FAQs about the NESPA Professional
Development Fund
There’s money for that special class you’ve been meaning to
take.
Q. What is the fund?
A. It is a fund of
$25,000 available to NESPA members for individual staff development training
that may include tuition, registration fees and substitutes. The fund will pay
the highest cost of either the tuition/fees or the cost of the substitute. (Or if the combined costs are less than $300,
it will be pay both.) Prior approval for use of the funds must be
obtained through the fund application form included. Professional Development Form The form is submitted to the NESPA
Professional Development Fund, currently to Janet Tamura (Jtamura@nsd.org)
Consideration for approval is based on the funds available,
the relationship of the class to the employee’s immediate job performance, the
needs of the District, the professional growth it will add to an employee’s
abilities, skills, job-related interests and the employee’s access to other
professional development money.
Initially, one request for funds per member, not to exceed $300.00,
will be considered. Requests are
reviewed upon receipt and you are notified promptly by phone or email. If funds are available mid-way through the
school year, a second request will be considered.
Q. How do I start?
The easy-to-follow directions are right on the form but if
you need further assistance, your building communicator can help there too.
Q. Can we access the fund to pay for a professional
development training/class in our school, during early release time or another
time?
A. If NESPA
members at your school would like host a training, the application and approval
process is the same-with a few minor differences.
One person (a NESPA member in charge
of organizing the class—the class organizer) fills out an application form for
the class. The application needs to include the cost of the class
(the amount that the instructor is charging). After
NESPA’s Professional Development Committee approves the class and informs the
class organizer, the organizer promptly asks
the instructor for an invoice (a bill). (This
is done well in advance of the class, so we can pay the instructor at the time
of the class.)
After receiving the invoice, the organizer provides it to
the NESPA treasurer who
will write a check and provide it to the class organizer. The organizer gives
the check to the instructor on the day of the class, at which time the instructor must date, sign, and label the invoice “paid in full”. This
“original receipt’ (the signed, dated and labeled invoice) is then submitted to
the NESPA Professional Development Committee with a District Travel and Expense
form.
Q. What if we want a
teacher to offer a training for us, during early release or on non-work time?
A. You can do this,
using the process described above. If
the teacher is already being paid during the class time---during early release, for
example---they are not paid additionally for their presentation time. However, the Professional Development fund can
compensate her for the time she spent preparing
for the training, up to 2 hours for each hour of training.
Q. Where does one find classes?
A. Check your staff room bulletin
board first. Organizations like the Institute for Educational Dev. (IED);
Bureau of Education & Research (BER) and Staff Dev. Resources
(SDR) send mailers to schools on a regular basis. Puget Sound ESD and the area
community colleges offer great professional/personal development classes as
well. The WEA also offers excellent conferences for Educational Support
Professionals, and classes as well.
You could also try to Google your area of interest
using words like educational seminar, workshop, or training, and a location like Seattle.
