Contract Information
Extended Contracts are a vital part of the Agricultural Education Program. It ensures that the teacher can complete year round teaching of students through SAE projects and FFA activities, as well as, program maintenance and professional development. Extended contracts account for what you do outside of normal "teacher" duties. These hours should include anything outside of a normal contracted school day and weekend activities. Things that should be recorded would be anything you have to do for your job that is additional to normal "teacher" duties.
For additiona information about Idaho contracts visit the Idaho Department of Education contract page.
Extended contracts are recorded on the State of Idaho: Supplemental Extra Day Contract. It is important for teachers to know the correct form. The Extra Day contract pursuant to Idaho Code entitles teachers to the same due process and procedures as provided by the Employee’s underlying standard contract.
State of Idaho: Supplemental Extra Day Contract
Extended contract length varies by school district; they range from 10 days to 70 days with the Idaho Quality Program Standard (IQPS) recommendation of a 40 day contract. Your contract length should be determined by the amount of work that needs to be done during your out of contract time. A 10 day contract is not enough if you participate in State CDE's, Summer In-Service, and Fair. You have already run out of time and still have SAE visits, FFA leadership activities, and program maintenance.
School districts vary on how they want extended contracts used so talk with your advisory board, administration, superintendent, and school board to see how they would like hours used and recorded. Some schools use their extended contracts year around and all hours for FFA, SAE, program development and maintenance are added to their days. Others have them split into a summer contract* and an FFA stipend*. Others use a blended method. You need to communicate with your advisory board and administration to see what best fits your program and your situation.
Prior to talking with your administration I would talk with teachers that have similar programs to yours. Ones that have close to the same amount of students, similar FFA responsibilities, and similar fairs. This will give you a good idea of what works or doesn't work for them. Then develop your plan and have reasoning behind it. This will help you communicate more effectively with your stakeholders.
CTE Extended Contract Plan-Here is what the CTE department developed for a plan. You can adjust and edit items bulleted in the left hand column. If anyone has anything better out their please share it so we can get it up on the website.
Throughout the year it is important that you keep accurate records of how you use your extended contract and/or FFA stipend. If you work more than they give you- still record it! Make sure it is correct, this is actual data that you can use to negotiate and advocate for you and your program. Advocate!!! Share your extended contract hours with your administrator, advisory board, and others! Even better share your story through social media outlets about what your kids are doing in the summer! This will show them that what you are doing has meaning and impact on your students and your program. There are several methods to record your hours. Below is a summer contract form and others use the teacher tracker in AET.
*Summer Contract-hours are usually recorded from the last day of contracted school work days to the first day of the next years contracted school work days.
*FFA stipend hours are usually recorded for FFA activities that occur during the school year. Hours are counted from the end of the contracted school day until the event ends or until lights out (again varies based on school district). Make sure to include weekend hours as well.