below you will find an abbreviated version:

Go get a “regular” paycheck stub for last year and a calculator…

Are you back yet…ready?

Perform the following steps:

1. Locate your current “Gross Earnings” and enter that number into the calculator.
2. Multiply that number by 24 – the number of pay periods in the year. (That should produce your total taxable salary for the 2003-04 School Year.)
3. Now…
a) If your education level is B.S., add $730 to your total from Step #2.
b) If your education level is B.S.+16, add $729 to your total from Step #2.
c) If your education level is M.S., add $857 to your total from Step #2.
d) If your education level is M.S.+16, add $858 to your total from Step #2.
4. Almost there…multiply your total in Step #3 by 1.03. (That should produce your total taxable salary for the 2004-05 School Year.)
5. Finally…divide your total from Step #4 by 24. BINGO – that number should be your “Gross Earnings” on each “regular” check next school year…starting on September 15th.

Now that wasn’t so bad was it?

FYI – If you subtract your “Gross Earnings” in Step #1 from that in Step #5, you will see the dollar amount of your raise - somewhere between $1440 (for a first-year teacher with a B.S. who got credit for a year’s experience last year) and $2431 (for a teacher with a M.S.+16 who gets the maximum four years of longevity pay.) Percentage-wise, the $1440 raise is 6.1% and the $2431 is 4.7%.