Base compensation tells only part of the story. Many educators boost their annual income through supplemental assignments paid at standardized hourly rates. Following the September 2026 adjustment, per session pay rates sit at $61.78 per hour.
Per session activities include:
- Running after-school tutoring clubs and sports programs
- Supervising standardized weekend testing
- Providing specialized instructional support or developing summer curricula
- Serving on school leadership teams during non-contractual hours
A teacher who clocks 200 per session hours in a single school year adds more than $12,300 to their taxable gross income.
These supplemental hours carry immense importance for educators navigating the pension tier salary calculation. Under Tier 6, which governs all educators hired on or after April 1, 2012, final pension calculations rely on the Final Average Salary (FAS), determined by the average of an educator’s highest five consecutive years of earnings.
Tier 6 regulations enforce strict anti-spiking measures: any year used in the FAS calculation cannot exceed the average of the prior four years by more than 10%. Consequently, teachers aiming to maximize retirement benefits systematically maintain consistent per session hours alongside differential step increases throughout their final eight years in the classroom, ensuring their pension checks reflect maximum possible earnings.
