Horizontal (Pay Grade) Advancement

You may advance horizontally on the salary schedule by receiving a Master’s degree, a Doctoral degree, or by acquiring required hours for a specific column on the salary schedule. Following is the information needed to apply for horizontal advancement. You may also refer to the Certified agreement on the process for horizontal advancement.

Advancement for BA18, BA36, MA18 or MA36

You need a total of 18 graduate hours or a combination of 18 graduate hours/staff development (salary advancement) hours for each advancement. You may only use a total of 30 staff development (salary advancement) hours for horizontal advancement over the course of your career. Use of any salary advancement credits for horizontal advancement purposes is limited to ten years. Only graduate hours conferred after the Masters degree will apply to the MA+18, MA+36 and PhD/EdD lanes.

College/University Credits

Generally, college credit hours to be used for horizontal advancement must be earned through an institution which is approved by a state educational certification agency or accredited through a regional accrediting agency. Applicants may use college credits from institutions not approved by a state educational certification agency or accredited through a regional accrediting agency for horizontal movement only if approved by Human Resources
in advance of the applicant enrolling in the coursework.

Advancement to MA Level

When you order your transcripts, be sure you do not request them prior to when your Masters degree is conferred. The transcripts must show the degree is completed and the date of completion.

Transcripts

Request your official transcripts from your college to be sent directly to HR electronically at: hr@lps.org. We cannot accept copies or PDF’s of your transcripts. They must come from the college to us as an official transcript.

Applying for Horizontal (Pay Grade) Advancement

Horizontal Advancement Application

Approval of Advancement and Notification

Processing applications takes 2-4 weeks. You will receive an email confirmation when we’ve processed your application.

All questions regarding horizontal advancement should be directed to: hr@lps.org