Senate Bill 0050c1
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 2000 CS for SB 50
By the Committee on Education and Senators Sullivan and
Latvala
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1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to education; creating the
3 Teacher Recruitment Program; requiring a school
4 district with a school in grade category "D" or
5 "F" to submit to the Department of Education a
6 plan for recruitment of certain teachers to
7 failing schools; requiring a salary bonus for
8 selected teachers; authorizing the Department
9 of Education to adjust certain terms of a plan;
10 limiting the number of teachers who are
11 eligible for recruitment under the plan;
12 requiring school districts to determine certain
13 criteria for teachers recruited for the
14 program; authorizing principals to determine
15 eligible teachers under the criteria; requiring
16 review of a principal's administration of the
17 program; providing for initial implementation;
18 requiring implementation contingent upon
19 funding; providing an effective date.
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21 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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23 Section 1. (1) There is created the Teacher
24 Recruitment Program to encourage the transfer of teachers with
25 demonstrated mastery to failing schools.
26 (2) By July 1 of each year, each school district that
27 contains a school in grade category "D" or "F" shall develop a
28 plan that authorizes principals of schools in those categories
29 to recruit master teachers as provided by the program.
30 (a) The plan must provide for an annual salary bonus
31 to be paid to master teachers recruited for the program by
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Florida Senate - 2000 CS for SB 50
304-661-00
1 principals of "D" or "F" schools, or it must give evidence of
2 contract negotiations that provide an addition to the salary
3 of those teachers. The plan must state the amount of the bonus
4 or salary addition and the maximum number of years a teacher
5 may be eligible for the annual bonus. If a plan does not
6 specify an amount for a bonus or negotiated salary increase,
7 the selected teachers will be provided a bonus in the amount
8 awarded to nationally certified teachers under the Excellent
9 Teaching Program, pursuant to section 236.08106, Florida
10 Statutes. When a plan is approved by the Commissioner of
11 Education, the program shall be initiated immediately upon
12 notification that a school is designated "D" or "F" and fully
13 implemented by the subsequent school year.
14 (b) The plan must identify the performance criteria
15 that make a teacher eligible for recruitment. The
16 qualifications must include evidence of academic mastery of
17 the subject matter to be taught and continuous and superior
18 improvement of student learning in the teacher's classes.
19 (c) The plan must describe how the school district
20 will determine superior student learning gains and how it will
21 provide the principal with access to records of the academic
22 performance and student achievement of teachers in the
23 district. The plan must authorize the school principal to
24 determine which teachers meet the performance criteria.
25 (d) The plan must describe the action the school
26 district will take to make it possible for teachers to
27 transfer into and out of the school. However, a teacher who is
28 in the program may receive a bonus only for teaching at the
29 school whose principal originally recruited him or her.
30 (3) A program must be implemented annually in each
31 school that receives a grade of "D" or "F." By August 1 of
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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 2000 CS for SB 50
304-661-00
1 each year, if the Commissioner of Education has not approved
2 the plan required of a school district, the district shall
3 request technical assistance from the department and revise
4 the plan so that it can be approved. If a plan is not approved
5 by September 1, the department shall report the impasse to the
6 State Board of Education, which may impose sanctions upon the
7 school district as provided in the General Appropriations Act.
8 (4) For initial implementation of the program in
9 2000-2001, or until a district has an approved plan, a
10 principal assigned to a school in grade categories "D" or "F"
11 may select for the program any teacher who has attained
12 national certification by the National Board of Professional
13 Teaching Standards or who has been designated district or
14 state Teacher of the Year, and the teacher shall receive a
15 bonus in the amount provided for national certification
16 pursuant to section 236.08106, Florida Statutes.
17 (3) Each year in which a school district participates
18 in the program, the principal shall certify that teachers
19 selected for the program continue to meet the requirements for
20 recruitment.
21 (a) A principal may not select a teacher for the
22 program who is already employed at a school in any year in
23 which it receives a grade of "F," unless the teacher is
24 nationally certified or has been selected as district or state
25 Teacher of the Year.
26 (b) A principal may recruit teachers for the program
27 who are not currently employed by the school district.
28 (c) The district school board shall evaluate the
29 principal's performance in administering the program and shall
30 consider the performance of students and faculty in its
31 evaluation. If the school earns a grade of "D" or "F" in the
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Florida Senate - 2000 CS for SB 50
304-661-00
1 year following implementation of the program, the school
2 district shall recommend corrective action and submit the
3 recommendation to the State Board of Education for approval.
4 This recommendation must include a statement of how well the
5 principal used the recruitment program to the advantage of the
6 school and whether the principal should be retained. It must
7 describe the measures taken by the district to facilitate the
8 transfer of teachers recruited for the program by the
9 principal.
10 (6) This program shall be implemented to the extent
11 funding is provided in an appropriations act.
12 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2000.
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14 STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
15 SB 50
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17 The Committee Substitute differs from SB 50 in that it:
18 Names the program the Recruitment Program.
19 Makes D schools eligible, as well as F schools.
20 Makes the school district instead of the Commissioner
responsible for establishing criteria for eligible teachers.
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Allows the principal to determine which teachers are eligible
22 and to select them.
23 Makes the school district and the principal accountable to the
State Board of Education: if the school does not rise to C or
24 above, a report must state how the school district enables the
principal to move teachers into the school and must recommend
25 whether to retain the principal.
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