79S10121 PAM-D
By: Shapleigh S.B. No. 29
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a bonus for certain new public school classroom
teachers.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. (a) This Act may be cited as the "Texas Teacher
Excellence Act of 2005."
(b) The link between student achievement and teacher
quality is well documented in educational studies and literature.
Teacher qualifications, such as academic degrees and excellence,
are highly predictive of student performance. This state should
continue to maintain high and rigorous standards for what
accomplished teachers should know and be able to do. Meanwhile,
school districts across the state are experiencing teacher
shortages in a number of areas, including mathematics, science,
bilingual education, early education, and special education.
Effective teachers who are capable of inspiring significantly
greater learning gains for students in areas with critical
shortages of teachers should be rewarded for those skills. Bonuses
for highly qualified teachers in critical shortage areas would
provide an incentive for beginning candidates to choose one of
those areas. The Texas Teacher Excellence Act of 2005 seeks to
attract the most qualified teachers to the regions of the state
experiencing the greatest need.
SECTION 2. Subchapter I, Chapter 21, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 21.415 to read as follows:
Sec. 21.415. BONUS FOR CERTAIN NEW CLASSROOM TEACHERS. (a)
Subject to available funds, a person employed as a classroom
teacher for the first time is entitled to a bonus of $5,000 if:
(1) the person graduated in the top 10 percent of the
person's graduating class at a public or private senior college or
university with a grade point average of at least 3.5 on a
four-point scale or an equivalent grade point average;
(2) the commissioner, in accordance with commissioner
rule, determines the district employing the person has a critical
shortage of teachers qualified to teach mathematics, science,
special education, bilingual education, early reading, or any other
area designated by commissioner rule as an area that has a critical
shortage of teachers; and
(3) before the bonus is paid, the person enters into a
written contract with the district under which the person agrees
to:
(A) teach in the district for at least three
consecutive school years in an area listed or designated under
Subdivision (2); or
(B) reimburse the total amount of the bonus.
(b) A bonus under this section shall be paid using funds
appropriated for that purpose and distributed by the commissioner
to each school district to which Subsection (a)(2) applies. A
person is entitled to a bonus under this section only to the extent
sufficient state funds are appropriated for that purpose. If state
funds are appropriated but are insufficient to fully fund the
bonuses, the commissioner shall reduce the amount paid for the
bonuses to each district to which Subsection (a)(2) applies, and
the district shall reduce the amount of the bonus the district pays
to each person entitled to a bonus under this section
proportionately so that each person receives the same amount of
money.
(c) A decision of the commissioner concerning the amount of
money to which a school district is entitled under this section is
final and may not be appealed. Each district shall, in the manner
and at the time prescribed by the commissioner, provide to the
commissioner proof acceptable to the commissioner of the employment
of a person entitled to a bonus under this section.
(d) The commissioner may audit the expenditure of money
appropriated for purposes of this section. A school district's use
of the money appropriated for purposes of this section shall be
verified as part of the district audit under Section 44.008.
(e) A bonus a teacher receives under this section is not
considered in determining whether the district is paying the
teacher the minimum monthly salary under Section 21.402.
(f) In addition to rules adopted under Subsection (a), the
commissioner may adopt any other rule necessary to administer this
section.
SECTION 3. Section 822.201(b), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) "Salary and wages" as used in Subsection (a) means:
(1) normal periodic payments of money for service the
right to which accrues on a regular basis in proportion to the
service performed;
(2) amounts by which the member's salary is reduced
under a salary reduction agreement authorized by Chapter 610;
(3) amounts that would otherwise qualify as salary and
wages under Subdivision (1) but are not received directly by the
member pursuant to a good faith, voluntary written salary reduction
agreement in order to finance payments to a deferred compensation
or tax sheltered annuity program specifically authorized by state
law or to finance benefit options under a cafeteria plan qualifying
under Section 125, [of the] Internal Revenue Code of 1986, if:
(A) the program or benefit options are made
available to all employees of the employer; and
(B) the benefit options in the cafeteria plan are
limited to one or more options that provide deferred compensation,
group health and disability insurance, group term life insurance,
dependent care assistance programs, or group legal services plans;
(4) performance pay awarded to an employee by a school
district as part of a total compensation plan approved by the board
of trustees of the district and meeting the requirements of
Subsection (e);
(5) the benefit replacement pay a person earns under
Subchapter H, Chapter 659, except as provided by Subsection (c);
(6) stipends paid to teachers in accordance with
Section 21.410, 21.411, 21.412, or 21.413, Education Code, and
bonuses paid to teachers in accordance with Section 21.415,
Education Code;
(7) amounts by which the member's salary is reduced or
that are deducted from the member's salary as authorized by
Subchapter J, Chapter 659; and
(8) a merit salary increase made under Section 51.962,
Education Code.
SECTION 4. This Act applies beginning with the 2005-2006
school year.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect on the 91st day after the last day of the
legislative session.