Skip to main content

Summer School

Some school districts offer summer school as a chance for students to catch up or work ahead to fulfill graduation requirements. Employees who work during summer school typically receive extra pay in addition to their regular contract.

This extra pay should typically be listed as a separate position, with a separate summer school work calendar and a summer school pay period group.

This article describes common workflows for summer school, but some school districts may handle summer school differently. If you think your district may require different setup options than those below, email financials@common-goal.com with a description of your situation.

Work Calendar
Pay Period Group
Position
Payroll Items
Illinois TRS: Payment Reason
Illinois TRS: Scheduling
   Example 1: Separate pay for June and July work
   Example 2: Single pay for June and July work

Work Calendar

Summer school positions should have a separate work calendar to show the limited date range during which the position is worked.

To set up a summer school work calendar:

  1. Go to Financials Main > Human Resources > Work Calendars
  2. Create
  3. Enter a Title
  4. Set the Date Range with the first and last dates worked for summer school
  5. Save
  6. Click Dates next to the newly created calendar
  7. Edit each month to specify the exact work/non-work days

Pay Period Group

In order to ensure the summer school positions don’t pop up in payroll all year long, create a pay period group (PPG) specifically for summer work.

If the existing pay period dates match the summer school pay period dates, you can use those existing pay periods in the summer school PPG. If they don’t match, you will need to create new pay periods with the correct dates.

To create a summer school pay period group:

  1. Go to Financials Main > Payroll > Pay Period Groups
  2. Create
  3. Enter a Description
  4. Check the pay periods that would be used for summer school pay
  5. Save

Position

Creating summer school as a separate position helps to organize the data, to pay staff out of separate summer school expenditure accounts, to keep summer school pay isolated to a short period of time, and to ensure proper reporting, and possibly most important, uses the correct pay frequency so the summer pay is not consumed by tax withholdings, among other benefits.

If you do not already have a position type called something like Summer School, create one so that it can be assigned to employees. You may create multiple position types such as Summer School Teacher and Summer School Aide.

To create a summer school position type.

  1. Go to Financials Main > Human Resources > Position Types
  2. Create Position Type
  3. Enter a Description
  4. Pick a State Position Type
  5. Save

Then add the position to the employees who will be teaching summer school. They can of course be added one-by-one from Employee - Single View, but it is most efficient to mass add the positions:

  1. Go to Financials Main > Human Resources > Employee Positions (multi-view)
  2. Mass Create Positions
  3. Select the Position Type
  4. Fill out any details that will be shared by these employees, which may include:
    • Work Calendar
    • Certified
    • Pay Period Group
    • Compensation Type
    • Wage Payroll Item
    • Retirement Plan
    • Payroll Account Breakdown
  5. Check the employees who need the summer school position
  6. Save

You can then individually edit any fields on the position that should be customized, like the payroll account breakdown. If the employees are paid at varying Salary or Hourly rates, you can changes those more quickly at Financials Main > Payroll > Give Raises.

Payroll Items

As with all positions, you must add deductions and benefits, like taxes and retirement.

To mass add employee payroll items:

  1. Go to Financials Main > Payroll > District Payroll Items
  2. Mass Add Employee Payroll Items
  3. Select the items that are needed by all summer school staff (or by a subset, such as summer school teachers or summer school aides)
  4. Apply
  5. Check the applicable summer school positions
  6. Save

Illinois TRS: Payment Reason

TRS employees who do certified work during summer school must have their wages reported with the TRS Payment Reason Summer School earnings (SS).

To mass edit the payment reason:

  1. Go to Financials Main > Payroll > District Payroll Items
  2. Mass Edit Employee Payroll Items
  3. Select the wage item
  4. Apply
  5. Check the Update box above the TRS Payment Reason dropdown
  6. From the TRS Payment Reason dropdown, select Summer School earnings
  7. Check the applicable items in the Employees to Update table
  8. Save

Illinois TRS: Scheduling

Paying summer school can get a little complicated with TRS’s rule about reporting the entire fiscal year’s wages by July 10th of each year. With regard to summer school:

  • Days worked in June must be reported by July 10th as part of the prior fiscal year.
  • Days worked in July or August should be reported on a normal schedule as part of the next fiscal year.

The following two examples will use a teacher who gets paid a semimonthly salary on the 15th and 30th of each month. She works summer school from 6/16 - 7/15.

Example 1: Separate pay for June and July work

Let’s say our teacher is supposed to be paid on July 15th for work done 6/16-6/30, and on July 30th for work done 7/1-7/15.

In this situation, the summer school pay period group should have two pay periods (both in the new fiscal year):

Description (Pay Date) Begin Date End Date
July 15th 6/16 6/30
July 30th 7/1 7/15

If these dates correspond to her regular teacher salary pay period dates, then you may reuse those same pay periods in the summer school PPG. If they differ, then you should create two new pay periods called July 15th Summer School and July 30th Summer School.

Per the instructions from TRS Summer Payments, there will be two payrolls on each date: One for teachers’ prior-year data, one for admins’ and non-certified staff’s next-year data.

The July 15th summer school pay, because it was for work performed in the prior year, should go in the teachers’ prior-year run, with their regular salary. This run must be created and uploaded to TRS by 7/10. Both her regular pay and her summer school pay will be combined into a single paycheck on July 15th.

The July 30th summer school pay, because it was for work performed in the next year, should be paid out with the admins’ and non-certified staff’s July 30th next-year run. This run will be created on a normal schedule, a few days before July 30th. Note that the teacher working summer school will receive two paychecks or direct deposit on July 30th: One with their regular salary, one with their summer school pay.

Example 2: Single pay for June and July work

Let’s say our teacher is supposed to receive all her summer school pay on 7/30. However, part of her pay should be reported as part of the prior fiscal year, and part of it should be recorded in the new fiscal year.

In this situation, the summer school pay period group should have two pay periods (both in the new fiscal year):

Description Begin Date End Date
June Summer School 6/16 6/30
July Summer School 7/1 7/15

If the begin and end dates correspond to existing pay periods, then you may reuse those same pay periods in the summer school PPG. If they differ, then you should create two new pay periods called June Summer School and July Summer School.

Per the instructions from TRS Summer Payments, there will be two payrolls on each date: One for teachers’ prior-year data, one for admins’ and non-certified staff’s next-year data.

The 7/15 payrolls will be typical, as there is no summer school received on 7/15 in this example.

The first 7/30 payroll for teachers must be prepared in SchoolInsight and uploaded to TRS in by 7/10. This payroll run will include their regular pay period for teaching duties, plus the June Summer School pay period, where summer school hours for the dates worked in June can be added.

The second 7/30 payroll for admins/staff whose contract starts on 7/1 will be prepared on a more typical timeline, a few days in advance of 7/30. This payroll run will include their pay periods for admins/non-certified staff, and also the July Summer School period with teachers.

Our example teacher will therefore have TWO payroll runs posted on 7/30. Her paycheck/direct deposit will be in two parts: One containing her regular teaching salary and her June summer school, another containing her July summer school only.