Education Financial Incentive

The Education Financial Incentive Program is a negotiated agreement between the Poway Unified School District (District) and Poway School Employees Association (PSEA). (See, Article 14.18 of the PSEA bargaining agreement). Financial incentive support is available to all bargaining unit members who meet the guidelines listed below.  This program is designed to promote and encourage classified professional development opportunities that fall both within and outside the employee’s regular workday. A District Education Financial Incentive Program Committee (Committee) has been established to oversee the applicant process.

Application: Financial Incentive Rules-Application 2026-27

 

Submission Deadlines for 2026-2027
September 10, 2026	January 14, 2027	May 6, 2027

 

 

 

Eligibility Requirements
All PSEA classified employees requesting financial incentive support for staff development opportunities must meet the following criteria:

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1. Must be a contracted, classified employee of the District.
2. Must have non-probationary employee status.
3. Supervisor approval is necessary only if time from regular contracted work schedule is requested to attend a staff development opportunity.  (Interested staff may submit their request for consideration to both the Committee and their Supervisor simultaneously for consideration.)  If there is not a work shift conflict in attending an approved staff development opportunity, the employee need only communicate their participation to, not request permission from, their immediate supervisor.

Eligible Courses, Training and “Other” Opportunities
Employees may request a scholarship-type of reimbursement stipend, either full or partial, for on-going eligible professional staff development opportunities, courses, and/or training conducted by a recognized institution/organization offering instruction that will benefit the employee and the District.  The following criteria will be used by the Committee to determine the point value of the applicant’s request:

1. Classes, courses, workshops or “other” types of programs that will enhance the individual employee’s ability to perform in his/her current position.  These classes are offered OUTSIDE of the district and are identified by staff.
2. Funding may not be used for on-going formal higher education unless the coursework directly supports employee’s current position.
3. Funding may be used for tuition fees and books required for the approved courses/training.
4. An employee may apply for amounts up to $500 per fiscal year. This amount may be reduced due to funding availability.
5. Qualified employees must submit dated, itemized receipts for all approved expenses for reimbursement after completion of courses/training.
6. Qualified employees must submit a certificate of satisfactory completion or a letter grade of “C” or better, in order to be reimbursed.

Approval Process
An employee should submit a request for financial incentive support using Financial Incentive Rules-Application 2026-27, to the Committee prior to the class, course, workshop or “other” type of program to ensure eligibility.  Requests submitted for course/training that occurred prior to the current fiscal school year will not be considered.

In advance of each school year, the Committee will establish submission deadlines for requests to be reviewed and considered.  Every effort will be made to notify the employee of the status of the request in sufficient time for the employee to participate in the professional staff development opportunity.  An employee is responsible for submitting his/her requests timely prior to any of the published submission deadlines for review and consideration.  All requests received after the deadline will be held for consideration until the next scheduled submission deadline.

The decision to reimburse in full or in part will be made by the Committee.  All financial incentive support to classified employees for professional staff development opportunities are subject to the annual budget appropriations approved by the Board of Trustees. Financial incentive support will be disbursed until the funds are depleted. Currently, the available budget for this program is $10,000.00. Employees desiring financial incentive support are encouraged to submit their requests early in the fiscal year to increase possibility of reimbursement.

Since budgeted funds are limited for the District’s Education Financial Incentive Program, a rating system will be established with a scale of one (1) to three (3) in order to merit priority of the application.  The rating system is as follows:

• Employee Eligibility (3 criteria outlined for employee eligibility.  If all 3 are met, then employee is eligible and is scored one (1) point.)
• Course/Workshop Eligibility (6 criteria outlined for course/workshop eligibility.  If all 6 are met, then course/workshop is eligible and is scored one (1) point.)
• Timeliness of Submission (All applications will be date/time stamped and, if received by the designated cut-off date, application is considered eligible and will be scored one (1) point.

District Education Financial Incentive Program Committee
The District’s Professional Staff Development Financial Incentive Committee will be comprised of five (5) District employees from the following areas:

• Three (3) members from District Administration
• Four (4) members Poway School Employees Association

The Education Financial Incentive Program Committee will review all employee requests for financial and/or scholarship support for classified staff development.  The Committee will establish and post submission deadline dates for each calendar year. Three (3) members of the Financial Incentive Committee constitute a quorum; awards will be decided by simple majority of the quorum.

Decisions made by the Financial Incentive Committee are final and not subject to appeal. 

For questions, please reach out to our Professional Learning Coordinator Melanie Rodriguez @ melanierodriguez@powaysea.org or 858.842.4980 x 103