Honorable Larry Taylor, Chair, Senate Committee on Education
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB893 by Seliger (relating to public school teacher performance appraisals, continuing education, professional development, career advancement, and compensation.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would require the Commissioner of Education to adopt a teacher development framework (TDF) by rule related to performance appraisals, professional development, career advancement, and compensation.
The bill would require the Commissioner to appoint a committee of educators and other stakeholders to assist the commissioner in reviewing and revising the TDF at least once every five years.
The bill would enable educators to provide feedback to the State Board of Educator Certification (SBEC) regarding continuing education courses or programs completed by the educator, and would require SBEC to provide public access to the feedback.
The bill would require the Commissioner to adopt a recommended appraisal process, criteria based on measures of a teacher's performance, and measures of student educational growth. Measures of student educational growth could not be limited to performance on required assessment instruments. The Commissioner would be required to consider the advice of other stakeholders, in addition to teachers, when developing the recommended appraisal process and performance criteria. The bill would require districts to conform to the TDF and the measures when appraising teachers.
The bill would require certain professional development opportunities for educators other than principals to include campus-based performance objectives and individual educator performance objectives.
It is assumed that school districts would be responsible for providing these measures for each teacher's students for non-tested grades and subjects and that such measures will have a local, rather than state, impact. To the extent that TEA contracts out for this function, the agency would incur an estimated annual cost of $4 million.
The bill would remove classroom teachers from the computation of minimum salaries established in Education Code and require school districts to pay a minimum monthly salary to classroom teachers of at least $2,754. The bill would allow districts to pay higher monthly salaries based on criteria consistent with the TDF. The bill would require school districts to make the state contribution to the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) on salary amounts above the salary schedule adopted by the TRS board of trustees, which must be based on the minimum salary schedule as it existed on January 1, 2015.
The bill would take effect on September 1, 2015, or immediately if passed with the necessary voting margins. The bill would apply beginning in school year 2016-17.
Local Government Impact
Districts would incur significant additional costs if required to redesign compensation plans, redesign professional development options in multiple formats, develop measures of student educational growth at the teacher level for non-tested grades and subjects, and submit additional information related to the teacher development framework to the Texas Education Agency. Districts may also be required to hire additional personnel to assist with implementing new appraisals, professional development options, and data submission. These costs would be anticipated to vary considerably among districts.
Source Agencies:
323 Teacher Retirement System, 701 Central Education Agency