Palacios Independent School District
Incentive Plan
2011-12

The purpose of this Incentive Plan is designed to reward campuses and employees who demonstrate exemplary attendance during the 2011-12 school year. This Incentive Plan is designed to bring campuses and employees together to work for a common cause. The plan is also designed to increase student achievement by having the most qualified person in each position every day.  All eligible personnel will be rewarded.

Category                                     Standard                            Rate of Increase in Compensation
Campus Staff Attendance                97%                                                 1%
 

Student Attendance  
Elem. & Junior High                         97%                                               .5%
High School                                    96%                                               .5%

Eligibility
All employees reported on PEIMS will be eligible for the incentive pay. All employees (principals, teachers, instructional assistants, food service workers, custodians, etc.) assigned to a campus are eligible for the total Incentive Plan.  Employees not assigned to a specific campus (maintenance, transportation, central office, etc.) are only eligible for the staff attendance portion of the incentive plan.  

• Palacios Independent School District employees who are employed by September 1st of the
performance year and also employed October 31st of the following school year are eligible to receive the incentive pay.  Employees who retire at the end of the school year with 20 years service (at least 10 years with the District) or employees terminated due to a reduction in force as determined by DFF (LOCAL) will also be eligible.

• All professional staff (teachers, principals, counselors, librarians, school nurses, etc. on the campus will be rewarded according to the Average Actual Salaries (teacher/regular duties only) reported for that campus in the Campus AEIS Profile Report.

• All district paraprofessional/auxiliary staff (instructional assistants, custodians, food service workers, secretaries, LVN’s, maintenance, transportation, etc.) will be rewarded (.452) of the Average Actual Salaries (teacher/regular duties only) reported for the district in the District  AEIS Profile Report.  

• Professional employees not assigned to a specific campus (maintenance, transportation, central office, etc.) will be rewarded according to the district Average Actual Salaries (teacher/regular duties only) reported in the AEIS District Profile Report.

Student Attendance Guidelines
• The PEIMS six weeks campus/building level attendance reports will be averaged and used to determine the student attendance rate.  Tenths will not be rounded.

• The campus can only qualify to receive the incentive pay for student attendance if the staff has a 97 percent or better attendance rate. Failure of the staff to achieve at least a 97 percent attendance rate will disqualify them from receiving the student attendance incentive pay.

Campus Staff Attendance Guidelines
• A 97 percent staff attendance rate will qualify the staff for the staff attendance incentive pay regardless of the attendance rate of the students.   Tenths will not be rounded.

• Absences will be determined by the use of local sick days, state sick days, and state personal days.  Absences which would have qualified for the use of local sick days, state sick days, or state personal days but were not used due to the lack of leave days available to the employee, will be counted as absences under this plan.

• For staff attendance the determining period will be the academic school year.  (beginning and ending dates set on the approved calendar {August 17, 2011 – June 1, 2012} for the 2011-2012 school year).

• Absences covered by “comp time” will not count as an absence for the purposes of this program.

• Palacios ISD (Board Policy DEC LOCAL) will be used for rules determining the recording of absences. This policy states, in part, that leave is to be "recorded in whole workdays and half  workdays." Two or more hours but less than four hours is considered one-half workday of absence. Four or more hours of absence in one day shall be considered a full day of absence.

• A campus may, if it merits, petition the District Insurance/Benefits Committee to waive severe attendance problems caused by a catastrophic illness (Board Policy DEC LOCAL).  Absences must meet the following criteria to be considered for waiver:
» Absence due to “an extended critical illness, surgery, injury, or temporary disability due to injury or illness that requires the services of a licensed practitioner for a prolonged period of time and which requires an extended absence from work for treatment or recovery.  Pregnancies without serious complications and without extended hospital stays as well as routine surgeries without serious complications are not considered to be catastrophic illnesses.”
» Absences must be consecutive.
» Total number of consecutive days absent must exceed 45 for the individual being considered.
» Absences must be for an illness of or injury to the employee.
» Absences due to illnesses and injuries to the employee’s family member will not be considered.
» The decision of the Insurance/Benefits Committee is final and may not be appealed.

• Nothing in this incentive program shall be construed to create an expectation of continued employment for any employee.

Individual Incentive Plan
Employees may request to sell up to 5 days of local sick leave back to the district at the rate of $200 per day ($1000 max).

Guidelines for the Individual Incentive Plan:
1. The employee must end the year with at least 25 accumulated local sick days after the transaction.  This is for the employee’s protection in the event days are needed in the future.  This is also an incentive for employees new to the district to
a)  maintain high attendance in order to save their days and build up to 25, and
b)  remain with the district to be eligible for this incentive.

2. The calculation for the number of days the employee is eligible to sell back to the district will be 5 minus the number of personal or sick days taken by the employee during the year, regardless of what leave is chosen for those days.  Days will be counted in half-days as per district regulations.
Zero absences – eligible to sell back up to 5 days.
One absence – eligible to sell back up to 4 days.
Two absences – eligible to sell back up to 3 days.
Three absences – eligible to sell back up to 2 days.
Four absences – eligible to sell back 1 day.
Five absences – not eligible to sell any days back.

3. Local sick days sold back to the district under this plan will be removed from the employee’s available total number of days, and will not be available for use.

4. For purposes of this incentive, “personal or sick days” means any day an employee is absent from work for reasons defined as qualifying for state sick leave in DEC(LEGAL), or for personal days requested and approved as such.   Qualifying absences will count in this plan whether or not an actual paid leave day is taken.  School business, vacation, and jury duty leave will not be considered “personal or sick days”.

5. If an employee applies for days from the district’s catastrophic sick leave bank, the number of leave days sold back to the district over the preceding three years will be deducted from the total number of days the employee is eligible to receive from the bank.

6. Calculations will be made during the fall following the year under review.  Eligible employees will be notified of the number of days available to them for sale, and be allowed to choose how many, if any, they want to sell.  Payment of incentives will be made each fall for the preceding year.

7. Employees must be employed on October 31st of the year payment is made to be eligible for this plan.

8. For purposes of this incentive plan, absences will cover a 12-month period beginning August 1st and ending July 31st.  

9. If an employee retires from the district, he/she will be eligible to sell up to 20 of their local days back to the district, as long as the retiree is not absent for more than 4 sick or personal days during his/her final year.  These days will be purchased at the rate set by the Board at that time for purchasing other local days.

Funding
$150,000 will be budgeted to cover the Campus Incentive Pay Plan. If qualified campus incentive pay exceeds this amount, equal proration will be done at each level in order to remain within the boundary of the $150,000 allowance available for this pay plan.  

Distribution
Qualifying employees will receive a lump sum separate check in November.