Oshkosh Area School District to change hourly employee pay

OSHKOSH, WI – (WISS) – The Oshkosh Area School District (OASD) changes the way it pays hourly employees. It is moving to a true hourly pay model.

Julie Conrad, the Assistant Superintendent of Operations of OASD said the school district will now pay employees as the hours are worked, rather than spreading pay and benefits over an entire 52-week year. 

“Ultimately, we’re trying to create a compensation structure that’s aligned to best practices. That’s clear. That’s competitive and allows us to attract and retain valuable employees,” said Conrad. “Because, we need high quality, motivated, enthusiastic individuals to work with our children.”

This is a big change in how hourly employees are paid. Conrad says the OASD has been annualizing hourly pay for decades. 

“But know that we’re here to help and support you. We want you to be in control of your pay. We want you to be in control of your money and see your hourly rates the way that you should be seeing them,” Conrad said.  

Oshkosh Area School District offers support

She says spreading hourly workers’ pay throughout a full year may have made budgeting easier for the employee, but it also caused problems.

“If there are life circumstances, or if something has changed in your employment, that predictability is now gone. Some of our employees had seen docked paychecks,” Conrad said. “If they had left us for other employment, they would expect their paycheck to be for a certain amount. But it’s not going to be because we had pre-paid through that annualization process.”

Conrad said that OASD understands this will change how some of their employees budget throughout the year. However, the administration is there to help.

“We have tools. We’ve offered strategies to help them budget, so you can continue with their current practices,” said Conrad. “We have ways that we can help you calculate how much you need to save or put away.” 

There are other opportunities for paraprofessionals and other school-year calender employees to continue to work through the summer.

“We actually have summer school. We have other opportunities for you to work with us and work with our kids in the summer as well,” said Conrad.

The change takes effect on July 1 for year-round hourly employees like custodians and on August 1st for school-year hourly employees like paraprofessionals and food service employees. 

The change will not affect teacher pay. They are salaried employees. This change will only affect hourly employees of the Oshkosh Area School District.