H1030 - 2016 Appropriations Act. (SL 2016-94)

Overview: Sec. 9.7 of S.L. 2016-94 directs the State Board of Education (SBE) to establish the Third Grade Reading Teacher Performance Pilot Program (Program) to reward teacher performance and to encourage student learning and improvement. The Department of Public Instruction must administer bonus pay to licensed third grade teachers who have an Education Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS) student growth index score for third grade reading from the previous school year, beginning with the data from the 2015-2016 school year, as follows:

• $5 million must be allocated for bonuses to licensed third grade teachers who are in the top 25% of teachers in the State according to the EVAAS scores for third grade reading from the previous year. Funds are to be allocated equally among qualifying teachers.
• $5 million must be allocated for bonuses to licensed third grade teachers who are in the top 25% of teachers in their respective local school administrative units (LEA) according to the EVAAS scores for third grade reading from the previous year. Funds are to be split proportionally based on average daily membership for each LEA and then distributed equally among qualifying teachers in each LEA, subject to the following conditions:
• Teachers employed in charter schools and regional schools are not eligible to receive the bonuses.
• Any teacher working in an LEA that employs three or fewer third grade teachers will receive a bonus if that teacher has an EVAAS score for third grade reading from the previous school year that exceeds expected growth.
• For EVAAS data collected during the 2015-2016 school year and the 2016-2017 school year, the bonuses are payable in January of 2017 and January of 2018, respectively, to qualifying third grade teachers who remain employed teaching third grade in the same LEA at least from the school year the data is collected until the corresponding school year that the bonus is paid.
• A teacher who is eligible to receive a qualifying bonus by being in the top 25% of EVAAS scores for third grade reading at the State level is also eligible for the bonus at the local level. Qualifying bonuses are not considered compensation under the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System.

The SBE must do the following:

• Study the distribution of statewide bonuses among LEAs and the distribution of bonuses within LEAs among individual schools and report to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Fiscal Research Division on March 1, 2017, and again on March 1, 2018.
• Study the effect of the Program on teacher performance and retention and report the results of its findings to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Fiscal Research Division, and the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee no later than March 1, 2018.

This section became effective July 1, 2016, and expires June 30, 2018.