MASPA 2016 Update – MichAssoc of School Personnel Administrators

The Fall conference was Dec 1 & 2 in Lansing

Krista Ried presented an update on Teacher Certification and Permits. Not much new on certification – the Feds have done away with HQ but Michigan still has it, so teachers still need it. On the Permit side, big changes.

The Daily Permit is now 90 calendar days, no longer 45 days. If a certified teacher is not available, you can apply for a Full Year Basic Permit if they have 90 credits – for non-core classes, the approval is automatic. For Core classes, they need a major or to have passed the MTTC. No BA degree required. Fee must be paid prior to starting in the class.

The Full Year Shortage Permit will let you take an existing teacher outside their area of certification for less than ½ time in a core area if they have passed the MTTC or have a Major. Certification is not required. So if you need a math teacher for 2 sections per day, you could use an existing teacher if they have a Math major or have passed the Math MTTC. For non-core areas, this permit is auto approved.

The Expert Permit is for when you have someone with a BA and a major in a core area or pass MTTC but no Certification. Must have 5 years of work experience in a related area. Can be used up to half time. For non core – only needs 90 credits.

Thrun did an update on Sexual Harassment and LGBTQ – Bottom line, don’t discriminate or harass based on sex – gender, orientation, identity, etc. Be proactive, not reactive. With the new administration things may lighten up a bit in term of the OCR – Office of Civil Rights, but the advice is still the same – treat everyone with respect. If you do get involved with an OCR investigation, being able to show you were proactive with training staff is the best thing.

FLSA – Fair Labor Standards Act - Over time is based on what the job is, simply spreading pay did not make people salaried. This part has not changed. What will happen with the court case on the new minimum salaries now that President Donald is in? Wait and see, it may just die and stay as is. But again, you need to look at positions to see who is exempt. Teachers and school administrators are exempt and mostly not subject to the salary minimums.

EEOC – Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – This agency was expanding its authority and power under the current administration, the general feel is this will go back the other way under Trump. They have been introducing themselves as Federal investigators as opposed to neutral fact finders.

TrumpCare – Expect some changes to ACA but it will probably not all go away. For employee health care be sure to offer Family coverage, you don’t have to pay for it, but do offer it. If you offer Cash-in-Lieu make sure you require staff to show they have other GROUP coverage before they get the Cash. This is a new ACA requirement for 2017. Otherwise the CIL amount is included in the ACA calculation as an employee cost and that could easily make your insurance unaffordable and you could be subject to ACA fines.

Section 125 pre-tax plans – Review the plan document annually and present it to your board for approval. Otherwise the IRS could throw out your plan and make things taxable and go back many years. Very bad for your employees.

Barb Ruga presented some HR for Schools – One area was in hiring – she recommends doing a FOIA for the personnel file from the previous employer – this will bring out all the skeletons if they exist including separation agreements. Also we should update Job Descriptions at least every time we hire for better job requirements and ADA compliance. Share key policies with ALL new hires. Do you have a sub shortage – communicate that to your staff and let them know what you are doing to find more subs.

There will be a one day HR Support Staff conference on March 8, 2017 if anyone is interested.