SENATE BILL REPORT
SB 5671
As of February 10, 2023
Title: An act relating to making experience factor adjustments for certificated instructional staff.
Brief Description: Making experience factor adjustments for certificated instructional staff.
Sponsors: Senators MacEwen, Hunt and Nguyen.
Brief History:
Committee Activity: Early Learning & K-12 Education: 2/13/23.
Brief Summary of Bill
  • Creates a staff experience funding factor for certificated instructional staff calculated in addition to regionalization factors, beginning in the 2023-24 school year.
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EARLY LEARNING & K-12 EDUCATION
Staff: Benjamin Omdal (786-7442)
Background:

The Legislature allocates money to each school district for state-funded employee salaries and associated fringe benefits. Salary funding is allocated to school districts based on minimum statewide average salaries for each of the three school staffing categories: certificated instructional staff (CIS), certificated administrative staff (CAS), and classified staff (CLS). For school year 2022-23 the statewide average salary allocations are as follows: 

  • CIS—$72,728;
  • CAS—$107,955; and
  • CLS—$52,173.

 

A district's actual salary allocation may be adjusted based on two factors: regionalization, and staff experience.
 
Regionalization Factor.  Minimum salary allocations are adjusted for regional differences in the cost of hiring staff.  Regionalization factors for school districts were set in 2017.  The factors are based on differences in the median residential value of each school district and nearby districts, with adjustments of 6, 12, or 18 percent. 
 
Additional adjustments of 6 percent based on districts' actual salaries when the factors were set are also added, and are reduced on a specified schedule through the 2022-23 school year. Adjustments of 6 percent are also added for districts that border others with factors that are more than two regionalization levels higher.
 
Experience Factor.  An experience factor of 4 percent is provided to districts with above average experience and education levels for CIS.  Experience factors were set for CIS salary allocations in 2018, and were assigned from the 2019-20 school year through 2022-23.  
 
Beginning in 2023, and every four years thereafter, the Legislature must review and rebase basic education compensation allocations compared to school district compensation data, regionalization factors, market inflation, and other economic information.
Summary of Bill:

In addition to regionalization factors set by the Legislature, an experience factor for certificated instructional staff is provided beginning in the 2023-24 school year.  The experience factor is based on certificated instructional staff median years of experience and ratios of staff degrees as follows: 

  • 4 percentage points for school districts whose certificated instructional staff median years of experience exceed the statewide average, and that have a ratio of advanced degrees to bachelor degrees above the statewide average;
  • 3 percentage points for school districts with certificated staff median years of experience above average; and
  • 1 percentage point for school districts with a certificated ratio of advance degrees above average.

 
School district eligibility for these factors must be determined based on staffing data reported by the district to the Superintendent of Public Instruction in the fall of the previous school year.
 
For school districts not eligible for an experience factor but had been in the previous school year, the experience factor is 2 percentage points, to be reduced to 1 percentage point in the second consecutive year the district is ineligible.  In the third consecutive year of ineligibility, the experience factor is removed.
Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Requested on February 2, 2023.
Creates Committee/Commission/Task Force that includes Legislative members: No.
Effective Date: Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.