Copyright© 2007 by School Services of California, Inc.

                                      Volume 20                   For Publication Date: February 2, 2007             No. 3

Ask SSC . . . 

Could You Help with Step and Column Calculations? 

Q.        Could you help me with the process for making step and column calculations for teachers who retire versus the new teachers we hire? The average number of teachers in our district who have retired over the last five years is 30. They are mostly those at the top of the schedule. We have hired 36 teachers as replacements for growth positions and most of these are at Column 1, Step 1, so the difference is significant.

            The union’s argument is there are no step and column costs. 

A.        As we have related over the years, this is the way we calculate step and column costs: 

            Step One.  Take all of the teachers who were in your district both years and compare the change in their salaries, but don’t include a pay raise if you gave one. We like to use, say, May of the prior school year and October of the current school year as the comparison months. Add up all of the individual increases to get the total increase. This is the Gross Cost of Step and Column. 

            Step Two. The next few steps calculate the savings that we are going to deduct from Gross Step and Column to get Net Step and Column. List the people who were on the May list, but not the October list. These people have retired or left mid career, it doesn’t matter which. Add up their salaries and count the number of people.

            Step Three. List the people who were on the October list, but not the May list. These are the replacements. Add up their salaries and count the number of people. 

            Step Four. 

A.        If the number of FTE (Full-Time Equivalents) replacements is the same as the FTE lost, simply subtract the replacement salaries in step three from the generally higher salaries of the people in step two. The result is the replacement savings. 

B.         If the number of replacement FTE is not equal to the losses in FTE, the calculation becomes a bit more tricky. We need to isolate step and column costs from other changes in salary cost generated by having a different number of total FTEs in each year. So we need to make the FTE equivalent. For example, if you lost 20 teachers and gained 22, you need to count only 20 replacements, not 22 against step and column savings. So in my example, divide the salaries calculated in step two by 20 to get the average. Divide the salaries calculated in step three by 22 to get that average. Subtract the two averages and multiply the result by 20 to get the replacement savings.  We would count the 2 additional positions as growth and not as a component of step and column. 

            Step Five. Finally, subtract the amount you calculated in step four A or B from the amount calculated in step one and you have your Net Cost of Step and Column.  

            The California Teachers Association (CTA) staff have never disputed the calculation if it is done in this way. There could be years in which step and column is zero or even negative, but that rarely happens. If you offered an early retirement plan, the cost of the plan would also reduce the savings computed in step four. With this information, we hope you are able to do the calculation and explain it to your union.  

—Ron Bennett and John Gray