H. B. 2381

                        (By Delegates Ambler, Cooper, D. Evans, Perry, Duke, Rohrbach,

                                           Espinosa, Upson, Rowan and Romine)

                        [Introduced January 26, 2015; referred to the

                        Committee on Education then Finance.]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §18A-4-2c, relating to providing a teacher mentoring increment for classroom teachers with national board certification who teach and mentor at priority and focus schools; defining focus and priority schools; defining mentoring; specifying method of payment; and specifying eligibility.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

            That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §18A-4-2c, read as follows:

ARTICLE 4. SALARIES, WAGES AND OTHER BENEFITS.

§18A-4-2c. Teacher mentoring increment for classroom teachers with national board certification who teach and mentor at priority and focus schools.

            (a) An additional $2,000 shall be paid annually to each classroom teacher who:

            (1) Holds a valid certificate issued by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards;

            (2) Is employed to teach at a school designated as a priority school or as a focus school by the West Virginia Department of Education; and

            (3) Is assigned as part of their regular employment to mentor other teachers at the school.

            The teacher is not eligible for any additional extra duty or other pay for the mentoring assignment.

            (b) For the purposes of this section:

            (1) “Priority school” means a school identified by the department as being among the persistently lowest performing five percent of schools in the state in both mathematics and reading/language arts on the statewide summative assessment.

            (2) “Focus school” means a school identified by the department as being among the ten percent of schools in the state with the largest differences in the achievement and graduation rates of students in different economic, racial, disability and other established subgroups of students at the school.

            (3) “Mentoring” means working under the direction of the principal to improve the professional practice knowledge and skills of other professional personnel employed at the school through on-site embedded professional development and other appropriate school building level approaches.

            (c) The payments:

            (1) Shall be in addition to any amounts prescribed in the applicable state minimum salary schedule;

            (2) Shall be paid in equal monthly installments; and

            (3) Shall be considered a part of the state minimum salaries for teachers.

            (d) A classroom teacher who becomes eligible for a mentoring increment under this section remains eligible for five consecutive years of employment at the same school in the same assignment regardless of a subsequent change in the designation of the school as a priority or focus school. The teacher may become eligible again at a different priority or focus school, but not sooner than five years from the beginning of a previous eligibility. Nothing in this subsection permits continued eligibility if the certificate issued by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is no longer valid.

            NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide a $2,000 mentoring increment to teachers with certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards who teach in schools that are in the lowest 5% in achievement or 10% with the largest achievement gaps statewide and also mentor other teachers as part of their assignment. They may not receive additional mentoring pay.

            This section is new; therefore, it has been completely underscored.