Background: Performance Evaluations. Pursuant to legislation enacted in 2010, each school district must establish a four-level rating system for evaluating classroom teachers and principals. The rating system must describe performance on a continuum that indicates the extent to which the criteria have been met or exceeded. When student growth data – showing a change in student achievement between two points in time – is available for principals and available and relevant to the teacher and subject matter, it must be based on multiple measures.

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), with stakeholders and experts, must create models for implementing the revised evaluation system criteria, student growth measurement tools, professional development programs, and evaluator training. Beginning in the 2010-11 school year, the OSPI must select school districts that, among other things, have the agreement of the local associations representing teachers and principals to collaborate with the district, will pilot the new teacher and principal evaluation systems. The new evaluation systems must be implemented in all school districts beginning in 2013-14.

National Board Bonus Program. K-12 certificated instructional staff (CIS) who attain certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) receive an annual bonus in each of the ten years for which the certification is in effect. The amount of the bonus is identified in statute as $5,000 in the 2007-08 school year, to be increased by inflation annually. The annual inflation adjustment was suspended for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years. For the current school year (2010-11), the amount of the annual bonus is $5,090. In addition to the regular bonus, a $5,000 annual bonus is provided to CIS who have attained certification and teach in a challenging school; that is, a school in which at least 70 percent of the students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch.

Certificated Instructional Staff Salaries. The Legislature allocates money to each district for state-funded employee salaries and associated fringe benefits. In the case of CIS – teachers, counselors, librarians, and other instructional staff requiring certification – the state funding is provided based on a state-salary allocation schedule. An individual’s education level and teaching experience determines the allocation for base salary. Additional funds (a 1-3 percent increase) are provided for each additional year of experience up to 16 years, and (a 3-20 percent increase) are also provided for additional credits of approved education acquired up to a Ph.D.

The state does not require school districts to pay CIS in accordance with the state-salary allocation schedule. However, most school districts have adopted a salary schedule the same as, or similar to, the state allocation schedule. Some of the state’s 295 school districts receive higher salary allocations for CIS, because of historical pay differences that are grandfathered in their allocations.

Summary of Bill (Proposed Substitute): Reductions in Force. Certificated classroom teachers with the lowest evaluations must have contracts non-renewed first when reductions in the workforce occur due to enrollment decline or revenue loss. School district boards of directors must establish policies, and future collective bargaining agreements are to reflect this requirement.

Staffing Placements. Assignments of certificated classroom teachers may not be made to schools in the lowest tier of the State Board of Education's accountability index unless agreed to by the hiring principal.

Removal of Teachers Detrimental to Student Academic Performance. The compensation technical working group, created under ESHB 2261 (Chapter 548, Laws of 2009) is tasked with reviewing research on whether additional teaching experience results in an increased positive impact on student performance and includes recommendations regarding experience in its initial report due June 30, 2012.

Linking Yearly Bonuses to Teacher Performances. The annual bonuses paid for certification by the NBPTS are limited to two years, unless the teacher's performance rating is in the top tier. The base NBPTS bonus is set at $5,000 and the annual inflationary adjustment is eliminated. The additional challenging schools NBPTS bonus remains $5,000 annually.

Statewide Salary Allocation Schedule. Beginning in school year 2013-14, the salary allocation schedule phases out additional salary allocations for CIS for educational experience beyond a baccalaureate degree plus 45 credits, with the phase out complete by no later than school year 2018-19. Fiscal savings from phasing out these increases are redirected to performance-based compensation for CIS based on evaluation ratings and the State Board of Education's accountability index for schools. The compensation technical working group is assigned to make specific recommendations regarding the implementation of this provision.

Beginning in school year 2011-12, salary allocations are reduced for school districts grandfathered above the statewide level until the salary allocations are uniform across all school districts in the 2013-14 school year.