FIRST REGULAR SESSION
92ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE SCHOEMEHL.
Read 1st time March 5, 2003, and copies ordered printed.
STEPHEN S. DAVIS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To amend chapter 160, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to salary supplements for teachers in priority schools.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 160, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 160.731, to read as follows:
160.731. 1. The department of elementary and secondary education shall be authorized, subject to appropriation, to award salary supplement grants to priority schools, as that term is defined in subsection 2 of section 160.720, employing high quality teachers.
(1) In distributing grants, priority shall be given to unaccredited and provisionally accredited school districts, with each school building receiving the lesser of five grants or one grant per fifty pupils enrolled in the building, provided that no single school district shall receive more than twenty-five grants.
(2) Within any unaccredited or provisionally accredited district, priority shall be given to school buildings identified as academically deficient by the state board of education pursuant to section 160.538.
(3) An annual salary supplement grant of three thousand dollars shall be granted to the eligible teacher based upon full-time employment for the academic year. The supplement paid pursuant to this section may be paid in a lump sum at the beginning of the fiscal year to a school district in the amount necessary to cover all of the salary supplements owed to teachers in the district, to be held by the district for a pro rata disbursement to be included in the teacher's regular salary payments. Under no circumstance may a teacher receive more than four individual yearly supplements.
(4) Any salary supplement received pursuant to this section shall be in addition to the base salary to which the teacher would otherwise be entitled. Teachers receiving the salary supplement shall receive any pay and benefits received by teachers of similar training, experience and duties.
2. The state board of education shall establish by administrative rule the qualifications for high quality teachers.
(1) The purpose of these criteria will be to determine eligibility for salary supplements authorized under this section.
(2) This designation of high quality may be for a student attending a Missouri teacher preparation institution or an existing teacher who meets the qualifications for designation as a high quality teacher.
(3) Factors in determining eligibility shall include, but not be limited to, cumulative grade point average, scores on standardized testing, and teacher or faculty recommendations.
(4) Any teacher receiving certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards shall be considered as meeting the qualifications for a high quality teacher pursuant to this section.
3. No rule or portion of a rule promulgated pursuant to the authority of this section shall become effective unless it has been promulgated pursuant to chapter 536, RSMo.