FINAL BILL REPORT

HB 1264

                                  C 1 L 87 E3

BYRepresentatives Ebersole, Betrozoff, Grimm, Holland, Lewis, Patrick, Padden, B. Williams, McLean, Walk, Jacobsen and Lux; by request of Governor Gardner

Clarifying the staff-mix factor in the allocation formulas for salaries for instructional certificated employees.

SYNOPSIS AS ENACTED

BACKGROUND:

For the 1987-88 school year the original 1987-89 appropriations bill authorized school districts to raise their average salary for basic education certificated instructional staff to the greater of:  the average salary generated by placing the district's 1987-88 staff on the statewide salary allocations schedule contained in the appropriations bill; or the district's 1986-87 average salary increased by 2.1 percent.

The appropriations bill provided a similar salary option for the 1988-89 school year.  However, the salary schedule itself increases by 3.23 percent between these two years, therefore "catching up" with some of the higher-paying districts.  Approximately 30 districts are anticipated to be funded "above the schedule" during 1988-89.

The statewide salary allocation schedule is for allocation purposes only, and school districts may design their own local schedules differently.  However, school districts may not pay any certificated instructional employee less than the allocation schedule's beginning salary, and no teacher with a Masters Degree may be paid less than the allocation amount for a beginning teacher with a Masters Degree.  These minimum salary requirements, enacted during the 1987 legislative session, may cause some lower-paid employees to receive larger increases than the other teachers in their district.

Districts that are funded using the statewide salary allocation schedule will receive funding adjustments for changes in the experience and education of their staff, according to the salary steps provided in that schedule.  Districts "above the schedule," however, did not receive such funding adjustments, but were simply limited to a 2.1 percent increase in their average salary.  Increases due to changes in staff experience and education, as well as the increases to achieve the mandated minimum salary levels, had to be absorbed within the 2.1 percent average increase authorized for these districts.

SUMMARY:

The statute on state salary allocations for certificated instructional staff is amended in the case of school districts funded above the statewide salary allocation schedule, to allow the Superintendent of Public Instruction to adjust for changes in staff experience and education in determining these districts' salary allocations.  An additional $9 million is appropriated for the 1987-89 biennium to fund such adjustments for these districts.  Also, an additional $1 million is appropriated for the 1987-89 biennium to help fund the mandated minimum salaries for instructional staff.

For the 1987-88 school year a school district may increase its average salary for basic education instructional staff to the greater of:  the average salary generated by placing the district's 1987-88 staff on the 1987-88 statewide salary allocation schedule; the district's 1986-87 average basic education instructional salary increased by 2.1 percent; or the district's 1986-87 derived base salary for basic education instructional staff, multiplied by the district's 1987-88 staff mix factor computed using Legislative Evaluation and Accountability Program (LEAP) Document 1, and increased by 2.1 percent.

For the 1988-89 school year, a school district may increase its average salary for basic education instructional staff to the greater of:  the average salary generated by placing the district's 1988-89 staff on the 1988-89 statewide salary allocation schedule; or the district's 1987-88 derived base salary for basic education instructional staff, multiplied by the district's 1988-89 staff mix factor computed using LEAP Document 1, and increased by 2.1 percent.

LEAP Document 1 establishes "staff mix factors" for certificated instructional employees according to experience and education.  The bill's changes in budget language therefore provided some funding adjustment for changes in staff experience and education, according to the LEAP Document schedule, in those districts with salary levels above the statewide salary allocation schedule.

The $1 million appropriated to fund the minimum salary requirements is to be distributed in the 1987-88 and 1988-89 school years to pay the difference between the increase necessary to raise any employee to the mandated salary level, and the across-the-board salary increase funded by the state for the district's instructional staff as a whole.  In calculating this difference, no salary that an employee would have been paid in the 1986-87 school year shall be considered to be less than $16,500 if the school district received state funds in that year to raise all certificated employees' salaries to at least $16,500.

VOTES ON FINAL PASSAGE:

      House 83   3

      Senate    40     0

EFFECTIVE:October 16, 1987