The Florida Senate

1012.231  BEST Florida Teaching salary career ladder program; assignment of teachers.--

(1)  SALARY CAREER LADDER FOR CLASSROOM TEACHERS.--Beginning with the 2005-2006 academic year, each district school board shall implement a salary career ladder for classroom teachers as defined in s. 1012.01(2)(a). Performance shall be defined as designated in s. 1012.34(3)(a)1.-7. District school boards shall designate categories of classroom teachers reflecting these salary career ladder levels as follows:

(a)  Associate teacher.--Classroom teachers in the school district who have not yet received a professional certificate or those with a professional certificate who are evaluated as low-performing teachers.

(b)  Professional teacher.--Classroom teachers in the school district who have received a professional certificate.

(c)  Lead teacher.--Classroom teachers in the school district who are responsible for leading others in the school as department chair, lead teacher, grade-level leader, intern coordinator, or professional development coordinator. Lead teachers must participate on a regular basis in the direct instruction of students and serve as faculty for professional development activities as determined by the State Board of Education. To be eligible for designation as a lead teacher, a teacher must demonstrate outstanding performance pursuant to s. 1012.34(3)(a)1.-7. and must have been a "professional teacher" pursuant to paragraph (b) for at least 1 year.

(d)  Mentor teacher.--Classroom teachers in the school district who serve as regular mentors to other teachers who are either not performing satisfactorily or who strive to become more proficient. Mentor teachers must serve as faculty-based professional development coordinators and regularly demonstrate and share their expertise with other teachers in order to remain mentor teachers. Mentor teachers must also participate on a regular basis in the direct instruction of low-performing students. To be eligible for designation as a mentor teacher, a teacher must demonstrate outstanding performance pursuant to s. 1012.34(3)(a)1.-7. and must have been a "lead teacher" pursuant to paragraph (c) for at least 2 years.

Promotion of a teacher to a higher level on the salary career ladder shall be based upon prescribed performance criteria and not based upon length of service.

(2)  TEACHER ASSIGNMENT.--School districts may not assign a higher percentage than the school district average of first-time teachers, temporarily certified teachers, teachers in need of improvement, or out-of-field teachers to schools with above the school district average of minority and economically disadvantaged students or schools that are graded "D" or "F." District school boards are authorized to provide salary incentives to meet this requirement. No district school board shall sign a collective bargaining agreement that fails to provide sufficient incentives to meet this requirement.

(3)  STATE BOARD AND SCHOOL DISTRICT PLANS.--The State Board of Education shall develop a long-range plan to implement a differentiated pay model for teachers beginning in the 2005-2006 academic year, based upon the differentiated classroom teacher categories in subsection (1). No later than December 1, 2003, the State Board of Education shall approve guidelines and criteria for the district plans. District school boards shall develop plans to implement the salary career ladder prescribed in this section and submit these plans to the State Board of Education by March 1, 2004.

History.--s. 41, ch. 2003-391; s. 8, ch. 2004-295.