Wake schools will pay some employees more often. Here’s why and how it will work.
Thousands of Wake County school support staff will have their pay divided into two paychecks a month instead of getting one payment.
The Wake County school board voted Tuesday to switch 6,364 non-teachers — such as bus drivers, cafeteria workers and teacher assistants — to a twice-monthly payroll. The change won’t increase how much is paid. But it’s meant to help employees improve their ability to manage their finances.
The change won’t be cheap. It will cost at least $700,000 for software upgrades and additional personnel to move to the new system. In addition, school finance staff are warning there could be hiccups along the way.
The new system will be phased in starting Jan. 1.
Change won’t affect teacher paychecks
Most North Carolina school districts pay their employees once a month. In the case of certified staff, such as teachers, state law requires them to be paid once a month.
Wake pays employees at the end of the month.
But state law doesn’t prevent school districts from paying hourly workers and other non-certified staff twice a month. Wake administrators said only 10 much smaller districts use a twice a month payroll.
But school board members have been talking for the past year about making the move to twice-monthly payrolls. In an at times heated meeting last month, board members told finance staff they were frustrated that the change hadn’t happened already.
The board gave finance staff a month to report back on how to make the payroll change, including surveying affected employees.
Most workers support payroll change
Wake anonymously surveyed 6,364 eligible employees, or about 32% of its workforce, about the proposed change.
Out of the 4,301 responses, 62% preferred having their pay divided into two paychecks instead of just one a month. Support was even higher among hourly workers, such as bus drivers and cafeteria workers, where 70% were in favor of the change.
Instructional assistants, or what used to be called teacher assistants, would be the largest single group affected by the change. Out of the 1,790 responses, 66% supported moving to two paychecks a month.
The one group that was soundly against the change was occupational and physical therapists, where 95% preferred keeping a single monthly check. This group only accounts for 86 employees.
Among all the employees who supported twice-monthly payrolls, 64.7% agreed it would improve their ability to budget and manage their finances. Additionally, 62.8% agreed it would increase their job satisfaction and 63.2% agreed it would increase the likelihood they’d remain working in the district.
Payroll changes will occur in 2025
Finance staff gave the school board three options for making the transition to the new payroll model. The board picked the option recommended by Superintendent Robert Taylor.
Wake will begin phasing in the change for hourly employees starting Jan. 1. The payroll change for other eligible employees would begin July 1, 2025.
It will cost $215,000 in one-time implementation costs for software upgrades and hiring contractors to test the new system. There would also be $495,000 a year in recurring costs for hiring and paying six new employees to monitor the payroll change.
