Florida Senate - 2024 SB 728 By Senator Trumbull 2-01380-24 2024728__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to K-12 instructional personnel salary 3 schedules; amending s. 1012.22, F.S.; authorizing 4 district school boards to use advanced degrees in 5 setting salary schedules for instructional personnel; 6 providing requirements for such degrees; providing an 7 effective date. 8 9 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 10 11 Section 1.Paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section 12 1012.22, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 13 1012.22Public school personnel; powers and duties of the 14 district school board.The district school board shall: 15 (1)Designate positions to be filled, prescribe 16 qualifications for those positions, and provide for the 17 appointment, compensation, promotion, suspension, and dismissal 18 of employees as follows, subject to the requirements of this 19 chapter: 20 (c)Compensation and salary schedules. 21 1.Definitions.As used in this paragraph: 22 a.Adjustment means an addition to the base salary 23 schedule that is not a bonus and becomes part of the employees 24 permanent base salary and shall be considered compensation under 25 s. 121.021(22). 26 b.Grandfathered salary schedule means the salary 27 schedule or schedules adopted by a district school board before 28 July 1, 2014, pursuant to subparagraph 4. 29 c.Instructional personnel means instructional personnel 30 as defined in s. 1012.01(2)(a)-(d), excluding substitute 31 teachers. 32 d.Performance salary schedule means the salary schedule 33 or schedules adopted by a district school board pursuant to 34 subparagraph 5. 35 e.Salary schedule means the schedule or schedules used 36 to provide the base salary for district school board personnel. 37 f.School administrator means a school administrator as 38 defined in s. 1012.01(3)(c). 39 g.Supplement means an annual addition to the base salary 40 for the term of the negotiated supplement as long as the 41 employee continues his or her employment for the purpose of the 42 supplement. A supplement does not become part of the employees 43 continuing base salary but shall be considered compensation 44 under s. 121.021(22). 45 2.Cost-of-living adjustment.A district school board may 46 provide a cost-of-living salary adjustment if the adjustment: 47 a.Does not discriminate among comparable classes of 48 employees based upon the salary schedule under which they are 49 compensated. 50 b.Does not exceed 50 percent of the annual adjustment 51 provided to instructional personnel rated as effective. 52 3.Advanced degrees.A district school board may not use 53 advanced degrees in setting a salary schedule for instructional 54 personnel or school administrators if hired on or after July 1, 55 2011, unless the advanced degree is held in the individuals 56 area of certification and is only a salary supplement. 57 4.Grandfathered salary schedule. 58 a.The district school board shall adopt a salary schedule 59 or salary schedules to be used as the basis for paying all 60 school employees hired before July 1, 2014. Instructional 61 personnel on annual contract as of July 1, 2014, shall be placed 62 on the performance salary schedule adopted under subparagraph 5. 63 Instructional personnel on continuing contract or professional 64 service contract may opt into the performance salary schedule if 65 the employee relinquishes such contract and agrees to be 66 employed on an annual contract under s. 1012.335. Such an 67 employee shall be placed on the performance salary schedule and 68 may not return to continuing contract or professional service 69 contract status. Any employee who opts into the performance 70 salary schedule may not return to the grandfathered salary 71 schedule. 72 b.In determining the grandfathered salary schedule for 73 instructional personnel, a district school board must base a 74 portion of each employees compensation upon performance 75 demonstrated under s. 1012.34 and shall provide differentiated 76 pay for both instructional personnel and school administrators 77 based upon district-determined factors, including, but not 78 limited to, additional responsibilities, school demographics, 79 critical shortage areas, and level of job performance 80 difficulties. 81 5.Performance salary schedule.By July 1, 2014, the 82 district school board shall adopt a performance salary schedule 83 that provides annual salary adjustments for instructional 84 personnel and school administrators based upon performance 85 determined under s. 1012.34. Employees hired on or after July 1, 86 2014, or employees who choose to move from the grandfathered 87 salary schedule to the performance salary schedule shall be 88 compensated pursuant to the performance salary schedule once 89 they have received the appropriate performance evaluation for 90 this purpose. 91 a.Base salary.The base salary shall be established as 92 follows: 93 (I)The base salary for instructional personnel or school 94 administrators who opt into the performance salary schedule 95 shall be the salary paid in the prior year, including 96 adjustments only. 97 (II)Instructional personnel or school administrators new 98 to the district, returning to the district after a break in 99 service without an authorized leave of absence, or appointed for 100 the first time to a position in the district in the capacity of 101 instructional personnel or school administrator shall be placed 102 on the performance salary schedule. 103 b.Salary adjustments.Salary adjustments for highly 104 effective or effective performance shall be established as 105 follows: 106 (I)The annual salary adjustment under the performance 107 salary schedule for an employee rated as highly effective must 108 be at least 25 percent greater than the highest annual salary 109 adjustment available to an employee of the same classification 110 through any other salary schedule adopted by the district. 111 (II)The annual salary adjustment under the performance 112 salary schedule for an employee rated as effective must be equal 113 to at least 50 percent and no more than 75 percent of the annual 114 adjustment provided for a highly effective employee of the same 115 classification. 116 (III)A salary schedule shall not provide an annual salary 117 adjustment for an employee who receives a rating other than 118 highly effective or effective for the year. 119 c.Salary supplements.In addition to the salary 120 adjustments, each district school board shall provide for salary 121 supplements for activities that must include, but are not 122 limited to: 123 (I)Assignment to a Title I eligible school. 124 (II)Assignment to a school that earned a grade of F or 125 three consecutive grades of D pursuant to s. 1008.34 such that 126 the supplement remains in force for at least 1 year following 127 improved performance in that school. 128 (III)Certification and teaching in critical teacher 129 shortage areas. Statewide critical teacher shortage areas shall 130 be identified by the State Board of Education under s. 1012.07. 131 However, the district school board may identify other areas of 132 critical shortage within the school district for purposes of 133 this sub-sub-subparagraph and may remove areas identified by the 134 state board which do not apply within the school district. 135 (IV)Assignment of additional academic responsibilities. 136 137 If budget constraints in any given year limit a district school 138 boards ability to fully fund all adopted salary schedules, the 139 performance salary schedule shall not be reduced on the basis of 140 total cost or the value of individual awards in a manner that is 141 proportionally greater than reductions to any other salary 142 schedules adopted by the district. Any compensation for 143 longevity of service awarded to instructional personnel who are 144 on any other salary schedule must be included in calculating the 145 salary adjustments required by sub-subparagraph b. 146 Section 2.This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.