COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 143
(By Senators Boley, Plymale and Foster)
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[Originating in the Committee on Education;
reported February 5, 2010.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §18A-4-2a of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to National Board for Professional
Teaching Standards certification; clarifying that classroom
teachers holding a valid renewal certificate receive the
salary bonus; providing reimbursement for the renewal
certification fee to each teacher who completes the renewal
process; and providing that classroom teachers holding the
certification who subsequently become employed in certain
other positions receive the salary bonus.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18A-4-2a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. SALARIES, WAGES AND OTHER BENEFITS.
§18A-4-2a. State minimum salary bonus for classroom teachers with
national board certification.
(a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the rigorous standards and processes for certification by the National
Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) helps to promote
the quality of teaching and learning. Therefore, classroom
teachers in the public schools of West Virginia should be
encouraged to achieve national board certification through a
reimbursement of expenses and an additional salary bonus which
reflects their additional certification, to be paid in accordance
with
the provisions of this section.
(b) Three thousand five hundred dollars shall be paid annually
to:
(1) Each classroom teacher who holds a valid certificate
issued by the National Board
of for Professional Teaching Standards
for the life of the certification, but in no event more than ten
years for any one certification;
and
(2) Each classroom teacher who holds a valid renewal
certificate issued by the National Board for Professional Teaching
Standards for the life of the renewal certificate, but in no event
more than ten years for any one renewal certificate.
(c) The payments:
(1) Shall be in addition to any amounts prescribed in the
applicable state minimum salary schedule;
(2) Shall be paid in equal monthly installments; and
(3) Shall be considered a part of the state minimum salaries
for teachers.
(d)
For initial certification, one-half the certification fee
shall be paid for reimbursement once to each teacher who enrolls in the program for the National Board for Professional Teaching
Standards certification and one-half the certification fee shall be
paid for reimbursement once to each teacher who completes the
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification.
Completion shall be defined as the completion of ten scorable
entries, as verified by the National Board for Professional
Teaching Standards. Teachers who achieve National Board for
Professional Teaching Standards certification may be reimbursed a
maximum of $600 for expenses actually incurred while obtaining the
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification.
(e) For renewal certification, each teacher who completes the
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification
renewal process shall be reimbursed for the renewal certification
fee. Completion of the certification renewal process means the
successful renewal of the ten-year National Board for Professional
Teaching Standards certification as verified by the National Board
for Professional Teaching Standards.
(e) (f) The state board shall limit the number of teachers who
receive the initial reimbursements of the certification fees are
reimbursed for the first one-half of the fee for initial
certification, as set forth in subsection (d) of this section to
two hundred teachers annually. The state board shall establish
selection criteria for the teachers by the legislative rule
required pursuant to subsection
(g) (i) of this section.
(f) (g) Subject to
the provisions of subsection
(e) (f) of
this section, funding for reimbursement of the certification fee and expenses actually incurred while obtaining the National Board
for Professional Teaching Standards certifications shall be
administered by the State Department of Education from an
appropriation established for that purpose by the Legislature. If
funds appropriated by the Legislature to accomplish the purposes of
this subsection are insufficient, the state department shall
prorate the reimbursements for expenses and shall request of the
Legislature, at its next regular session, funds sufficient to
accomplish the purposes of this subsection, including needed
retroactive payments.
(h) Effective July 1, 2010, the holder of a valid National
Board for Professional Teaching Standards certificate awarded to
him or her during his or her employment as a classroom teacher who
is subsequently employed as a school principal, assistant school
principal or in another position in an instructional leadership
capacity or administrative capacity shall be paid the additional
salary bonus as provided in this section.
(g) (i) The state board shall promulgate legislative rules
pursuant to article three-b, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to
implement the provisions of this section.