Title: An act relating to salary bonuses for certificated instructional staff attaining certification by the national board for professional teaching standards.

Brief Description: Providing a salary bonus for teachers who maintain certification from the national board for professional teaching standards.

Sponsors: Representatives Hunter, Tom, Dunshee, Jarrett, Fromhold, Anderson, Hunt, Linville and Haigh.

Brief History:

Education: 2/28/05, 3/1/05 [DPS].

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Majority Report: The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass. Signed by 11 members: Representatives Quall, Chair; P. Sullivan, Vice Chair; Talcott, Ranking Minority Member; Anderson, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Curtis, Haigh, Hunter, McDermott, Santos, Shabro and Tom.

Staff: Susan Morrissey (786-7111).

Background:

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that provides advanced, voluntary certification for experienced teachers and school counselors. The NBPTS was created as a way for the teaching profession to recognize highly accomplished teaching practices. A certificate awarded by the NBPTS is intended to show that a teacher or school counselor has been judged by his or her peers as one who meets high and rigorous professional standards. The NBPTS is governed by a 63-member board of directors, of whom a majority are classroom teachers. The organization is funded through gifts and grants from foundations, corporations, individuals, the United States Department of Education, and the National Science Foundation.

The NBPTS certifies teachers in 24 fields using a rigorous process of assessment and evaluation, for which those seeking certification pay a fee. The standards used in the process are developed by committees of teachers and other experts and are structured around student developmental levels and subject areas. There are about 581 educators with NBPTS certification working in Washington schools, about double the number of educators with NBPTS certification in 2003.

Under rules adopted by the State Board of Education, NBPTS certification will satisfy all state requirements for continuing education and for obtaining the state's professional certificate.

The 2003-2005 biennial budget provided funding for a $3,500 salary bonus for teachers who obtained NBPTS certification. The bonus, which was intended to provide recognition for the teachers' outstanding performance, is not included in pension calculations.

Educators that seek NBPTS certification in 2005 will be assessed a fee of $2,300. Scholarship assistance with some or all of the fee is available from foundations, school districts and the federal government. In addition, the state, Washington Mutual, and the Gates and Stuart Foundations have joined together to create a support program for NBPTS candidates.

Summary of Substitute Bill:

Teachers and school counselors who have attained certification from the NBPTS will receive a $3,500 bonus for each year that the educators maintain that certification. The bonus will not be included in a district's average salary calculation and is exempt from statutory salary limits.

The Legislature may cap program expenditures at the amount required to pay a $3,500 bonus to 5 percent of the public school teachers and counselors eligible for such certification. If the program is capped and the number of eligible educators exceeds the amount appropriated, each educator will get a pro-rata share of the amount provided.

In addition to the $3,500 bonus, teachers with national board certification will receive an additional $10,000 in any year in which they teach reading, writing, mathematics, or science in a classroom of a Title I school in which students in one or more of the No Child Left Behind subgroups did not make adequate yearly progress toward the proficient level on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL).

By August 1, 2008, the Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) will review the NBPTS certification standards to determine whether they are sufficiently rigorous and aligned to student achievement. By December 15, 2010, the PESB will report to the appropriate House of Representatives and Senate committees whether the bonuses should be continued, modified or eliminated.

The bonuses expire on July 1, 2011.

Substitute Bill Compared to Original Bill:

A $10,000 stipend is provided to teachers who work in a Title I school in which students in one or more of the NCLB subgroups did not make adequate yearly progress toward the proficient level on the WASL.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Available.

Effective Date of Substitute Bill: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For: (In support of the original bill) Teachers who have undertaken national board certification describe the process as transformative. It requires them to use student achievement data, reflect on their teaching practices, and use student work as the evidence of the quality of their instruction. It demands hundreds of hours of work over the course of a year. Once completed, that work is evaluated by a jury of experienced educators. Those who have attained certification enhance and invigorate learning for their own students and often improve instruction for students throughout the entire school. Research suggests that the students of these teachers achieve at higher levels than is true of other teachers. The bonus included in this legislation will help keep excellent educators in the classroom. It would be an even better bill without the 5 percent cap.

Testimony Against: None.

Persons Testifying: (In support) Representative Hunter, prime sponsor; Michaela Miller, Bruce Kelly, John Hellwich, teachers; Terese Emry, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards; and Lucinda Young, Washington Education Association.

Persons Signed In To Testify But Not Testifying: None.