Bill Text: GA SB386 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Education; establish an alternative performance-based salary schedule; evaluation instruments; effectiveness of teachers/ administrators

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 5-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-02-08 - Senate Read and Referred [SB386 Detail]

Download: Georgia-2009-SB386-Introduced.html

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10 LC 33 3435-EC

Senate Bill 386

By: Senators Balfour of the 9th, Moody of the 56th, Weber of the 40th, Heath of the 31st and Cowsert of the 46th

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT

To amend Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to elementary and secondary education, so as to establish an alternative performance-based salary schedule; to establish evaluation instruments to determine the effectiveness of teachers and administrators; to phase in use of such evaluation instruments and salary schedule due to the scale of transition; to provide that the effectiveness measurements shall include student achievement; to revise provisions for purposes of conformity; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:

SECTION 1.

Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to elementary and secondary education, is amended by revising Code Section 20-2-210, relating to annual performance evaluations for certificated professional personnel, as follows:

"20-2-210.

(a) All personnel employed by local units of administration, including school superintendents, shall have their performance evaluated annually by appropriately trained evaluators. All such performance evaluation records shall be part of the personnel evaluation file and shall be confidential. In the case of local school superintendents, such evaluations shall be performed by the local board of education. Certificated professional personnel who have deficiencies and other needs shall have professional development plans designed to mitigate such deficiencies and other needs as may have been identified during the evaluation process. Progress relative to completing the annual professional development plan shall be assessed during the annual evaluation process.

(b)(1)(A) The state board shall develop a model annual evaluation instrument for each classification of professional personnel certificated by the Professional Standards Commission. The local units of administration are authorized to use the models developed by the State Board of Education.

(b)(B) Annual teacher evaluations shall at a minimum take into consideration the following:

(1)(i) The role of the teacher in meeting the school's student achievement goals, including the academic gains of students assigned to the teacher;

(2)(ii) Observations of the teacher by the principal and assistant principals during the delivery of instruction and at other times as appropriate;

(3)(iii) Participation in professional development opportunities and the application of concepts learned to classroom and school activities;

(4)(iv) Communication and interpersonal skills as they relate to interaction with students, parents, other teachers, administrators, and other school personnel;

(5)(v) Timeliness and attendance for assigned responsibilities;

(6)(vi) Adherence to school and local school system procedures and rules; and

(7)(vii) Personal conduct while in performance of school duties.

(c)(C) In making a determination of the academic gains of the students assigned to a teacher, evaluators should make every effort to have available and to utilize the results of a wide range of student achievement assessments, including those utilized by the teacher, set by the local board of education, or required under this article. It is recognized that in some instances a determination of the academic gains of the students assigned to a teacher is dependent upon student assessments which have not yet been administered at the time of the annual evaluation or, if they have been administered, the results are not yet available at the time of the annual evaluation. In such instances, the annual teacher evaluation shall be performed on the basis of information available at the time and shall be considered as the annual evaluation for the purposes of this article. As results of student assessments subsequently become available, an addendum to the annual evaluation shall be completed and become part of the teacher's cumulative evaluative record which may be used in a teacher's subsequent annual evaluations.

(D) This paragraph shall apply to performance evaluations conducted for teachers, assistant principals, and principals by a local unit of administration prior to the date such local unit of administration is required to use the TEM and LEM pursuant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2) of this subsection and to performance evaluations conducted by a local unit of administration for certificated professional personnel who are not teachers, assistant principals, or principals.

(2)(A) No later than July 1, 2011, the State Board of Education shall establish a state-wide common evaluation instrument that takes student achievement into account when assessing teachers, assistant principals, and principals. Such instrument shall be used to determine the Teacher Effectiveness Measure (TEM) for teachers and the Leader Effectiveness Measure (LEM) for assistant principals and principals. Fifty percent of the calculation for the TEM and the LEM shall be based on student achievement, as defined by the State Board of Education. The remaining 50 percent of the calculation shall be based on one or more factors as determined by the State Board of Education.

(B) The TEM and LEM shall be used by local units of administration for all teachers, assistant principals, and principals as follows:

(i) On and after July 1, 2011, by all local units of administration that signed a memorandum of understanding with the State prior to January 25, 2010, indicating participation in the Race to the Top Fund, a competitive grant program authorized under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), Public Law 111-5; provided, however, that this division shall apply only in the event that such local units of administration are required to implement portions of the State Race to the Top plan pursuant to the memoranda of agreement;

(ii) On and after July 1, 2012, by such local units of administration as identified by the State Board of Education based on willingness to participate, stakeholder support, logistical issues associated with implementation, and such other factors relating to the scale of transitioning all local units of administration; and

(iii) On and after July 1, 2013, by all local units of administration;

provided, however, that for purposes of determining salaries under the salary schedule provided for in subsection (b) of Code Section 20-2-212, the results of the TEM and LEM shall only affect teachers, assistant principals, and principals subject to subsection (b) of Code Section 20-2-212 pursuant to paragraph (4) of such subsection.

(C) This paragraph shall only apply to performance evaluations conducted by a local unit of administration on and after the date such local unit of administration is required to use the TEM and LEM pursuant to subparagraph (B) of this paragraph.

(d)(c) The superintendent of each local school system shall identify an appropriately trained evaluator for each person employed by the local unit of administration for the purposes of completing an annual evaluation as required in subsections (a) and (b) of this Code section. The evaluator shall be required to complete such annual evaluation Such annual evaluations shall be completed for each certificated person prior to April 1 October 1 of each year for the previous school year. For purposes of the TEM, peer evaluations shall also be required as determined by the State Board of Education. The superintendent of each local school system shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with this Code section.

(e)(d) In addition to the evaluation by a trained evaluator provided for in subsection (a) (c) of this Code section, the local school system may require each principal and assistant principal of a school to have his or her performance evaluated annually by the teachers in the school. Such evaluations by teachers shall be confidential, solicited and recorded on an anonymous basis, and made available only to the local school superintendent and the local board of education. Such evaluations shall not be subject to Article 4 of Chapter 18 of Title 50.

(f)(e) Any teacher who removes more than two students from his or her total class enrollment in any school year under subsection (b) of Code Section 20-2-738 who are subsequently returned to the class by a placement review committee because such class is the best available alternative may be required to complete professional development to improve classroom management skills, other skills on the identification and remediation of academic and behavioral student needs, or other instructional skills as identified in a plan derived by the principal of the school in consultation with the teacher."

SECTION 2.

Said chapter is further amended by revising Code Section 20-2-212, relating to salary schedules for certificated professional personnel, as follows:

"20-2-212.

(a)(1) The State Board of Education shall establish a schedule of minimum salaries for services rendered which shall be on a ten-month basis and which shall be paid by local units of administration to the various classifications of professional personnel required to be certificated by the Professional Standards Commission. The minimum salary schedule shall provide a minimum salary base for each classification of professional personnel required to be certificated; shall provide for increment increases above the minimum salary base of each classification based upon individual experience and length of satisfactory service; and shall include such other uniformly applicable factors as the state board may find relevant to the establishment of such a schedule. The minimum salary base for certificated professional personnel with bachelor's degrees and no experience, when annualized from a ten-month basis to a 12 month basis, shall be comparable to the beginning salaries of the recent graduates of the University System of Georgia holding bachelor's degrees and entering positions, excluding professional educator teaching positions, in Georgia having educational entry requirements comparable to the requirements for entry into Georgia public school teaching. The placement of teachers on the salary schedule shall be based on certificate level and years of creditable experience, except that a teacher shall not receive credit for any year of experience in which the teacher received an unsatisfactory performance evaluation. The General Assembly shall annually appropriate funds to implement a salary schedule for certificated professional personnel. For each state fiscal year, the state board shall adopt the salary schedule for which funding has been appropriated by the General Assembly. A local unit of administration shall not pay to any full-time certificated professional employee a salary less than that prescribed by the schedule of minimum salaries, except as required by this Code section; nor shall a local unit of administration pay to any part-time certificated professional employee less than a pro rata portion of the respective salary prescribed by the schedule of minimum salaries, except as required by this Code section. For purposes of this subsection, an educator's placement on the salary schedule shall not be based on a leadership degree, which shall mean a degree earned in conjunction with completion of an educator leadership preparation program approved by the Professional Standards Commission, if the degree was earned on or after July 1, 2010, unless the educator is employed in a leadership position as defined by the State Board of Education, but shall be placed on the salary schedule position attributable to the educator but for the leadership degree; provided, however, that this shall not apply to an educator who possessed a leadership degree prior to July 1, 2010, regardless of whether or not he or she is in a leadership position. For purposes of this subsection, an educator's placement on the salary schedule shall not be based on an advanced degree, which shall mean a degree above the level of a bachelor's degree, if the degree was earned after January 27, 2010; provided, however, that this shall not apply to an educator who possessed an advanced degree prior to July 1, 2013, as long as he or she was enrolled on or before January 27, 2010, in a program of study resulting in said advanced degree.

(b)(2) Local units of administration may supplement the salaries of personnel subject to the schedule of minimum salaries under subsection (a) of this Code section paragraph (1) of this subsection and, in fixing the amount of those supplements, may take into consideration the nature of duties to be performed, the responsibility of the position held, the subject matter or grades to be taught, and the experience and performance of the particular employee whose salary is being supplemented. In any fiscal year in which such personnel receive an increase under the minimum salary schedule, a local unit of administration shall not decrease any local salary supplement for such personnel below the local supplement amount received in the immediately preceding fiscal year by those personnel of that local unit of administration unless such local unit of administration has conducted at least two public hearings regarding such decrease, notice of which hearings, including the time, place, agenda, and specific subject matter of the meeting, the local unit shall cause to be published in the legal organ of the county which is the legal situs of such local unit one time at least seven days prior to the date such hearings are to be held. Written notice shall be provided to each employee subject to the schedule of minimum salaries under subsection (a) of this Code section paragraph (1) of this subsection at least seven days prior to the date of the hearings. Each such hearing shall be held and shall commence after school hours to allow certificated and noncertificated personnel to attend.

(c)(3) A local unit of administration shall pay beginning classroom teachers the first salary payment for the number of days worked at the end of the first month of the school year in which service is rendered. The State Board of Education shall develop rules and procedures for implementing this subsection paragraph by July 1, 2001.

(4) This subsection shall apply to teachers, assistant principals, and principals employed by a local unit of administration prior to the date subsection (b) of this Code section becomes applicable to such employing local unit of administration pursuant to paragraph (4) of such subsection and to certificated professional personnel who are not teachers, assistant principals, or principals, regardless of when employed.

(b)(1) The State Board of Education shall establish a performance-based salary schedule for services rendered which shall be on a ten-month basis and which shall be paid by local units of administration to teachers, assistant principals, and principals. The Teacher Effectiveness Measure for teachers and the Leader Effectiveness Measure for assistant principals and principals required pursuant to paragraph (2) of subsection (b) of Code Section 20-2-210 shall be used to determine whether teachers and assistant principals and principals are eligible for performance-based salary increases pursuant to this subsection.

(2) Local units of administration may supplement the salaries of personnel and, in fixing the amount of those supplements, may take into consideration the nature of duties to be performed, the responsibility of the position held, the subject matter or grades to be taught, and the experience and performance of the particular employee whose salary is being supplemented.

(3) The performance-based salary schedule required by this subsection shall be adopted by the state board no later than January 1, 2013.

(4) This subsection shall only apply to teachers newly employed and assistant principals and principals newly employed or promoted by a local unit of administration on or after:

(A) July 1, 2013, for local units of administration included in division (b)(2)(B)(i) of Code Section 20-2-210 and to teachers, assistant principals, and principals employed by such local units of administration prior to July 1, 2013, who wish to opt in;

(B) July 1, 2014, for local units of administration included in division (b)(2)(B)(ii) of Code Section 20-2-210 and to teachers, assistant principals, and principals employed by such local units of administration prior to July 1, 2014, who wish to opt in; and

(C) July 1, 2015, for all other local units of administration included in division (b)(2)(B)(iii) of Code Section 20-2-210 and to teachers, assistant principals, and principals employed by such local units of administration prior to July 1, 2015, who wish to opt in.

A decision by an individual to opt in to the performance-based salary schedule pursuant to this paragraph shall not be reversible. An individual who was previously employed by a local unit of administration but who has a break in service longer than 12 months and returns to the employment of a local unit of administration on or after the date that this subsection becomes applicable to such employing local unit of administration pursuant to this paragraph shall be subject to the provisions of this subsection. An individual who is offered a contract of employment by a local unit of administration between January 1 of the year this subsection becomes applicable to the employing local unit of administration pursuant to this paragraph and July 1 of such year shall be subject to the provisions of this subsection."

SECTION 3.

Said chapter is further amended by revising subsection (e) of Code Section 20-2-161, relating to the Quality Basic Education Formula, as follows:

"(e) The State Board of Education shall annually calculate for each instructional program provided for in subsection (b) of this Code section for each local school system the amount of additional funds needed beyond the amounts reflected in the base amount and the program weights, in order to pay the state minimum salaries pursuant to Code Section 20-2-212. The calculation of such additional amount shall be based on all certificated professional personnel who were employed by the local school system as of the month of October for the most recent year that these data are available; provided, however, that the amount needed for training and experience for personnel funded through categorical grants shall only be included in the appropriate categorical grant. The amount shall be reported for each program identified in subsection (b) of this Code section for each full-time equivalent program count date and by segment of the school day and for each categorical program. Such additional amount shall be known as 'program adjustment amount for training and experience' and this amount shall be noted in total in the language section of the General Appropriations Act each year."

SECTION 4.

Said chapter is further amended by revising subsection (d) of Code Section 20-2-168, relating to distribution of federal funds, combined purchase of supplies and equipment, minimum school year, summer school programs, and year-round operation, as follows:

"(d) The governing board of any local unit of administration may provide for continued operation of one or more educational programs of the local unit for a period of time beyond the normal school year provided for in subsection (c) of this Code section for the purpose of providing summer school education programs, including: the continuation of one or more instructional programs provided for in Part 3 of this article, enrichment of prescribed school programs, accelerated school programs, special programs of education enumerated by or coming within the scope of this article, and such other education programs as may be approved by the State Board of Education. All summer school programs shall meet and be offered in accordance with standards, requirements, and criteria prescribed by the state board. Teachers and other certificated professional personnel employed full time or part time during such period shall be paid additional salaries based on the applicable state minimum monthly salary schedule pursuant to Code Section 20-2-212 in proportion to the time and services rendered by such personnel. No additional state funds shall be allotted to local units in support of such programs unless the General Assembly authorizes funds for this purpose. The state board is authorized to allot such state funds to local units in support of all or any one or more of such summer school education programs. The extent to which these state funds may be allotted to local units of administration in support of any one or more of such programs shall be determined by the state board but shall not in any event exceed the ratio of state funds to local funds made available to the local unit during the preceding school year in support of the calculated cost of providing the Quality Basic Education Program in the local unit during that school year. The state board is authorized to determine the relative need for establishment of any one or more of the various summer school education programs enumerated in this subsection, to establish priorities for implementation of such programs, and to allot funds appropriated for this purpose to local units of administration in support of those programs."

SECTION 5.

Said chapter is further amended by revising subsection (d) of Code Section 20-2-206, relating to alternative teacher certification program, as follows:

"(d) A teacher receiving initial certification pursuant to this Code section shall be treated in the same manner as certificated professional personnel for purposes of this chapter or any local board of education policy, including receiving salaries pursuant to the minimum salary schedule provided for in Code Section 20-2-212."

SECTION 6.

Said chapter is further amended by revising subsection (a) of Code Section 20-2-305, relating to county and regional libraries, as follows:

"(a) The board of regents shall annually determine and request of the General Assembly the amount of funds needed for county and regional public libraries. This request shall include, but not be limited to, funds to provide library books and materials, salaries and travel for professional librarians, capital outlay for public library construction, and maintenance and operation. The amount for library books and materials shall be not less than 35¢ per person. Funds for the purpose of paying the salaries of librarians allotted shall be in accordance with regulations established by the state board and the state minimum salary schedule for certificated professional personnel pursuant to Code Section 20-2-212. Public library funds shall be apportioned to county and regional public libraries in proportion to the area and population to be served by such libraries in accordance with regulations and minimum public library requirements prescribed by the state board. All such funds shall be distributed directly to the regional or county library boards."

SECTION 7.

All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.