1-1 By: Bivins, et al. S.B. No. 3
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 11, 1999; March 15, 1999, read
1-3 first time and referred to Committee on Education; April 26, 1999,
1-4 reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the
1-5 following vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0; April 26, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-6 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 3 By: Bivins
1-7 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-8 AN ACT
1-9 relating to master reading teacher certification, grants, and
1-10 stipends.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Subchapter I, Chapter 21, Education Code, is
1-13 amended by adding Section 21.410 to read as follows:
1-14 Sec. 21.410. MASTER READING TEACHER GRANT PROGRAM. (a) The
1-15 commissioner shall establish a master reading teacher grant
1-16 program.
1-17 (b) From funds appropriated for the purpose, the
1-18 commissioner shall make grants to school districts and
1-19 open-enrollment charter schools as provided by this section to pay
1-20 stipends to selected certified master reading teachers who teach at
1-21 high-need campuses.
1-22 (c) The commissioner shall annually identify each high-need
1-23 campus in a school district and each high-need open-enrollment
1-24 charter school campus using criteria established by the
1-25 commissioner by rule, including performance on the reading
1-26 assessment instrument administered under Section 39.023. The
1-27 commissioner shall also use the criteria to rank campuses in order
1-28 of greatest need.
1-29 (d) A school district or open-enrollment charter school may
1-30 apply to the commissioner for grants for each high-need campus
1-31 identified by the commissioner to be used to pay stipends to
1-32 certified master reading teachers in accordance with this section.
1-33 Unless reduced under Subsection (g) or (i), each grant is in the
1-34 amount of $5,000. The commissioner shall approve the application
1-35 if the district or school:
1-36 (1) applies within the period and in the manner
1-37 required by rule adopted by the commissioner; and
1-38 (2) agrees to use each grant only for the purpose of
1-39 paying a year-end stipend to a master reading teacher:
1-40 (A) who holds a certificate issued under Section
1-41 21.0481;
1-42 (B) who teaches in a position prescribed by the
1-43 district or school at a high-need campus identified by the
1-44 commissioner;
1-45 (C) whose primary duties include:
1-46 (i) teaching reading; and
1-47 (ii) serving as a reading teaching mentor
1-48 to other teachers for the amount of time and in the manner
1-49 established by the district or school and by rule adopted by the
1-50 commissioner; and
1-51 (D) who satisfies any other requirements
1-52 established by rule adopted by the commissioner.
1-53 (e) Unless reduced under Subsection (g) or (i), a stipend
1-54 under Subsection (d) (2) is in the amount of $5,000.
1-55 (f) The commissioner shall adopt rules for the distribution
1-56 of grants to school districts and open-enrollment charter schools
1-57 in years following the year of the initial grant. A school
1-58 district or open-enrollment charter school that has been approved
1-59 for a grant to pay a stipend to a certified master reading teacher
1-60 is not required to reapply for a grant for two consecutive school
1-61 years following the year of the initial grant if the district or
1-62 school:
1-63 (1) continues to pay a stipend as provided by
1-64 Subsection (g); and
2-1 (2) notifies the commissioner in writing, within the
2-2 period and in the manner prescribed by the commissioner, that the
2-3 circumstances on which the grant was based have not changed.
2-4 (g) The commissioner shall reduce payments to a school
2-5 district or open-enrollment charter school proportionately to the
2-6 extent a teacher does not meet the requirements under Subsection
2-7 (d) (2) for the entire school year. A district or school that
2-8 employs more certified master reading teachers than the number of
2-9 grants available under this section shall select the certified
2-10 master reading teachers to whom to pay stipends based on a policy
2-11 adopted by the board of trustees of the district or the governing
2-12 body of the school, except that a district or school shall pay a
2-13 stipend for two additional consecutive school years to a teacher
2-14 the district or school has selected for and paid a stipend for a
2-15 school year who remains eligible for a stipend under Subsection (d)
2-16 (2) and for whom the district or school receives a grant under this
2-17 section for those years. A decision of the district or school
2-18 under this subsection is final and may not be appealed. The
2-19 district or school may not apportion among teachers a stipend paid
2-20 for with a grant the district or school receives under this
2-21 section. The district or school may use local money to pay
2-22 additional stipends in amounts determined by the district or
2-23 school.
2-24 (h) A grant a school district or open-enrollment charter
2-25 school receives under this section is in addition to any funding
2-26 the district or school receives under Chapter 12 or 42, as
2-27 applicable. The commissioner shall distribute funds under this
2-28 section with the Foundation School Program payment to which the
2-29 district or school is entitled as soon as practicable after the end
2-30 of the school year as determined by the commissioner. A district
2-31 to which Chapter 41 applies is entitled to the grants paid under
2-32 this section. The commissioner shall determine the timing of the
2-33 distribution of grants to a district that does not receive
2-34 Foundation School Program payments.
2-35 (i) This section does not create a property right to a grant
2-36 or stipend. A school district or open-enrollment charter school is
2-37 entitled to a grant to carry out the purposes of this section only
2-38 to the extent the commissioner makes the grant in accordance with
2-39 this section and only to the extent sufficient state funds are
2-40 appropriated for those purposes. If state funds are appropriated
2-41 but are insufficient to fully fund a grant, the commissioner shall
2-42 reduce the grant paid to each district or school in the manner
2-43 provided under Section 42.253(h) and each district or school shall
2-44 reduce the stipend the district or school pays to each teacher
2-45 under this section proportionately so that each selected teacher
2-46 receives the same amount of money.
2-47 (j) A decision of the commissioner concerning the amount of
2-48 money to which a school district or open-enrollment charter school
2-49 is entitled under this section is final and may not be appealed.
2-50 Each district or open-enrollment charter school shall, in the
2-51 manner and at the time prescribed by the commissioner, provide to
2-52 the commissioner proof acceptable to the commissioner of the master
2-53 reading teacher certification of a teacher to whom the district or
2-54 school is paying a stipend under this section.
2-55 (k) The commissioner may audit the expenditure of money
2-56 appropriated for purposes of this section. A district's use of the
2-57 money appropriated for purposes of this section shall be verified
2-58 as part of the district audit under Section 44.008.
2-59 (l) A stipend a teacher receives under this section is not
2-60 considered in determining whether the district is paying the
2-61 teacher the minimum monthly salary under Section 21.402.
2-62 (m) The commissioner may adopt other rules as necessary to
2-63 implement this section.
2-64 SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 21, Education Code, is
2-65 amended by adding Section 21.0481 to read as follows:
2-66 Sec. 21.0481. MASTER READING TEACHER CERTIFICATION. The
2-67 board shall issue a master reading teacher certificate to each
2-68 eligible person. To be eligible for a master reading teacher
2-69 certificate, a person must:
3-1 (1) hold a reading specialist certificate issued under
3-2 this subchapter and satisfactorily complete a course of instruction
3-3 as prescribed under Subdivision (2)(B); or
3-4 (2) hold a teaching certificate issued under this
3-5 subchapter and:
3-6 (A) have at least three years of teaching
3-7 experience;
3-8 (B) satisfactorily complete a knowledge-based
3-9 and skills-based course of instruction on the science of teaching
3-10 children to read that includes training in:
3-11 (i) effective reading instruction
3-12 techniques, including effective techniques for students whose
3-13 primary language is a language other than English;
3-14 (ii) identification of dyslexia and
3-15 related reading disorders and effective reading instruction
3-16 techniques for students with those disorders; and
3-17 (iii) effective professional peer
3-18 mentoring techniques;
3-19 (C) perform satisfactorily on the master reading
3-20 teacher certification examination prescribed by the board; and
3-21 (D) satisfy any other requirements prescribed by
3-22 the board.
3-23 SECTION 3. Subsection (b), Section 822.201, Government Code,
3-24 as amended by Chapters 330 and 1035, Acts of the 75th Legislature,
3-25 Regular Session, 1997, is amended to read as follows:
3-26 (b) "Salary and wages" as used in Subsection (a) means:
3-27 (1) normal periodic payments of money for service the
3-28 right to which accrues on a regular basis in proportion to the
3-29 service performed;
3-30 (2) amounts by which the member's salary is reduced
3-31 under a salary reduction agreement authorized by Chapter 610;
3-32 (3) amounts that would otherwise qualify as salary and
3-33 wages under Subdivision (1) but are not received directly by the
3-34 member pursuant to a good faith, voluntary written salary reduction
3-35 agreement in order to finance payments to a deferred compensation
3-36 or tax sheltered annuity program specifically authorized by state
3-37 law or to finance benefit options under a cafeteria plan qualifying
3-38 under Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C.
3-39 Section 125), if:
3-40 (A) the program or benefit options are made
3-41 available to all employees of the employer; and
3-42 (B) the benefit options in the cafeteria plan
3-43 are limited to one or more options that provide deferred
3-44 compensation, group health and disability insurance, group term
3-45 life insurance, dependent care assistance programs, or group legal
3-46 services plans; [and]
3-47 (4) performance pay awarded to an employee by a school
3-48 district as part of a total compensation plan approved by the board
3-49 of trustees of the district;[.]
3-50 (5) [(4)] the benefit replacement pay a person earns
3-51 under Subchapter H, Chapter 659, as added by Chapter 417, Acts of
3-52 the 74th Legislature, 1995, except as provided by Subsection (c);
3-53 and
3-54 (6) stipends paid to teachers in accordance with
3-55 Section 21.410, Education Code.
3-56 SECTION 4. The State Board for Educator Certification shall
3-57 propose rules establishing requirements and prescribing an
3-58 examination for master reading teacher certification not later than
3-59 January 1, 2001.
3-60 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
3-61 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-62 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-63 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-64 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-65 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-66 passage, and it is so enacted.
3-67 * * * * *