Background:

Salary Schedule.

Certificated Instructional Staff (CIS) include teachers and educational staff associates such as school counselors, social workers, psychologists, and nurses. State allocations for salaries for CIS are provided through a salary schedule adopted by the Legislature in the appropriations act. The current schedule is based on years of experience (up to 16) and academic degrees and credits (up to 90 college quarter hour credits and equivalent in-service credits) attained by the individual.

Actual salaries are determined through collective bargaining at the school district level, subject to certain minimum and maximum requirements.

Bonuses.

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) program provides an opportunity for teachers to seek an advanced teaching credential by undertaking a rigorous application process. Once earned, the certification is valid for 10 years.

Those CIS with certification from the NBPTS are eligible to receive an annual lump-sum bonus of at least $5,000, adjusted by inflation. The current bonus is $5,090 (Inflation adjustments have been suspended for the past three biennia.) In addition, a CIS with NBPTS certification employed in an instructional assignment in a low income school is eligible for an additional $5000 lump-sum bonus.

Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLAs).

Initiative 732 (I-732) was approved by voters in the November 2000 general election. It required the state to provide an annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for K-12 teachers and other public school employees, as well as community and technical college academic employees and classified employees at technical colleges. The COLA is based on the Seattle-area Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the most recently completed calendar year.

The I-732 COLA has been suspended for the past three biennia.

Supplemental Contracts.

The statutory restrictions on salaries for CIS can be exceeded only through a supplemental contract (known as a TRI contract) for additional time, responsibilities, or incentives, or for implementing specific measurable innovative activities, including professional development specified by a school district to close one or more achievement gaps, focus on development of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics learning opportunities, or provide arts education. These TRI contracts cannot impose a funding obligation on the state and districts are prohibited from entering into a TRI contract for the provision of services that are part of the program of basic education.

Educator Support Program.

The Educator Support Program, established in statute in 2013, includes two components: the Beginning Educator Support Team (BEST) and continuous improvement coaching for educators on probation. If funds are appropriated, the OSPI must allocate funds for BEST on a competitive basis, with a priority given to low-performing schools. Required components of BEST include: a paid orientation or individualized assistance before the start of the school year for beginning educators; assignment of a trained and qualified mentor for the first three years, with intensive support in the first year and decreasing support over the following years; professional development for beginning educators and their mentors; release time to work together; and a program evaluation.

Subject to a separate specific appropriation, BEST components may be provided for continuous improvement coaching of educators on probation due to performance issues.

Summary of Bill:

A new salary allocation system is put in place. It is applicable only to certificated instructional staff (CIS) whose first employment with a school district commences with or after the 2017-18 school year or those who have transferred to the new system. Any CIS employed before the 2017-18 school year may make an irrevocable transfer to the new system, or remain with the old system for up to 10 years, after which inclusion in the new system is mandatory.

New Salary Schedule.

Beginning with the 2017-18 school year, a new salary schedule for certificated instructional staff (CIS) shall be established by the Legislature in the appropriations act,

The new schedule shall be based on three tiers of demonstrated performance and years of service up to 10 years. The three tiers of demonstrated performance include: residency certification and professional certification, as defined by the Professional Educator Standards Board; and, certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification.

Salary increases between each tier must be significant, and each tier must contain salary steps based on years of service up to 10 years, with the largest salary increases provided in the first and second years in each tier, and declining increases provided with each subsequent year in that tier. The salary schedule may not provide increased salaries based upon academic degrees and credits.

New Bonuses.

Classroom teachers employed in a hard to staff position or in a low income school are eligible for a bonus in the amount of $2,000 during the first three years of such employment. A "hard to staff position" is one in which the classroom teacher spends at least 50 percent of his or her time in direct classroom instruction in either: special education at any grade level; or, mathematics or science, or both, at the middle or high school levels.

In addition, CIS in the top three small, medium, and large schools recognized by the State Board of Education and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) as demonstrating the most improvement on the Washington Achievement Index shall receive a bonus of $5000.

These bonuses are to be paid in a lump sum, and be adjusted annually for inflation.

Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLAs).

Annual COLAs are provided to CIS under the new salary allocation system, but not to those remaining in the old system.

Supplemental Contracts.

The statutory restrictions on salaries for CIS can be exceeded only through a supplemental contract for enhancements to the program of basic education consisting of additional staff time or responsibility as follows: athletic coaching; advising of clubs and student body organizations; professional development on nonschool days, or after work hours on school days; extra day contracts for CIS on special assignment as classroom coaches and curriculum specialists or for summer school; time spent on individualized education programs, after work hours on school days and on nonschool days, by CIS employed in special education; after school meetings among CIS to co-plan, often through professional learning communities; and time spent tutoring students after school hours and on nonschool days.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction is authorized to provide, by rule, for other similar additional time or responsibilities to be considered enhancements and the proper subject of a supplemental contract.

Supplemental contracts must specify the minimum amount of additional time required and the purpose or purposes of the additional time or responsibility using standard terms and definitions established by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). Annually, school districts must submit this information to the OSPI, disaggregated for each individual receiving a supplemental contract.

Educator Support Program.

Beginning in the 2017-18 school year, and subject to funds appropriated for this purpose, the educator support program is expanded statewide, and all teachers in their first year of teaching service after receipt of a residency certificate must participate in the mentoring and support program.