Lane Changes- Instructions and Request Form

Authority

[Board Policy, State or Federal Law]

Collective Bargaining Agreement 2025-2027: Article XIV. Salary, 14.2.3 Lane Changes - Certified Staff

Purpose

[Description of why the procedure is needed]

The purpose of this SOP is to provide step-by-step instruction for employees to complete lane change requests.

Form(s)

[List of forms (if any) are related to the procedure]

Lane Change Request Form (Revised 9-22-15) ATTACHED

Definitions

[List of applicable definitions]

Employee- for the purposes of this SOP, a current staff member in a position paid from the Certified Pay Plan (CBA, Appendix A1)

HR- the Human Resources Department or a member of the department

The "Lane Change Request Form" may be referred to as "the form"

“University”- the college or university where the employee completed courses

Step-by-Step Process

STEPS

DESCRIPTION OF ACTION

Employee completes graduate-level coursework, earning a grade of C or higher, at a university accredited by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), or by the Council of Higher Education or one of its regional affiliates.

ISBE list of accredited institutions: https://www.isbe.net/Pages/IHE.aspx

Employee has completed enough credit hours, or their first master’s degree, and now qualifies for the next lane on the Certified Pay Plan (CBA, Appendix A1).

Employee submits a Lane Change Request Form and official transcript to HR by deadline. Inter-office mail is not recommended unless it is at least 3 weeks before the deadline. Lane changes are processed by Stephanie Nordstrom, HR Information Specialist: SNordstrom@rlas-116.org.

Any submissions that are incomplete or need revision will not be accepted, and a new form will have to be completed.

See below for due dates for requesting a lane change and the corresponding date when the employee will receive the salary adjustment. The due dates are not impacted by weekends or school holidays. For instance, if November 1 falls on a Saturday, lane change documents must still be turned in to HR by midnight on that date.

NOTE: “Turned in” means that any paper documents are physically inside the HR office before 4 p.m. on the due date (or the prior business day if the due date falls on a weekend/holiday when the District office is closed) and any digital documents (ex. scanned lane change forms, digital official transcripts from universities) must be received in Stephanie Nordstrom’s email inbox by midnight on the due date itself.

Lane Change Request Form and transcript received by HR before:

Salary Adjustment

The salary increase will be prorated over the remaining checks for the school year.

PRIOR TO September 1

September 15

PRIOR TO November 1

November 15

PRIOR TO January 15

January 31

PRIOR TO March 1

March 15

NOTE: All requests for which an official transcript (with date Master’s degree was conferred if appropriate) has not been received by March 1 will be held until the next year. The lane change and resulting salary adjustment will become effective and will take place the next school year and will not be retroactive.

The Lane Change Request Form must be completed correctly. The employee should:

Use blue or black ink.
Enter the current date, and print their first and last name and building.
Enter their current lane and the new lane they are requesting (ex. “BA+9” or “MA”).
Mark whether their credits were earned in semester hours or quarter hours.
Initial next to the appropriate line for how their transcript will be submitted (see Step 5 for information on each option).
Initial on the appropriate line if they are moving from a BA lane to an MA lane.
Write the name of the university or universities where the courses were completed.
Complete the table with information on each completed course. This should only include courses completed since the last lane change. This information is not required if moving from a BA lane to MA.
1. Provide the course number (ex. EDUA-1000 or ESL-250).
2. Provide the course name.
3. Provide the number of credit hours earned for the course.
4. Provide at least the month and year the course was completed. A season will not be accepted (ex. “Spring 2017”).
Sign and date the form.

Official transcripts must be provided. The transcripts must show the courses listed on the request form, with a grade and the number of credits earned for each. If the lane change is for the employee’s first Master’s degree, the transcript must show the date the degree was conferred. Transcripts may be one of the following:

An original, official transcript stapled to the Lane Change Request Form
An official transcript that was previously turned in to HR, such as for a Tuition Reimbursement request (include the month and year the transcript was submitted)
An official digital transcript emailed to HR directly from the university (send to Stephanie Nordstrom at SNordstrom@rlas-116.org). Digital transcripts downloaded by the employee are not considered official.

NOTE: If an official transcript is not available because the courses/degree were completed too close to the deadline, please contact Stephanie Nordstrom in HR.

If the Lane Change Request Form and required transcript(s) are received in HR by the deadline, the change will go into effect with the listed paycheck (please see the table in Step 3 for dates).

Lane changes after September will be calculated in the following manner. If you have any questions on how your paychecks will change, please contact Payroll at Payroll@rlas-116.org.

HR calculates the total salary earned at the employee’s previous lane for the number of days in that lane (ex. 30 days worked so far in the school year: lane/step salary ÷ [180 days X 30 days] = total salary earned at previous lane).
HR calculates the total salary to be earned at the employee’s new lane for the number of days in that lane (ex. 150 days in school year at new lane: new lane/step salary ÷ [180 days X 150 days] = total salary earned at new lane).
The values from steps A and B are added together. This is the new base salary for the employee, with the two different rates of pay taken into account for the remainder of the school year.
HR subtracts the gross base salary paid to date, prior to the lane change, from the value in step C. (ex. already paid out $15,000 in current year, so [C – 15,000 = remaining salary to pay for the school year]).
HR divides the value from step D by the number of pay checks remaining for the school year.
The amount calculated from step E will be the employee’s new gross per pay amount each pay period, starting on the lane change’s effective date.

Version 8/7/2025