AN ACT Relating to education; amending RCW 28A.67.065; adding a new section to chapter 28A.04 RCW; adding new sections to chapter 28A.67 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.70 RCW; creating new sections; making appropriations; and providing an expiration date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 28A.04 RCW to read as follows:

A state-wide career ladder is established for certificated nonadministrative employees. Initial implementation of the career ladder system shall be for the 1986-87 school year and the career ladder shall be fully implemented by the beginning of the 1989-90 school year. The ladder shall provide for:

(1) Four levels with each level based upon criteria including progressively higher evaluations, educational attainment, and minimum years of service;

(2) Titles and specific requirements for each different level of the career ladder;

(3) Minimum duration of service for each different level of the career ladder, but promotion shall not be automatic nor based on the length of employment;

(4) The length of contracts and periodic renewal of contracts, which may differ for each different level;

(5) Requirements for maintaining performance and continuing to meet the criteria to remain at a certain level on the career ladder; and

(6) Specific requirements for the top two levels of the career ladder including methods of limiting the numbers of certificated persons in these levels.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. (1) A career ladder committee is created. The committee shall be selected by the speaker of the house of representatives and the secretary of the senate and consist of one person representing each of the following: Each political caucus in the legislature, the office of the superintendent of public instruction, teachers, school principals, school superintendents, school directors, and citizens.

(2) The members of the committee shall select a chairperson.

(3) The nonlegislative members of the committee shall be reimbursed for travel expenses as provided in RCW 43.03.050 and 43.03.060. The legislative members of the committee shall be reimbursed for travel expenses under RCW 44.04.120.

(4) The committee may employ staff and contract with consultants as necessary to fulfill its duties.

(5) The career ladder committee shall develop a plan for a state-wide career ladder for certificated nonadministrative employees.

(6) The career ladder committee shall submit its report and recommendations to the legislature and the superintendent of public instruction by January 1, 1986.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A state-wide salary schedule consistent with the career ladder established under section 1 of this act shall be developed by the legislative evaluation and accountability program committee. The schedule shall be submitted to the legislature and the office of the superintendent of public instruction by February 1, 1986, and shall provide for:

(1) Replacement of derived bases and LEAP I indices by a single schedule for nonadministrative certificated staff expressed in dollars;

(2) An entry level base salary of fifteen thousand two hundred dollars and a top base salary of thirty-six thousand dollars at the fourth level of the career ladder and with twenty years of experience;

(3) An implementation technique to place each teacher on the salary schedule at the salary closest to, but not less than, his or her current salary at the time of implementation with all continuing, special, and otherwise permanent certificated nonadministrative employees placed at level two of the career ladder and all provisional certificated employees placed at level one; and

(4) An implementation cost not to exceed two percent of the current cost of teacher salaries and fringe benefits, including pensions.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. Sections 2 and 3 of this act shall expire July 1, 1986.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. A new section is added to chapter 28A.67 RCW to read as follows:

The superintendent of public instruction shall provide, as funds are available, for payments to persons earning education credits during the summer to meet the requirements for a continuing certificate. Such payments shall total twenty percent of the base salary for those completing at least fifteen quarter credits or equivalent in any summer and ten percent of the base salary for those completing at least ten quarter credits or the equivalent in any summer. Cumulative payments to any individual teacher shall not exceed sixty percent of base salary.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. A new section is added to chapter 28A.67 RCW to read as follows:

(1) The superintendent of public instruction shall develop state-level uniform evaluation instruments and training for those required by law to make teacher personnel decisions, and others whose responsibilities include evaluation and assistance to teachers.

(2) The superintendent of public instruction shall consult with experts in evaluation, administrators, teachers, business leaders, and citizens in preparing the evaluation instruments.

(3) The instruments shall use criteria and indicators of competent teacher performance, including the criteria in RCW 28A.67.065, and be based on observable, job-related behavior.

(4) The instruments shall include sections for required in-class observation, summary performance ratings for overall competencies, teacher self-evaluation, and evaluation of the in-service training received by the teacher.

(5) Individual districts may add items to the instruments but may not delete items.

(6) The performance evaluation process shall produce uniform ratings which support a career ladder system state-wide with different levels of performance.

(7) The superintendent of public instruction shall report to the legislature by February 1, 1986, on the status of the development of the evaluation instruments and training and shall provide assurance that the evaluation system will provide performance differentiation which will enable the career ladder program to operate as intended.

(8) Training of all initial evaluators shall be completed by August 31, 1986.

(9) To assure consistent standards across districts, validation by a team of evaluators from outside a given district shall be performed on a sampling basis every three years. Teams shall include principals, other administrators, subject area specialists and mentor teachers trained and experienced in evaluation. Teams shall be coordinated by the superintendent of public instruction and shall review ten percent of a district's evaluation decisions. The team shall report to administrators and principals summarizing the results without using actual names.

Sec. 7. Section 22, chapter 34, Laws of 1969 ex. sess. as last amended by section 3, chapter 114, Laws of 1975-'76 2nd ex. sess. and RCW 28A.67.065 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The superintendent of public instruction shall, on or before ((~~January 1, 1977~~)) July 1, 1986, establish and may amend from time to time minimum criteria for the evaluation of the professional performance capabilities and development of certificated classroom teachers and certificated support personnel consistent with section 6 of this 1985 act. For classroom teachers the criteria shall be developed in the following categories: Instructional skill; classroom management, professional preparation and scholarship; effort toward improvement when needed; the handling of student discipline and attendant problems; and interest in teaching pupils and knowledge of subject matter. ((~~Such criteria shall be subject to review by November 1, 1976, by four members of the legislature, one from each caucus of each house, including the chairpersons of the respective education committees.~~))

Every board of directors shall, in accordance with procedure provided in RCW 41.59.010 through 41.59.170, 41.59.910 and 41.59.920, establish evaluative criteria and procedures for all certificated classroom teachers and certificated support personnel. The evaluative criteria must contain as a minimum the criteria established by the superintendent of public instruction pursuant to this section and must be prepared within six months following adoption of the superintendent of public instruction's minimum criteria. The district must certify to the superintendent of public instruction that evaluative criteria have been so prepared by the district.

It shall be the responsibility of a principal or his or her designee to evaluate all certificated personnel in his or her school. During each school year all classroom teachers and certificated support personnel, hereinafter referred to as "employees" in this section, shall be observed for the purposes of evaluation at least twice in the performance of their assigned duties. Total observation time for each employee for each school year shall be not less than sixty minutes. Following each observation, or series of observations, the principal or other evaluator shall promptly document the results of the evaluation in writing, and shall provide the employee with a copy thereof within three days after such report is prepared. New employees shall be observed at least once for a total observation time of thirty minutes during the first ninety calendar days of their employment period.

Every employee whose work is judged unsatisfactory based on district evaluation criteria shall be notified in writing of stated specific areas of deficiencies along with a suggested specific and reasonable program for improvement on or before February 1st of each year. A probationary period shall be established beginning on or before February 1st and ending no later than May 1st. The purpose of the probationary period is to give the employee opportunity to demonstrate improvements in his or her areas of deficiency. The establishment of the probationary period and the giving of the notice to the employee of deficiency shall be by the school district superintendent and need not be submitted to the board of directors for approval. During the probationary period the evaluator shall meet with the employee at least twice monthly to supervise and make a written evaluation of the progress, if any, made by the employee. The evaluator may authorize one additional certificated employee to evaluate the probationer and to aid the employee in improving his or her areas of deficiency; such additional certificated employee shall be immune from any civil liability that might otherwise be incurred or imposed with regard to the good faith performance of such evaluation. The probationer may be removed from probation if he or she has demonstrated improvement to the satisfaction of the principal in those areas specifically detailed in his or her initial notice of deficiency and subsequently detailed in his or her improvement program. Lack of necessary improvement shall be specifically documented in writing with notification to the probationer and shall constitute grounds for a finding of probable cause under RCW 28A.58.450 or 28A.67.070, as now or hereafter amended.

The establishment of a probationary period shall not be deemed to adversely affect the contract status of an employee within the meaning of RCW 28A.58.450, as now or hereafter amended.

(2) Every board of directors shall establish evaluative criteria and procedures for all superintendents, principals, and other administrators. It shall be the responsibility of the district superintendent or his or her designee to evaluate all administrators. Such evaluation shall be based on the administrative position job description. Such criteria, when applicable, shall include at least the following categories: Knowledge of, experience in, and training in recognizing good professional performance, capabilities and development; school administration and management; school finance; professional preparation and scholarship; effort toward improvement when needed; interest in pupils, employees, patrons and subjects taught in school; leadership; and ability and performance of evaluation of school personnel.

(3) Each certificated employee shall have the opportunity for confidential conferences with his or her immediate supervisor on no less than two occasions in each school year. Such confidential conference shall have as its sole purpose the aiding of the administrator in his or her professional performance.

(4) The failure of any evaluator to evaluate or supervise or cause the evaluation or supervision of certificated employees or administrators in accordance with this section, as now or hereafter amended, when it is his or her specific assigned or delegated responsibility to do so, shall be sufficient cause for the nonrenewal of any such evaluator's contract under RCW 28A.67.070, as now or hereafter amended, or the discharge of such evaluator under RCW 28A.58.450, as now or hereafter amended.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. A new section is added to chapter 28A.67 RCW to read as follows:

A mentor teacher program is established consisting of two levels, mentor teacher I and mentor teacher II, with the following requirements:

(1) Persons who are mentor teachers I shall have attained at least level three on the career ladder;

(2) Persons who are mentor teachers II shall have attained level four on the career ladder;

(3) Selection as a mentor teacher shall be by the administrators in the school district and shall not be a collective bargaining issue;

(4) Responsibilities of mentor teachers shall include working with less experienced teachers, curriculum development, and other tasks as determined by the administration of a school district;

(5) Persons who are mentor teachers I shall receive a salary increase of five percent above their base career ladder salary, shall be provided up to fifteen percent release time during the contract period to perform their additional responsibilities, and may be provided one additional month of employment beyond the normal contract during the summer with appropriate salary to perform tasks as determined by school district administrators;

(6) Persons who are mentor teachers II shall receive a salary increase of ten percent above their base career ladder salary, shall be provided up to fifty percent of their contract period to perform additional responsibilities, and may be provided two additional months beyond the normal contract for work during the summer with appropriate salary to perform tasks as determined by school district administrators;

(7) Not more than one thousand mentor teacher I positions and not more than five hundred mentor teacher II positions shall be created. The method of distribution of those positions shall be determined by the superintendent of public instruction and reported to the legislature by January 1, 1986. The superintendent of public instruction in making the determination shall provide for even distribution across the state on per pupil basis with consideration to the needs of small and remote school districts.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. A new section is added to chapter 28A.70 RCW to read as follows:

The state board of education shall adopt rules for the issuance of an intern certificate valid for a one-year period to qualified applicants without prior classroom experience. A person holding an intern certificate shall spend eighty percent of his or her time in classroom teaching and twenty percent observing and working with mentor teachers to perfect skills and for problem solving. School districts shall provide twenty percent release time for holders of intern certificates to observe and work with mentor teachers to perfect skills and for problem solving.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. The sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1987, from the general fund to the superintendent of public instruction for the purposes of section 2 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 11. The sum of two million two hundred thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1987, from the general fund to the superintendent of public instruction for the development of evaluation and training under section 6 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 12. The sum of twenty-seven million dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1987, from the general fund to the superintendent of public instruction for the purposes of the career ladder under section 1 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 13. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.