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Case Study

A New Financial Wellbeing Benefit to Attract and Retain Teachers and Staff

Why Harlandale Independent School District chose Frontline Flex Pay to empower staff to take control of their money — and attract employees to the district.

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Harlandale Independent School District Hero Image

District Background

  • Location

    San Antonio, TX

  • K-12 Enrollment

    ~10,000

  • Full-time Employees

    ~2,000

  • Product & Solutions

    Frontline Flex Pay, powered by Wagestream

The Challenge: Hiring and Retention

Harlandale Independent School District has faced staffing challenges since the pandemic. At the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year, Harlandale ISD started with 75 teacher vacancies. The district is pursuing creative ways to staff classrooms, exploring alternative certification pathways and H-1B visas to attract teachers from abroad.

The struggle extends beyond teachers to substitute teachers, bus drivers, custodians, and other classified staff. Dr. Melinda Salinas, Executive Director of Human Resources, notes that although the district strives to care for its employees, financial reasons are often behind employee departures. “Usually, it’s pay. Sometimes they’ll say, ‘Where I’m going, my benefits are free,’” she says. Inflation has exacerbated the issue.

Harlandale issues monthly payroll for certified staff and biweekly for classified staff, and employees sometimes request pay advances to cover unexpected expenses. “We get requests throughout the year for advanced pay,” Dr. Salinas explains. “‘I had a car accident, and I don’t get paid until Friday, but I need to fix my car today.’ And we always have to say no, because we can’t advance pay.”

As Harlandale looked for ways to attract talent, it was crucial to find ways to address employees’ financial needs.

A New Benefit: Frontline Flex Pay

At a conference, Dr. Salinas and her colleagues heard someone from another school district describing Frontline Flex Pay, a solution that allows employees to access a portion of their earned wages immediately. The district said that Frontline Flex Pay was one reason they had no shortage of substitute teachers. Dr. Salinas was intrigued: “I had never heard of Frontline Flex Pay or Wagestream. They talked about how staff can get paid when they want their money. They don’t have to wait for payday.”

As Dr. Salinas investigated Frontline Flex Pay, offered through a partnership between Frontline Education and Wagestream, she initially had questions. “I was thinking, ‘Okay, this sounds a little too good to be true, because it doesn’t cost us anything. There has to be a catch.’” She also wanted to make sure that it would not add work for the Payroll department.

Meeting with representatives from Wagestream alleviated her concerns: the effort required from Payroll is minimal, and there is no cost to the district. Employees also pay nothing for standard wage advances, with only a nominal fee for immediate, same-day transfers.

“I got my CFO on a call. I got our payroll supervisor on a call. I got some of my HR coordinators to hear about it because I needed people to brainstorm: ‘Why would we not want this product?’”

Dr. Melinda Salinas
– Executive Director of Human Resources

Getting Started

The district initially had concerns about data security during the implementation process. However, they discovered that the product is completely secure, featuring encrypted transfers and integration with their payroll system and Frontline’s Absence Management and Time & Attendance software.

The district also wondered about potential costs to employees. However, employees pay nothing for standard wage advances and only a nominal fee for immediate, same-day transfers.

Melinda says that their Wagestream representative made sure everything went smoothly, from planning to rolling the program out to the staff. “We were walked through every step of the way.”

“I was the first person to sign up,” Melinda recalls. Leading by example, she used the app herself, showing staff how it worked. “It was showing the staff, ‘Look, I have it on my phone. I’m using it. I advanced paid myself last month.’” Doing so helped her see the steps that staff would need to take — like verifying her debit card via email — and iron out any wrinkles as they rolled it out to staff.

Introducing Frontline Flex Pay to Staff

Harlandale kicked off Frontline Flex Pay with a press release and emails to staff. Melinda also met with classified staff in each department, using the materials provided by Wagestream.

“Wagestream gave me all the information. They gave me the PowerPoint, the video, they gave me the handouts in English and Spanish. They even gave us some pens to pass out. I went and conducted info sessions. I presented at our principals meeting as well, so they could share at their campuses.”

Dr. Melinda Salinas
– Executive Director of Human Resources

This fall, the new employee orientation will include a section about Frontline Flex Pay as well, detailing the benefit and allowing staff to opt in if they desire.

Customer support continues to be stellar. If employees have questions, Wagestream’s support team answers them. “Everybody that we have dealt with has been awesome,” Melinda says. “It has been excellent, and being in HR, we are focused on customer service.”

On the Path to Financial Wellbeing

Harlandale ISD has now gone through several pay cycles with Frontline Flex Pay, with about 200 employees signed up. “The ones who have used it, love it,” says Melinda. “We have a lot of monthly people here that want to start going bi-weekly. They’ve mentioned, ‘Wow, this is a way to do bi-weekly. I can pay myself!’ Which is true. That’s a positive that somebody was sharing with me last week.”

Staff have reached out to say they appreciate the benefit of having Frontline Flex Pay. Even teachers and administrators have signed up. “They have it just for safety. One person was going out of town and needed to advance some money before they left because they weren’t going to get paid until Monday.”

“It provides reassurance. For me, it’s a safety, it’s another just-in-case opportunity because you never know what’s going to happen.”

Dr. Melinda Salinas
– Executive Director of Human Resources

Frontline Flex Pay also offers a variety of tools and educational videos to encourage financial literacy. The app allows people to set savings goals, and Melinda — who has set her own goal of saving one thousand dollars — has helped some staff members begin saving for vacation. “I said, ‘Let’s get on the app. What happens if you save $20 a paycheck? What if you do $40 a paycheck?’”

“That’s money management, which is what this is trying to do, to be better with your money….It has a lot of really helpful videos and tools. It’s really a budgeting tool.”

Dr. Melinda Salinas
– Executive Director of Human Resources

A Competitive Advantage

With 17 school districts (not counting charter schools) in the San Antonio area, Harlandale ISD works hard to differentiate itself in the race to hire teachers and staff. “We have had to get creative because we are all competing for the same people. What else can we do to stand out from the other districts? What can we do that is different? What can we do that is going to be a benefit to the staff?”

Although Harlandale might not be able to match the pay of some other districts, benefits like Frontline Flex Pay help them stay competitive. “At our job fairs: ‘You can get paid daily, you can advance your pay.’ And right now, it’s different because not everybody is doing it.”

“We are always trying to be innovative, and moving forward we have to continue to do things outside of the box.”

Dr. Melinda Salinas
– Executive Director of Human Resources

As a new school year begins, Melinda and her team will continue to promote Frontline Flex to their staff. “I am really hoping that it increases and that as we move forward, people can see it’s there just in case you need it, as a benefit for working here at Harlandale.”


Learn more about Frontline Flex Pay

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About Frontline Education

Frontline Education is a leading provider of school administration software, connecting solutions for student and special programs, business operations and human capital management with powerful analytics to empower educators. Frontline partners with school systems to deliver tools, data and insights that support greater efficiency and productivity, enabling school leaders to spend more time and resources executing strategies that drive educator effectiveness, student success and district excellence.

Frontline’s broad portfolio includes solutions for proactive recruiting and hiring, absence and time management, professional growth, student information systems, special education, special programs, Medicaid reimbursement, school health management, inventory control and asset management, payroll, benefits and financial management, and analytics solutions that help district leaders tap into their data to make more informed decisions for the benefit of their students and communities. Over 10,000 clients representing millions of educators, administrators and support personnel have partnered with Frontline Education in their efforts to develop the next generation of learners.