Paying school staff
There are several types of staff employed in schools.
Some staff are paid directly by the Ministry of Education; others are paid by the school using the operations grant and other funding.
Regardless of who pays who, all school staff salaries and wages are processed fortnightly through the central government payroll provider – Rārangi Utu ā-Mātauranga Education Payrollopen_in_new (EdPay).
Following payment, a staff usage and expenditure (SUE) report is provided to school management for monitoring and review.
What is Ministry-paid staffing and teaching staff entitlement?
Ministry-paid staff include your principal and teacher entitlement staff.
The entitlement staffing your school receives each year for employing teachers and its components include:
- Curriculum staffing
- Management staffing
- Guidance staffing
- Salary units
- Senior and middle management allowances.
Entitlement staffing is derived from your school's roll each year using a formula.
It gives your board a stable base to make long-term decisions about the number of staff your board can employ.
Ministry staffing is paid directly by the Ministry, meaning funds do not flow through the school's bank account.
What is banked staffing?
Banked staffing is a Ministry system that allows schools to decide when to use their teaching staffing entitlement.
This allows schools to be flexible in staffing to meet their students’ needs.
Within the banking staffing year, your board may choose to do the following.
- Use your staffing entitlement in advance up to 10%
- Save up your staffing entitlement to use later in the year
- Operate your staffing usage on a full-year basis, with no savings or overuse.
Management should report on banked staffing usage at each board meeting.
What is board-paid staffing?
Board-paid staffing includes staff employed from your operations grant and other funding.
Commonly referred to as support staff, board-paid staffing includes positions like caretakers, cleaners, teacher aides, and administration officers.
Support staff wages and salaries are a school's biggest expense, as they flow through its bank account.
Any extra staff employed above your teaching entitlement is also referred to as board-paid staffing.
What financial risks are there with staffing?
Poorly managed staffing can lead to cash flow and financial difficulties.
The most common problems usually involve employing too many support staff or teachers above the teacher staffing entitlement.
This could be a nasty surprise to your board if the over-expenditure was not planned or reported.
Employing extra staff comes with financial risks and conditions – please get in touch with us for advice if you are considering employing extra staff.
Questions your board could ask
- Do we employ teaching staff above our Ministry teaching staffing entitlement?
- What percentage of total income do our payroll costs represent?
- What is our current banking staffing position?
- Do we have a banking staffing forecast spreadsheet?
- What is the predicted outcome at year-end?
- Can we meet our ongoing salary and other employment costs?
- Are we fulfilling our other obligations, such as setting aside funds for long-term commitments like painting and asset replacement?
Templates, resources, and references
Click on the link(s) below to access the templates, resources, and references related to this topic.
These may download or open in a separate browser depending on your device.
Ministry of Education
- Managing staffing usage (banking staffing)open_in_new
- Funding and financialsopen_in_new
- Financial Information for Schools Handbook (FISH)open_in_new
Education Payroll