Contribution to TRS: New Minimum Salary Schedule increase

 Although charter schools are not subject to paying their teachers based on the minimum salary schedule, HB3 requires that open enrollment charter schools pay the state’s contribution on the portion of a member’s TRS eligible salary that exceeds the statutory minimum or the “state minimum.”  Members include classroom teachers, full-time librarians, full-time counselors certified under … Read More

Federal Financial Drawdown

Federal Risk Level The Federal Fiscal Monitoring Division conducts an annual risk assessment of all charters, to determine their potential risk of noncompliance. Based upon the outcome of the risk assessment, charters are assigned a risk level of low, medium, or high. The division updates the risk assessment model annually to ensure that risk indicators … Read More

Job Descriptions

Job descriptions are an essential and important piece when it comes to roles and responsibilities and should be an accurate reflection of the position. A well-written job description gives employees a clear and realistic understanding of what is expected on an ongoing basis. Most charter schools update job descriptions on an annual basis, usually around … Read More

Charter Amendments

Let’s talk about charter amendments. Do you feel a little lost when those words come up, that they are too hard to understand or that another language is being spoken? It can seem that way, but really, once you know the in’s and out’s they aren’t as complicated as they may seem. In this tip … Read More

FFCRA Expired

Employers are no longer required to provide FFCRA leave after December 31, 2020, as the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced. What did FFCRA include? The obligation was to provide FFCRA leave with an effective date of April 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020. Which included two paid leave offerings: The Emergency Paid Sick Leave … Read More

COVID-19 Vaccine Protocols

As we have seen, the COVID-19 vaccine is here and is being distributed across the country. As the vaccine becomes available to us the question arises: Can and will charter school employers require employees to get vaccinated? This is a consideration each school must carefully weigh. While employers can require the vaccine, before deciding to … Read More

New 1099 Form to be used for 2020

Don’t let the new form make you uneasy. It’s filed just the same way that the old 1099-Misc non-employee compensation forms were filed. Your old box 7 vendors are now just getting their own special form, the 1099-NEC. What’s new? Effective for the 2020 tax year, form 1099-NEC has been implemented by the IRS.  The … Read More

Framework for HRIS Selection

Perhaps your charter has realized that it is time to graduate from the days of paper and pen and hard copy HR files galore. Your HR record keeping is ready to launch into the world of electronic records! But where to start?!?  To help you tackle a task that may seem daunting at first, today’s … Read More

HB 3 Required School Board Plans and Goals

Has your Texas Charter School Board adopted the two required plans under House Bill 3 – Early Childhood Literacy/Math Plan (EC-LM) and College, Career, and Military Readiness (CCMR) Plan? The original timeline was for both plans to be adopted and in place by the end of the 2019-20 school year, but the deadline has been … Read More