3-1 Additional Relief Teacher Funding Scheme
Operational funding includes funding to help boards with relief teacher expenses. See section 1-6 Operational grant components for more on the relief teacher part of operational funding.
Funding is provided to help schools pay relief expenses. It is not a reimbursement of any school’s particular relief related expenses, or an individual’s salary expenditure eg, Higher Duties or Acting Up allowances.
Surpluses and deficits arising from under- and over-expenditure on relief teacher employment are the board’s responsibility to manage from year to year as part of overall financial management. This includes incorrect salary step payments and Higher Duties Allowance payments.
To reduce your board’s exposure to excessive demands on its operational funding, because of a teacher’s long-term or recurring illness in any one calendar year, a central funding pool is managed by the Ministry. This funding is used to provide additional relief teacher funding where the absence of a teacher due to his/her own illness exceeds eight consecutive full school days.
Additional relief teacher funding is not available for:
- leave without pay
- professional development
- bereavement leave
- board approved discretionary leave including leave granted to teachers to attend to dependant members of their family
- ACC claims - refer to 3-4 Employees on ACC
- a board that has recieved some other form of resourcing to cover the absence of a teacher, eg special reasons staffing.
In such cases the cost of relievers must be funded by the board, and no additional relief teacher funding will be paid.
Leave that may attract additional relief teacher funding
Additional rRelief teacher funding is provided by the Ministry of Education in the following situations:
- a teacher is absent due to his/her own illness for more than eight consecutive full school days in the same school year
- a teacher is absent due to a recurring illness for more than eight full school days in the same school year
- a teacher is granted leave to participate in an international sports or cultural event that meets the conditions of the sections 3-6 Eligibility conditions for sports leave and 3-7 Eligibility conditions for cultural leave
- a teacher is granted leave with pay for jury service.
Recurring teacher illness
In cases of recurring teacher illness, boards are required to fund the first eight school days of relief to cover this absence each school year.
Where a teacher's ongoing medical condition results in intermittent absences throughout a given school year, and this is confirmed by an acceptable medical certificate, only one eight-day stand down period for the total teacher’s absence, for the school year, will be applied.
Additional relief teacher funding for other positions and activities
The following table outlines the other positions and activities that may attract additional relief teacher funding:
| Position/Activity |
Conditions |
| Resource Teacher of Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) |
Where an RTLB is absent for short periods of up to one week, it is expected that a reliever will not be necessary and no additional relief teacher funding will be paid.
Where an RTLB is absent, on paid sick leave, due to his/her illness for at least one school week, and a suitably qualified reliever is employed to cover this absence, additional relief teacher funding may be paid. Normal claim procedures and documentation requirements apply.
Additional relief teacher funding is funded claimed from the first day of the RTLB’s absence. The eight-day rule does not apply. |
| Attached teachers |
Permanently appointed attached teachers (for example, Itinerant Music Teachers - ITMs) are not included in the relief teacher funding calculation. Where an attached teacher is absent, on paid sick leave, due to their own illness, additional relief teacher funding will be paid only where appropriately qualified relief teachers are employed as cover.
Additional relief teacher funding may be claimed from the first day of the attached teacher's absence. The eight-day rule does not apply. |
| Jury service |
A board may grant leave with pay for jury service. Additional relief teacher funding will be provided for each day, or part thereof, that a teacher is absent on jury service. The jury service fee for the whole period must go back to the board to offset relief costs. |
| Part-time teachers |
If a part-time teacher is absent, on paid sick leave, due to his/her illness, in excess of eight school days, additional relief teacher funding may be made to match the part time entitlement. |
Attending job interviews
Additional relief teacher funding is not available when a reliever is employed to allow a staff member to attend a job interview.
When a reliever is employed in order to allow a staff member to attend a job interview at another school, the current employing board must pay for the reliever. Other interviewing expenses may be met by the interviewing board.
If the teacher is subject to the redeployment/surplus staffing provisions of the Collective Agreement, the employing board is responsible for the actual and reasonable interview expenses.
Calculation of additional relief teacher funding
Additional relief teacher funding is calculated by taking the number of days that qualify for payment and multiplying by the maximum daily rate payable for a relieving teacher under the Collective Agreement. ACC and GST is then added. With effect from 1 July 2009, the maximum relieving teacher rate (step 10) was $54,132.
Example of calculation
The following example is for when a teacher is absent due to their own illness for 20 days (medical certificates provided).
| Item |
|
|
Totals |
Explanation |
| No. of days funded |
|
|
12 |
20 less the eight days the board is required to fund |
Funding
(step 10) |
|
x |
(1/190 of $54,132.00) |
Max. relieving teacher rate effective from 1 July 2009 |
| |
Subtotal (a) |
= |
$3,418.86 |
(1/190 of $54,132.00) x 12 days |
| ACC |
|
+ |
$14.36 |
Subtotal (a) x ACC rate ($3,418.86 x 0.0042) |
| |
Subtotal (b) |
= |
$3433.22 |
Subtotal (a) + ACC ($3,418.86 + $14.36) |
| GST |
|
+ |
$514.98 |
Subtotal (b) x 15% |
| |
Total |
= |
$3,948.20 |
Subtotal (b) + GST ($514.98) |
Note: Rates listed as of 1 July 2009. Rates will be updated periodically.
Payment of additional relief teacher funding
Additional relief teacher funding is paid on a 7 day basis and includes payment of weekends when a teacher is on sick leave before and after the weekend.
Additional relief teacher funding is not available during school or public holidays. Payment of additional relief teacher funding is made directly to the board’s bank account.