Queensland state school staffing resourcing policy
Audience
All Queensland state school, regionally-based and central office teams involved in the allocation, distribution and management of school staffing resources.
Purpose
This policy sets out the Department of Education’s (DoE’s) commitment to providing Queensland state schools with staffing resourcing and the principles for using those resources.
Policy statement
Queensland state schools are entitled to access and manage all staffing resources they are allocated to deliver essential educational services that maximise the learning outcomes for all enrolled students, including students with disability, and to administer the school efficiently, effectively and economically.
Principles
DoE’s state school staffing resourcing principles are aligned with sound resource management.
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Principle
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What this means for the department
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Accountability and responsibility
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- Decisions about allocated staffing resourcing are transparent and accountable.
- All school staffing resourcing (notional and financial) must be used efficiently, effectively and, economically.
- School staffing resource management and use complies with all legislative, industrial and policy requirements.
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Flexibility and local decision making
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- Principals and schools are best placed to make decisions about how allocated staffing resources should be used each year.
- School staffing resource entitlements should be used in the year allocated and resources unable to be used in the year allocated may be retained and used by the school for staffing in a subsequent year.
- Schools may engage staffing resources in addition to those allocated (i.e. school-purchased staffing).
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Budget integrity
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- The financial impact of engaging school staffing resources should be met by the appropriate business unit without a change in the role the employee is performing.
- Additional resources may be made available to schools experiencing financial distress or to support specific initiatives.
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Requirements
Scope of this policy
- The scope of this policy includes all notionally-allocated full-time equivalent (FTE) positions and financial appropriations for staffing resources that are provided to schools, either directly from an allocative methodology calculation or re-allocated from regions, central office or another school.
- All staffing resources funded by schools are also within scope, regardless of the funding source.
- Financial resources allocated to schools which are not specifically allocated for staffing are out of scope (e.g. Investing for Success and maintenance appropriations).
DoE’s school staffing resourcing approach
- DoE acknowledges the role of the principal as the officer who has responsibility and accountability for ensuring that staffing resourcing decisions made in the school, including decisions about the school staffing establishment and replacing allocated staffing resources when absent, comply with all relevant instruments including the Whole of Government Employment Security Policy and the Queensland Government Policy on the Contracting Out of Services.
- DoE recognises that schools might not always be able to use all notionally-allocated staffing resources in the year allocated and, when this occurs, will have in place arrangements to provide the school with a financial payment that may be used only for staffing or professional development in a subsequent calendar year.
- DoE also recognises that schools might use more notionally-allocated staffing resources than allocated in a year and, when this occurs, will have in place arrangements to recover funding from the school to meet the cost of the additional resources used.
- DoE will provide schools with access to support, advice and systems to help ensure the efficient, effective and economical use of all staffing resources.
- DoE will have in place processes to enable schools to use available financial resources to engage staffing resources in addition to those allocated.
Governance and monitoring
- DoE will have formal governance structures and processes established to centrally monitor the consumption of notionally-allocated staffing resources by schools and regions in terms of FTE positions, and the financial impact of decisions concerning these resources.
- DoE will establish and maintain controls over all staff engagements (permanent, temporary and casual) through segregation of duties and periodic reporting arrangements.
Definitions
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Term
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Definition
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Centrally-funded positions
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Centrally-funded positions are notionally allocated or re-allocated directly to the school. Funding for these positions is mostly held centrally. A Teacher Relief Scheme (TRS-SSE) provision is budgeted each year and paid to the school to help meet short-term classroom teacher absence costs.
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School-funded positions
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School-funded positions are established by the school and all costs associated with the employment of staff members in those positions must be met by the school. School payments for these positions include on-costs that are calculated to meet leave, superannuation and other indirect employee costs. Payments for school-funded positions cease when the staff member is absent, enabling the school to use those funds to employ a replacement. A funding recoveries process is used to manage payments for staff whereby required funds are transferred from the school bank account to central holdings.
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TRS–SSE
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Teacher Relief Scheme – Sick Special Emergent (TRS–SSE) is the appropriation budgeted for and paid directly to schools for them to fund the replacement of centrally funded classroom teachers when other internal arrangements are unavailable.
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Legislation
Delegations/Authorisations
Other resources
Superseded versions
Previous seven years shown. Minor version updates not included.
1.0 Queensland state school staffing resourcing