82R5807 KKA-D
By: Lozano H.B. No. 2121
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to educator retention at certain public schools.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 21, Education Code, is amended by adding
Subchapter R to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER R. EDUCATOR RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION PROGRAM
Sec. 21.851. DEFINITION. In this subchapter, "program"
means the educator recruitment and retention program.
Sec. 21.852. EDUCATOR RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION PROGRAM.
The commissioner by rule shall establish an educator recruitment
and retention program under which school districts, in accordance
with local plans approved by the commissioner, receive program
grants from the agency for the purpose of providing stipends to
recruit and retain classroom teachers and principals with proven
records of success in improving student performance who are
assigned to campuses at which the district has experienced
difficulty assigning or retaining classroom teachers.
Sec. 21.853. EDUCATOR RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION FUND;
AMOUNT OF GRANT AWARD. Each state fiscal year, the commissioner
shall deposit an amount determined by the General Appropriations
Act to the credit of the educator recruitment and retention fund in
the general revenue fund. Each state fiscal year, the agency shall
use funds in the educator recruitment and retention fund to provide
a qualifying school district a grant in an amount determined by:
(1) dividing the amount of money available for
distribution in the educator recruitment and retention fund by the
total number of students in average daily attendance in qualifying
districts for that fiscal year; and
(2) multiplying the amount determined under
Subdivision (1) by the number of students in average daily
attendance in the district.
Sec. 21.854. LOCAL PLANS. (a) A district-level committee
for a school district that intends to participate in the program,
such as the district-level planning and decision-making committee
established under Subchapter F, Chapter 11, shall develop a local
plan for the district. The local plan may provide for
participation in the program by all campuses in the district at
which the district has experienced difficulty assigning or
retaining classroom teachers or for participation in the program by
only certain of those campuses, as selected by the district-level
committee.
(b) A school district shall submit a local plan to the
agency for approval. The plan must be submitted together with
evidence of significant classroom teacher involvement in the
development of the plan.
(c) A local plan must provide for classroom teachers and
principals eligible to receive stipends under the plan to be
notified of the specific criteria and any formulas on which the
stipends will be based.
(d) A school district whose local plan is approved by the
agency to receive a program grant under this subchapter may renew
the plan for three consecutive school years without resubmitting
the plan to the agency for approval. A school district may amend a
local plan for approval by the agency for each school year the
district receives a program grant.
Sec. 21.855. STIPEND PAYMENTS. A school district must use
all grant funds awarded to the district under this subchapter to
provide stipends to recruit and retain classroom teachers and
principals with proven records of success in improving performance
who are assigned to campuses at which the district has experienced
difficulty assigning or retaining classroom teachers.
SECTION 2. Section 56.353, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a), (b), and (c) and adding Subsections (a-1)
and (e) to read as follows:
(a) Teach for Texas repayment assistance is available only
to a person who applies for the assistance and who:
(1) is certified in a teaching field identified by the
commissioner of education as experiencing a critical shortage of
teachers in this state in the year in which the person receives the
assistance and has for at least one year taught full-time at, and is
currently teaching full-time at, the preschool, primary, or
secondary level in a public school in this state in that teaching
field; or
(2) is a certified educator who has for at least one
year taught full-time at, and is currently teaching full-time at,
the preschool, primary, or secondary level at [in] a public school
campus in this state at which it is difficult to attract or retain
educators, as [in a community] identified by the commissioner of
education for [as experiencing a critical shortage of teachers in]
the year in which the person receives the assistance.
(a-1) For purposes of Subsection (a)(2), the commissioner
of education each year shall identify public school campuses in
this state at which it is difficult to attract or retain educators.
In identifying campuses, the commissioner of education may rely on
any appropriate indicator, including:
(1) the educator retention rate at the campus; and
(2) the average amount of teaching experience
possessed by educators at the campus.
(b) The coordinating board in awarding repayment assistance
shall give priority to applicants described by Subsection (a)(2)
[who demonstrate financial need].
(c) After an applicant described by Subsection (a)(2)
receives loan repayment assistance for the first year of the period
of eligibility prescribed by Subsection (d), the coordinating board
shall give additional priority to the applicant's request for
assistance during subsequent years of eligibility if the applicant
continues to teach at a school campus identified by the
commissioner of education in accordance with Subsection (a)(2). To
the extent feasible, the coordinating board shall provide the
applicant with greater amounts of loan repayment assistance each
year that the applicant continues to teach at a school campus
identified by the commissioner in accordance with Subsection
(a)(2). [If the money available for loan repayment assistance in a
period for which assistance is awarded is insufficient to provide
assistance to all eligible applicants described by Subsection (b),
the coordinating board shall establish priorities for awarding
repayment assistance to address the most critical teacher shortages
described by Subsection (a).]
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section,
the coordinating board may continue to give priority to a renewal
applicant over a first-time applicant for any renewal applicant who
initially received loan repayment assistance under this subchapter
before September 1, 2011. This subsection expires September 1,
2016.
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;
(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;
(8) a merit salary increase made under Section 51.962,
Education Code;
(9) amounts received under the educator recruitment
and retention program under Subchapter R, Chapter 21, Education
Code, or the relevant parts of the educator excellence awards
program under Subchapter O, Chapter 21, Education Code, or a
mentoring program under Section 21.458, Education Code, that
authorize compensation for service;
(10) salary amounts designated as health care
supplementation by an employee under Subchapter D, Chapter 22,
Education Code; and
(11) to the extent required by Sections 3401(h) and
414(u)(2), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, differential wage
payments received by an individual from an employer on or after
January 1, 2009, while the individual is performing qualified
military service as defined by Section 414(u), Internal Revenue
Code of 1986.
SECTION 4. Not later than December 1, 2012, the Texas
Education Agency shall:
(1) evaluate the effect of the programs implemented
under Subchapter O, Chapter 21, Education Code, and Subchapter R,
Chapter 21, Education Code, as added by this Act, on educator
retention at school district campuses at which districts have had
difficulty assigning or retaining educators; and
(2) report the results of the evaluation to each
member of the legislature.
SECTION 5. Not later than December 1, 2012, the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board shall:
(1) evaluate the effect of the Teach for Texas loan
repayment assistance program implemented under Subchapter O,
Chapter 56, Education Code, on educator retention at school
district campuses at which districts have had difficulty assigning
or retaining educators; and
(2) report the results of the evaluation to each
member of the legislature.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.