Office of
Talent Support Services

Download Nurse/CTE Policy Here

Nurses

• New Hires may receive approved prior experience credit for all years minus one (1) with a maximum placement of step ten (10) on the salary scale.
• Credit will be given for those who have satisfactory experience as a registered nurse.
• Nurses will receive prior experience credit based on the hours they worked weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or yearly:
  • A full year of prior experience credit will be given for 30 hours per week or more, 60 hours biweekly or more, 120 hours monthly or more, or 1,440 hours annually or more.
  • A half-year of prior experience credit will be given for 20-29 hours per week, 40-59 hours bi-weekly, 80-119 hours monthly or 960-1,439 hours annually.
• Half-years of prior experience credit will be combined to give credit as full years of prior experience credit if there are an even number of half-years. If there are an odd number of half-years, credit will be rounded down to the closest half-year. For example, two half-years of prior experience credit will be combined to make a full year. Five half-years of long-term prior experience credit will be rounded down to the closest full year and counted as two full years.
• Months of part-time and full-time work will be added together. Any remaining partial years that cannot be added together to equate one year of credit will not be counted.
• SDP does not participate in third party verifications (ex the work number, E-Verify, InVerify, etc) Candidate will need to obtain the verification and submit the official unaltered verification to salary@philasd.org
• Verification received within 60 days of appointment will be retroactive to the date of appointment. Experience received after 60 days will not be retroactive.

Vocational/CTE Teachers

• New Hires may receive approved prior experience credit for all years minus one (1) with a maximum placement of step ten (10) on the salary scale.
• Vocational teachers will receive prior experience credit for satisfactory industry experience in the subject area they are teaching based on the hours they worked per week.
• Full-time prior experience credit will be given if the individual worked a minimum of 30 hours per week or more.
• Part-time prior experience credit will be given if the individual worked 20-29 hours per week. Part-time prior experience credit will be counted as half-years. For example, 5 years of part-time experience will be counted as 2.5 years of full-time experience.
• Months of part-time and full-time work will be added together. Any remaining partial years that cannot be added together to equate one year of credit will not be counted.
• Vocational teachers who hold a bachelor’s degree must submit an official sealed transcript to effect your salary.
• Verification received within 60 days of appointment will be retroactive to the date of appointment. Experience received after 60 days will not be retroactive.

You may begin this process at any step of your hiring process.

1. Review the Prior Experience Policy for the rules the district will use to calculate your salary offer for the above positions.
2. Sign and submit the policy to salary@philasd.org
3. Download the Prior Experience Verification form
4. Complete section one (I) only.
5. Send the Prior Experience Verification form to each of your current and/or former employers Human Resources Office where you held a role for which you would receive salary credit for based on the above policy.
6. Your former Employer(s) Authorized Human Resources Representative will complete Section two (II) and return it directly to salary@philasd.org. They should copy you on the email so that you know it was sent.
7. If your former employer(s) uses a third party verifications (ex the work number, E-Verify, InVerify, etc) Candidate/new hire will need to obtain the verification and submit the official unaltered verification to salary@philasd.org the School District of Philadelphia does not participate or pay for third party verifications

You may begin this process at any step of your hiring process.

1. Review the Prior Experience Policy for the rules the district will use to calculate your salary offer for the above positions.
2. Sign and submit the policy to salary@philasd.org
3. Download the Prior Experience Verification form
4. Complete section one (I) only.
5. Send the Prior Experience Verification form to each of your current and/or former employers Human Resources Office where you held a role for which you would receive salary credit for based on the above policy.
6. Your former Employer(s) Authorized Human Resources Representative will complete Section two (II) and return it directly to salary@philasd.org. They should copy you on the email so that you know it was sent.
7. If your former employer(s) uses a third party verifications (ex the work number, E-Verify, InVerify, etc) Candidate/new hire will need to obtain the verification and submit the official unaltered verification to salary@philasd.org the School District of Philadelphia does not participate or pay for third party verifications
8. If you were the owner of a business with qualify experience you will need to submit tax returns for each year you owned the business.

The following notes pertain to all salary upgrades:

• Credits must be from a 4-year accredited college or university; credits from junior college and/or community college are not accepted. The only exception to this is for vocational teachers, where credits from community colleges are acceptable.
• Degrees from other countries must be evaluated by a National Association of Credentials Evaluation Services member; WES is one that is frequently used but any member can be used by the applicant. A list of members can be found at http://www.naces.org/
• We do not accept courses in real estate, law, medicine or religion because they cannot be used in the classroom.  We will, however, accept medical courses for nurses or CTE Medical Teacher and “school” law courses.
• Some colleges/universities use quarter hours.  The School District of Philadelphia considers quarter hour credits to be 2/3 of a semester hour and will use the following calculation to convert those credits to semester hours:  total number of quarter hours multiplied by 2 and divided by 3 = number of semester hours.  A few of the universities that use a quarter hour system are Antioch, California State – East Bay, and Drexel.

Master’s Equivalency:

• A Master’s Equivalency is evaluated and approved by the PA Department of Education and requires 36 graduate credits from an accredited college/university with a grade of “C” or better.  A minimum of 18 credits in any certified content area and a maximum of 18 PA approved in-service credits.  In-service is considered “professional development” before year 2000.

Master’s Degree Salary Upgrade

• Awarded and/or conferred Masters degree.
• Vocational Education Teachers with a Vocational I certificate or a Bachelor’s degree with 6 years of trade experience or a Master’s Degree should be paid at a Masters Level.

Master’s Plus 30 Salary Upgrade

• Master’s Plus 30 requires an awarded and/or conferred Masters Degree, a total 60 semester credits beyond the conferred Bachelor’s Degree.

Doctorate’s Salary Upgrade 

• Awarded and/or conferred Doctorate’s Degree

The Certification office accepts official transcripts showing conferred or awarded degrees.

Official Transcripts can sent accepted in one of three ways:

1. Official Electronic transcripts sent directly to salary@philasd.org directly from your College/University’s third party company
2. Official Sealed transcripts can be sent via U.S. Mail to:

The School District of Philadelphia

Suite 222, Attention Salary

440 North Broad Street

Philadelphia, PA 19130

3. Official Sealed transcripts can be hand delivered to the Certification office at:

The School District of Philadelphia

440 North Broad Street

2nd floor, Portal D, Suite 222

Philadelphia, PA 19130

Please indicate that you are a New Hire.

We do not accept degrees or courses in the fields of Law, Religion, Real Estate, or Medicine (Medicine is only accepted if you are taking a Nurse or CTE Medical Teacher Position) 

Transcript received within thirty (30) days of hire is eligible for retro active payment. Transcripts received after 30 days will need to apply for salary upgrade and will be effective the beginning of the pay period in which your official transcripts were received.

Please note that 12 month teachers and 12 month Demonstration teachers have a slightly different salary scale. Please email jobs@philasd.org with any questions regarding these salary scales.

Regular Education Teachers

Current Salary Scale for Teachers, School Counselors, Occupational and Physical Therapists, School Nurse, and School Nurse Practitioner. Effective 09/01/23.

Special Education Teachers

Current Teacher Salary Scale for Special Education Teachers. Effective 09/01/23.

Demonstration Teachers

Current Salary Scale for 10-month Demonstration Teachers. Effective 09/01/23.

Special Education Demonstration Teachers

Current Salary Scale for 10-month Demonstration Teachers. Effective 09/01/23.

School Psychologists

Salary Scale for 10-and 12-month School Psychologists. Effective 09/01/23.