Why is Salary Advancement important?
When I got hired, I was advised to “get as far over on your columns as quickly as possible,” but I didn’t understand what that meant. To understand, you need to look at the Salary Pay Scale in our AEA contact. Here are the salary schedules for the 2020-2021 school year:
Due to the Highly Qualified requirements, most young educators on this schedule are currently working on getting their master’s degree while on a temporary license.
When you are hired by ASD as a new educator, you will start as a “Step 0” on either the Masters or Bachelors chart. When I was hired at ASD, I was a step 0 on the masters chart, so if I was first hired in 2020, my base starting salary would have been $57,923. Each full year that you work for ASD, you will move down the chart one step. Since I was hired in 2016, I will be a Step 4 in the fall of 2020. If I do nothing towards salary advancement, I will continue moving down this first column for 17 years and then be maxed out on salary increases, depending on how AEA negotiates the contact in future years.
So how do you move ACROSS the schedule?
When HR processed my transcripts from my masters’ program, I had 37.3 credits. Most will start with 36, but Western Oregon University is on a quarter system, so the conversion to semester credits came out a little weird. Having 37 post-bachelor’s credits meant that my next goal would be to get to 54 credits, and then 72, and finally 90.
Those who don’t have a masters’ should enroll in an MAT program, Educational leadership program, or a masters in your content area so that you can move to this chart instead of staying on the bachelor’s chart for your career, which pays less, and is difficult to do and maintain licensure anyway. (Veteran teachers may not have this difficulty as they were hired before the Highly Qualified requirements came into effect.)
Once you have your first masters, you can move across the salary chart in one of three ways: getting a second masters, getting a doctorate, or through continuing education credits. Since I had a bachelor’s in English and a Master of Arts in teaching, a second masters would most likely need to be a Masters of Education, aka the “Admin Degree”, or a Masters in my content area. I was approved to pursue a Master of Fine Arts in Writing for this purpose, but chose not to do the program since UAA has been so touch and go on funding.
If you have any interest in going into administration someday, the right choice would be to pursue a masters in Education. ASD is currently piloting a program through Chadron State to make this process easier. They are even helping with the tuition costs and test proctoring a little! I am not sure how the pilot is going or if the program will continue, but you can view the flier from last year here. Jennie Knutson (email) is the district point of contact if you have questions.
I know very little about getting a doctorate. Asking any of the teachers in the district who go by Doctor Last Name would probably be a good resource there. As you can see on the chart, this is the only way to completely maximize your salary, with a final difference between a second master’s being about $2,500 more per year.
The last and most flexible route is Continuing Education Units (CEUs). You don’t have the benefit of adding another title to your name, but you can go at your own pace and customize the classes you take based on your needs and interests as they evolve through your career. This can also be the cheapest option if you know how to shop around and be patient in looking for opportunities.
See info on which classes I have taken here.
How do you submit these classes for salary advancement?
As you find these classes, you MUST sign up for them in MLP before you start to make sure they will be approved. Most of these classes will already be in MLP, including the ASDN ones, Good Teaching Institute, and ASDSA, but occasionally they aren’t, in which case you will need to submit an online form through MLP and get it approved before hand.
When you finish each class, you must “mark complete,” like you do all your other trainings. Your instructor will mark complete on their end. Someone in the Teaching and Learning department at the Ed Center will approve it eventually.
Once you have all the classes marked complete, you need to find the salary advancement form and fill it out, then email it to HR with copies of all your transcripts, including any TISS certificates you have earned. Now that ASDN has migrated their graduate credit process from APU to UAA, most people will be able to order just a UAA transcript. If you take classes through Western Governor’s University or any other online program, that will be a separate transcript, of course.
The Fine Print
You can only move one column a year, so if you wait and turn all of your credits in at once, you’re wasting time and money! As soon as you have 18 credits, “lock in” your progress by ordering transcripts and doing the salary advancement form. If you are doing a second master’s, this is a great way to earn extra money as you go, since these often take a few years.
If you take 18 credits per year (including summers), and submit transcripts each fall, then you will max out within four years. This equates to an extra $7,500 ish per year on your pay check. Over your career that will really add up. As you can see below, I moved from 37 to 72 credits for about $3,000 by being frugal and careful. I will make about $5,000 more next year than two years ago, so these credits pay for themselves quickly.
How do you keep track of all this?!
MLP is kinda wonky when it comes to keeping track of your goals, what you’ve completed, when you completed it, and which salary jump it was used for. I made a google sheet that I keep track of them all on.
Here is a link to a view-only blank template. Choose “make a copy” and make an editable copy for yourself if you like.
HeyKenna 