Senate Bill 2370c1
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Florida Senate - 1999 CS for SB 2370
By the Committee on Education and Senator Sullivan
304-2129A-99
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to public schools; amending s.
3 231.085, F.S.; specifying principals'
4 responsibility for assessing performance of
5 school personnel and implementing the Sunshine
6 State Standards; requiring school principals to
7 prepare individualized professional development
8 programs for instructional personnel; requiring
9 a review of student progress as a basis for the
10 design and evaluation of the programs;
11 requiring a performance evaluation to include
12 consideration of the quality of professional
13 development activities; authorizing rules;
14 creating a program to increase student
15 achievement in certain schools; providing
16 legislative intent; providing for the selection
17 of eligible schools; requiring school districts
18 to provide certain assistance to the schools;
19 requiring a professional development program;
20 requiring a needs analysis based upon student
21 achievement; requiring certain components;
22 requiring a plan to increase the number of
23 master teachers at certain schools; encouraging
24 certain services; requiring an evaluation;
25 providing criteria; providing certain
26 responsibilities of the Education Standards
27 Commission and the Office of Program Policy and
28 Government Accountability; requiring a report;
29 authorizing bonuses for certain principals and
30 teachers; authorizing rules; requiring that
31 contracts with teachers contain certain
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1 provisions relating to content area of advanced
2 degrees; amending s. 236.08106, F.S.;
3 authorizing bonuses for certain principals and
4 teachers; providing for the distribution of
5 Excellent Teaching Program Funds; deleting
6 certain district incentives; providing an
7 effective date.
8
9 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
10
11 Section 1. Section 231.085, Florida Statutes, is
12 amended to read:
13 231.085 Duties of principals.--A district school board
14 shall employ, through written contract, public school
15 principals who shall supervise the operation and management of
16 the schools and property as the board determines necessary.
17 (1) Each principal is responsible for the performance
18 of all personnel employed by the school board and assigned to
19 the school to which the principal is assigned. The principal
20 shall faithfully and effectively apply the
21 personnel-assessment system approved by the school board
22 pursuant to s. 231.29. Each principal shall base the
23 evaluation on reports of the progress of students in content
24 areas for which the teacher is responsible and may use
25 additional criteria as provided by rules or policies of the
26 school district. Based upon this review, each principal shall
27 submit to the school board and the teacher an individualized
28 professional development plan for each teacher. The report to
29 the district may be in the form of a summary of the required
30 components and an estimate of the number of teachers who
31 require them. The principal shall certify that at least 50
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1 percent of any professional development program prescribed in
2 the plan is based on the subject area content for which the
3 teacher is responsible.
4 (2) Each principal shall perform such duties as may be
5 assigned by the superintendent pursuant to the rules of the
6 school board. Such rules shall include, but not be limited
7 to, rules relating to administrative responsibility,
8 instructional leadership in implementing the Sunshine State
9 Standards and of the overall educational program of the school
10 to which the principal is assigned, submission of personnel
11 recommendations to the superintendent, administrative
12 responsibility for records and reports, administration of
13 corporal punishment, and student suspension. Each principal
14 shall provide leadership in the development or revision and
15 implementation of a school improvement plan pursuant to s.
16 230.23(16).
17 (3) Beginning July 1, 2000, when a superintendent
18 evaluates the performance of a principal pursuant to s.
19 231.29, he or she shall consider the quality of the
20 principal's efforts to upgrade the competency of the teachers
21 at the school. A principal whose efforts are exemplary is
22 eligible for a bonus as provided in s. 236.08106 and the
23 annual Appropriations Act. Exemplary effort must be
24 demonstrated by reports of student progress as well as by
25 documentation of teachers' successful involvement in
26 individualized professional development activities.
27 (4) The Commissioner of Education shall adopt rules to
28 assure that the conditions under which principals are eligible
29 for bonuses for exemplary performance are meaningful and
30 consistent statewide. The rules may categorize schools and
31 identify the level of student progress and of staff
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1 participation in prescribed professional development
2 activities that constitutes exemplary performance by the
3 principal of each category of school.
4 Section 2. Incentives for improvement of student
5 achievement in selected schools.--
6 (1) The Legislature finds that some schools have a
7 particularly acute need for teachers with excellent
8 qualifications and motivations. Those schools have a large
9 proportion of students whose performance is beneath the level
10 expected for their age and grade or have a large proportion of
11 students from families with economic disadvantages. Therefore,
12 the Legislature intends to:
13 (a) Provide rewards and incentives to principals and
14 teachers who improve schools by improving student learning;
15 (b) Focus those rewards upon schools that can most
16 benefit from improvements in teaching and learning; and
17 (c) Improve the preparation of all teachers through a
18 concentration on subject matter content in professional
19 development programs.
20 (2) The Commissioner of Education shall select schools
21 that have acute need, using criteria that must include the
22 socioeconomic status of students at the schools and the
23 average scores on statewide student assessment instruments.
24 The commissioner may also include criteria such as the number
25 of students who are enrolled at the school for less than a
26 full school year, the number whose native language is not
27 English, the number of incidents of disruptive behavior at the
28 school, or any other measure that the commissioner identifies
29 as likely to make teaching and learning more difficult than it
30 would be if the school did not possess that characteristic.
31 The commissioner is not required to select only the schools
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1 identified as critically low performing schools, but is
2 encouraged to select as many schools for which an intensive
3 effort in improvement is possible given the funds appropriated
4 in any year.
5 (3) Each school district that contains a school
6 selected by the commissioner pursuant to subsection (2) shall
7 provide the principal of the school with additional staff
8 positions to enable the teachers to participate in the
9 professional development activities required by this section.
10 The Department of Education shall quantify the number of
11 additional staff required for each school selected by the
12 commissioner, based upon the size of the school and the
13 requirements of the professional development program.
14 (4) The statewide network of professional development
15 academies shall develop an intensive professional development
16 program for the principals and teachers of the schools.
17 (a) The program may include components of programs
18 already in place in the school district, but it must also
19 include components designed to meet the particular needs of
20 instructional staff at the school. The needs must be
21 identified using data on student performance in each teacher's
22 classroom.
23 (b) These components must be content-based and must
24 focus on methods that have proved successful in improving
25 student performance in a particular content area.
26 (c) The professional development program must provide
27 classroom support for each participating teacher or principal
28 for at least 1 year after the formal participation is
29 completed.
30 (5) The school district shall develop a plan to
31 encourage teachers with demonstrated success in improving
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1 student performance to remain at or transfer to schools
2 selected as provided in subsection (2).
3 (a) If a teacher whose mastery has been formally
4 recognized by the designation of Teacher of the Year at the
5 district or state level, or who is certified by the National
6 Board of Professional Teaching Standards, requests assignment
7 to a school identified as provided in subsection (2), the
8 school board and the principal shall make every practical
9 effort to grant the request. Such a teacher is eligible for a
10 bonus as provided in subsection (10) if he or she is assigned
11 to a selected school.
12 (b) The Department of Education may authorize
13 additional criteria to identify teachers who are not eligible
14 according to paragraph (a), but who may otherwise demonstrate
15 mastery. Teachers identified under this paragraph may
16 transfer to a school selected pursuant to subsection (2) or
17 they may be teaching already at such a school and become
18 eligible for bonuses.
19 (6) The school district is encouraged to provide
20 additional components of a comprehensive program of school
21 improvement at schools selected pursuant to subsection (2).
22 Those components may include visiting students' homes,
23 assisting parents to oversee homework, creating tutorial
24 programs, providing after-school programs, pairing of teachers
25 with experience and mastery with other teachers for planning
26 periods and mentoring, and lowering the ratio of students to
27 teachers in classes that are difficult for students as
28 revealed by performance data.
29 (7) Each school selected as provided in subsection (2)
30 must be evaluated annually according to a process to be
31 planned and overseen by the Education Standards Commission and
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1 the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government
2 Accountability. The evaluation must include an assessment of
3 student progress as measured by any combination of the
4 following criteria identified by the commission, depending
5 upon the grade levels of children at the school: student
6 assessment instruments, grades, number of absences or times
7 tardy, progression from grade to grade, number of students
8 over age for grade, discipline data, levels of courses taken,
9 standard diplomas granted, rate of enrollment in postsecondary
10 education, passing rate on the college entry level placement
11 test, and postsecondary education or employment levels
12 following high school graduation.
13 (8) Annually the Department of Education shall report
14 to the Legislature on the activities conducted as a result of
15 appropriations to implement this section.
16 (a) The report must list the schools identified
17 pursuant to subsection (2), the number of teacher transfers
18 effected by district and school, any increases or decreases in
19 the number of master teachers at the school and how that
20 status was determined, the number and types of professional
21 development activities provided and their attendance rates,
22 any class size increases or reductions, and any gains or
23 losses in student performance during the year.
24 (b) The department may also report on changes in other
25 measures used in identifying schools for the program. The
26 Legislature encourages the department to assess and report the
27 effect of the program on a school's environment, such as the
28 perceptions of the school's success by students, school
29 personnel, and parents.
30 (9) A principal of a school selected pursuant to
31 paragraph (2) is eligible for a bonus as provided in sections
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1 231.085 and 236.08106, Florida Statutes, if the performance of
2 students at the school improves sufficiently after the
3 professional development program has been in effect for 1 year
4 or more.
5 (10) A teacher at a school selected pursuant to
6 subsection (2) is eligible for a bonus as provided in section
7 236.08106, Florida Statutes, if:
8 (a) The teacher has achieved mastery as identified by
9 a formal procedure such as the designation of Teacher of the
10 Year at the district or state level or is certified by the
11 National Board of Professional Teaching Standards. The bonus
12 must be in addition to that provided because of the NBPTS
13 certification and because of acting as a mentor teacher.
14 (b) The teacher is recommended by the principal and
15 demonstrates mastery by improvements in the achievement of
16 students in his or her classes, as identified by rules adopted
17 by the Commissioner of Education.
18 (11) The Commissioner of Education shall adopt rules
19 to define conditions under which a teacher or principal is
20 eligible for a bonus as authorized by this section. The rules
21 may define completion of a prescribed professional development
22 program and provide a formula by which student progress may be
23 measured and used to affirm that the teacher has demonstrated
24 mastery. The rules must specify in full the criteria that
25 constitute sufficient improvement in student performance to
26 warrant the bonuses authorized by this section and sections
27 231.085 and 236.08106, Florida Statutes.
28 Section 3. Paragraph (c) of subsection (5) of section
29 230.23, Florida Statutes, 1998 Supplement, is amended to read:
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1 230.23 Powers and duties of school board.--The school
2 board, acting as a board, shall exercise all powers and
3 perform all duties listed below:
4 (5) PERSONNEL.--Designate positions to be filled,
5 prescribe qualifications for those positions, and provide for
6 the appointment, compensation, promotion, suspension, and
7 dismissal of employees as follows, subject to the requirements
8 of chapter 231:
9 (c) Compensation and salary schedules.--Adopt a salary
10 schedule or salary schedules to be used as a basis for paying
11 all school employees, such schedules to be arranged, insofar
12 as practicable, so as to furnish incentive for improvement in
13 training and for continued and efficient service and fix and
14 authorize the compensation of school employees on the basis of
15 such schedules. A district school board, in determining the
16 salary schedule for instructional personnel, must base a
17 portion of each employee's compensation on performance
18 demonstrated under s. 231.29 and must consider the prior
19 teaching experience of a person who has been designated state
20 teacher of the year by any state in the United States. In
21 developing the salary schedule, the school board shall seek
22 input from parents, teachers, and representatives of the
23 business community. By June 30, 2002, the salary schedule
24 adopted by the school board must base at least 5 percent of
25 the salary of school administrators and instructional
26 personnel on annual performance measured under s. 231.29. The
27 district's performance-pay policy is subject to negotiation as
28 provided in chapter 447; however, the adopted salary schedule
29 must allow employees who demonstrate outstanding performance
30 to earn 5 percent of their individual salary. The Commissioner
31 of Education shall determine whether the board's adopted
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1 salary schedule complies with the requirement for
2 performance-based pay. If the board fails to comply by June
3 30, 2002, the commissioner shall withhold disbursements from
4 the Education Enhancement Trust Fund to the district until
5 compliance is verified. The Legislature intends that school
6 districts provide fiduciary rewards to teachers who pursue
7 graduate-level education and earn masters or doctorate degrees
8 related to a content area for which they are responsible.
9 Therefore, by June 30, 2002, each school district shall
10 renegotiate any standard contracts with teachers so that its
11 reward to a teacher who obtains an advanced degree will apply
12 only to a degree that relates to a content area for which the
13 teacher is responsible. The renegotiation process must not
14 affect teachers who have benefitted from degrees earned June
15 30, 2002, or before. The school district must identify the
16 advanced degrees that relate to each content area for which a
17 teacher may be certified.
18 Section 4. Section 236.08106, Florida Statutes, 1998
19 Supplement, is amended to read:
20 236.08106 Excellent Teaching Program.--
21 (1) The Legislature recognizes that teachers play a
22 critical role in preparing students to achieve the high levels
23 of academic performance expected by the Sunshine State
24 Standards. The Legislature further recognizes the importance
25 of identifying and rewarding teaching excellence and of
26 encouraging good teachers to become excellent teachers.
27 (a) The Legislature finds that the National Board of
28 Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) has established high
29 and rigorous standards for accomplished teaching and has
30 developed a national voluntary system for assessing and
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1 certifying teachers who demonstrate teaching excellence by
2 meeting those standards.
3 (b) The Legislature further finds that principals and
4 teachers meet high and rigorous standards when their schools
5 and students make significant improvements in achievement as
6 measured pursuant to s. 231.085 and section 2 of this act.
7 (c) It is therefore the Legislature's intent to
8 provide incentives for teachers to seek NBPTS certification
9 and to reward teachers who demonstrate teaching excellence by
10 attaining NBPTS certification or by achieving and maintaining
11 the standards provided in sections 1 and 2 of this act. These
12 incentives should continue for teachers who achieve excellence
13 and share sharing their expertise with other teachers.
14 (2) The Excellent Teaching Program is created to
15 provide categorical funding for monetary incentives and
16 bonuses for teaching excellence. The Department of Education
17 shall allocate and distribute to each school district or to
18 the NBPTS an amount as prescribed annually by the Legislature
19 for the Excellent Teaching Program. Unless otherwise provided
20 in the General Appropriations Act, each distribution school
21 district's annual allocation shall be the sum of the amounts
22 earned for the following incentives and bonuses:
23 (a) A fee subsidy to be paid by the Department of
24 Education school district to the NBPTS on behalf of each
25 individual who is an employee of a the district school board
26 or a public school within the that school district, who is
27 certified by the district to have demonstrated satisfactory
28 teaching performance pursuant to s. 231.29 and who satisfies
29 the prerequisites for participating in the NBPTS certification
30 program, and who agrees, in writing, to pay 10 percent of the
31 NBPTS participation fee and to participate in the NBPTS
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1 certification program during the school year for which the fee
2 subsidy is provided. The fee subsidy for each eligible
3 participant shall be an amount equal to 90 percent of the fee
4 charged for participating in the NBPTS certification program,
5 but not more than $1,800 per eligible participant. The fee
6 subsidy is a one-time award and may not be duplicated for any
7 individual.
8 (b) A portfolio-preparation incentive of $150 paid by
9 the Department of Education to for each teacher employed by a
10 the district school board or a public school within a school
11 the district who is participating in the NBPTS certification
12 program. The portfolio-preparation incentive is a one-time
13 award paid during the school year for which the NBPTS fee
14 subsidy is provided.
15 (c) An annual bonus equal to 10 percent of the prior
16 fiscal year's statewide average salary for classroom teachers
17 to be distributed to the school district to be paid to each
18 individual who holds NBPTS certification and is employed by
19 the district school board or by a public school within the
20 that school district that holds NBPTS certification or meets
21 the criteria for a bonus pursuant to s. 231.085(3) or section
22 2 of this act. The district school board shall distribute the
23 annual bonus to each individual who meets the requirements of
24 this paragraph and who is certified annually by the district
25 to have demonstrated satisfactory teaching performance
26 pursuant to s. 231.29 and s. 231.085. The annual bonus may be
27 paid as a single payment or divided into not more than three
28 payments.
29 (d) An annual bonus equal to 10 percent of the prior
30 fiscal year's statewide average salary for classroom teachers
31 to be distributed to the school district to be paid to each
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1 individual who meets the requirements of paragraph (c) and
2 agrees, in writing, to provide the equivalent of 12 workdays
3 of mentoring and related services to public school teachers
4 within the district who do not hold NBPTS certification and
5 who have not demonstrated excellence as provided in s. 231.085
6 and section 2 of this act. The district school board shall
7 distribute the annual bonus in a single payment following the
8 completion of all required mentoring and related services for
9 the year. It is not the intent of the Legislature to remove
10 excellent teachers from their assigned classrooms; therefore,
11 credit may not be granted by a school district or public
12 school for mentoring or related services provided during the
13 regular school day or during the 196 days of required service
14 for the school year.
15 (e) The district shall receive an amount equal to 50
16 percent of the teacher bonuses provided under paragraphs (c)
17 and (d), which shall be used by the district for professional
18 development of teachers. The district must give priority to
19 using all funds received pursuant to this paragraph for
20 professional development of teachers employed at schools
21 identified as performing at critically low levels.
22
23 A teacher for whom the state pays the certification fee and
24 who does not complete the certification program or does not
25 teach in a public school of this state for a least 1 year
26 after completing the certification program must repay the
27 amount of the certification fee to the state. However, a
28 teacher who completes the certification program but fails to
29 be awarded NBPTS certification is not required to repay the
30 amount of the certification fee if the teacher meets the
31 1-year teaching requirement. Repayment is not required of a
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1 teacher who does not complete the certification program or
2 fails to fulfill the teaching requirement because of the
3 teacher's death or disability or because of other extenuating
4 circumstances as determined by the State Board of Education.
5 (3)(a) In addition to any other remedy available under
6 the law, any person who is a recipient of a certification fee
7 subsidy paid to the NBPTS and who is an employee of the state
8 or any of its political subdivisions is considered to have
9 consented, as a condition of employment, to the voluntary or
10 involuntary withholding of wages to repay to the state the
11 amount of such a certification fee subsidy awarded under this
12 section. Any such employee who defaults on the repayment of
13 such a certification fee subsidy must, within 60 days after
14 service of a notice of default by the Department of Education
15 to the employee, establish a repayment schedule, which must be
16 agreed to by the department and the employee, for repaying the
17 defaulted sum through payroll deductions. The department may
18 not require the employee to pay more than 10 percent of the
19 employee's pay per pay period under such a repayment schedule
20 or plan. If the employee fails to establish a repayment
21 schedule within the specified period of time or fails to meet
22 the terms and conditions of the agreed-upon or approved
23 repayment schedule as authorized by this subsection, the
24 employee has breached an essential condition of employment and
25 is considered to have consented to the involuntary withholding
26 of wages or salary for the repayment of the certification fee
27 subsidy.
28 (b) A person who is employed by the state or any of
29 its political subdivisions may not be dismissed for having
30 defaulted on the repayment of the certification fee subsidy to
31 the state.
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1 (4) The State Board of Education may adopt rules as
2 necessary to implement the provisions for payment of the fee
3 subsidies, incentives, and bonuses and for the repayment of
4 defaulted certification fee subsidies under this section.
5 Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 1999.
6
7 STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
8 SB 2370
9
10 The Committee Substitute:
11 Incorporates into s. 231.085, F.S., the requirements for
principals in section 1 of the bill, and also incorporates
12 changes made to that section by the Florida Senate on April
16, 1999, in CS/SB 1646 and in the amendment to CS/HB 751.
13 These include requiring principals to apply the personnel
system approved by the school board and to abide by the rules
14 for instructional leadership in implementing the Sunshine
State Standards.
15
Incorporates into s. 230.23, F.S., the requirements for
16 renegotiation of teachers' contracts to require compensated
graduate-level work to be content-based, and also incorporates
17 changes made to that section by the Florida Senate on April
16, 1999, in CS/SB 1646 and in the amendment to CS/HB 751.
18 These changes include requiring school boards to comply with
the required performance-based pay or risk losing their
19 lottery funds. The date by which renegotiation is required is
June 30, 2002, which is the same date school boards must
20 comply with performance-based salary schedules.
21 Amends s. 236.08106, F.S., to incorporate changes made to this
section in CS/SB 1646 and the amendment to CS/HB 751. These
22 changes include deleting the incentives for school districts
to encourage teachers to apply for national-board
23 certification and authorizing the Department of Education to
employ standard enforcement measures for teachers who default
24 on funds they are required to pay back if they fail to meet
their agreement in regard to payment of application fees for
25 national-board certification
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