By Dukes H.B. No. 2776
76R5607 BDH-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to induction-year programs for teachers in public schools.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 21.044, Education Code, is amended to
1-5 read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 21.044. EDUCATOR PREPARATION. The board shall propose
1-7 rules establishing the training requirements a person must
1-8 accomplish to obtain a certificate or [,] enter an internship[, or
1-9 enter an induction-year program]. The board shall specify the
1-10 minimum academic qualifications required for a certificate.
1-11 SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 21, Education Code, is
1-12 amended by adding Section 21.0501 to read as follows:
1-13 Sec. 21.0501. INDUCTION-YEAR MENTOR PROGRAM. (a) The board
1-14 shall propose rules establishing guidelines for induction-year
1-15 mentor programs for beginning teachers. The guidelines must
1-16 include:
1-17 (1) minimum qualifications for selection of mentor
1-18 teachers, including requirements that:
1-19 (A) a committee of certified educators in a
1-20 school district select teachers to serve as mentors in the
1-21 district;
1-22 (B) the mentor teacher teach at the same grade
1-23 level as the beginning teacher;
1-24 (C) the mentor teacher teach an academic subject
2-1 similar to a subject that the beginning teacher teaches;
2-2 (D) the mentor possess exceptional teaching
2-3 skills; and
2-4 (E) the mentor have at least four years of
2-5 teaching experience;
2-6 (2) training for mentor teachers, including training
2-7 related to the demonstration of effective strategies, observation
2-8 of beginning teachers, and guidance of beginning teachers;
2-9 (3) a requirement that a beginning teacher and the
2-10 beginning teacher's mentor meet a minimum of 20 hours in the
2-11 classroom and 50 hours outside of the classroom each school year;
2-12 (4) recommended support structures; and
2-13 (5) a method for including information from mentor
2-14 teachers about the performance of beginning teachers in the
2-15 evaluation of educator preparation programs under Section 21.045.
2-16 (b) A mentor teacher under this section is entitled to a
2-17 stipend in an amount, not to exceed 10 percent of the teacher's
2-18 salary, determined by the board of trustees of the school district.
2-19 (c) Each school year, a school district is entitled to
2-20 receive, subject to the availability of funds appropriated to the
2-21 board for that purpose, assistance from the state in an amount
2-22 equal to the stipends received by all mentor teachers in the
2-23 district under this section. If the amount appropriated is not
2-24 sufficient to pay the full amounts to which districts are entitled,
2-25 the board shall reduce each district's entitlement proportionately.
2-26 SECTION 3. This Act applies beginning with the 1999-2000
2-27 school year.
3-1 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-2 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-3 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-4 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-5 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-6 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-7 passage, and it is so enacted.