2007 Minnesota Statutes

122A.414 ALTERNATIVE TEACHER PAY.
    Subdivision 1. Restructured pay system. A restructured alternative teacher professional pay
system is established under subdivision 2 to provide incentives to encourage teachers to improve
their knowledge and instructional skills in order to improve student learning and for school
districts, intermediate school districts, and charter schools to recruit and retain highly qualified
teachers, encourage highly qualified teachers to undertake challenging assignments, and support
teachers' roles in improving students' educational achievement.
    Subd. 1a. Transitional planning year. (a) To be eligible to participate in an alternative
teacher professional pay system, a school district, intermediate school district, or site, at least one
school year before it expects to fully implement an alternative pay system, must:
(1) submit to the department a letter of intent executed by the school district or intermediate
school district and the exclusive representative of the teachers to complete a plan preparing for
full implementation, consistent with subdivision 2, that may include, among other activities,
training to evaluate teacher performance, a restructured school day to develop integrated ongoing
site-based professional development activities, release time to develop an alternative pay system
agreement, and teacher and staff training on using multiple data sources; and
(2) agree to use up to two percent of basic revenue for staff development purposes, consistent
with sections 122A.60 and 122A.61, to develop the alternative teacher professional pay system
agreement under this section.
(b) To be eligible to participate in an alternative teacher professional pay system, a charter
school, at least one school year before it expects to fully implement an alternative pay system,
must:
(1) submit to the department a letter of intent executed by the charter school and the charter
school board of directors;
(2) submit the record of a formal vote by the teachers employed at the charter school
indicating at least 70 percent of all teachers agree to implement the alternative pay system; and
(3) agree to use up to two percent of basic revenue for staff development purposes, consistent
with sections 122A.60 and 122A.61, to develop the alternative teacher professional pay system.
(c) The commissioner may waive the planning year if the commissioner determines, based
on the criteria under subdivision 2, that the school district, intermediate school district, site or
charter school is ready to fully implement an alternative pay system.
    Subd. 2. Alternative teacher professional pay system. (a) To participate in this program, a
school district, intermediate school district, school site, or charter school must have an educational
improvement plan under section 122A.413 and an alternative teacher professional pay system
agreement under paragraph (b). A charter school participant also must comply with subdivision 2a.
(b) The alternative teacher professional pay system agreement must:
(1) describe how teachers can achieve career advancement and additional compensation;
(2) describe how the school district, intermediate school district, school site, or charter
school will provide teachers with career advancement options that allow teachers to retain
primary roles in student instruction and facilitate site-focused professional development that helps
other teachers improve their skills;
(3) reform the "steps and lanes" salary schedule, prevent any teacher's compensation paid
before implementing the pay system from being reduced as a result of participating in this system,
and base at least 60 percent of any compensation increase on teacher performance using:
(i) schoolwide student achievement gains under section 120B.35 or locally selected
standardized assessment outcomes, or both;
(ii) measures of student achievement; and
(iii) an objective evaluation program that includes:
(A) individual teacher evaluations aligned with the educational improvement plan under
section 122A.413 and the staff development plan under section 122A.60; and
(B) objective evaluations using multiple criteria conducted by a locally selected and
periodically trained evaluation team that understands teaching and learning;
(4) provide integrated ongoing site-based professional development activities to improve
instructional skills and learning that are aligned with student needs under section 122A.413,
consistent with the staff development plan under section 122A.60 and led during the school day
by trained teacher leaders such as master or mentor teachers;
(5) allow any teacher in a participating school district, intermediate school district, school
site, or charter school that implements an alternative pay system to participate in that system
without any quota or other limit; and
(6) encourage collaboration rather than competition among teachers.
    Subd. 2a. Charter school applications. For charter school applications, the board of
directors of a charter school that satisfies the conditions under subdivisions 2 and 2b must submit
to the commissioner an application that contains:
(1) an agreement to implement an alternative teacher professional pay system under this
section;
(2) a resolution by the charter school board of directors adopting the agreement; and
(3) the record of a formal vote by the teachers employed at the charter school indicating
that at least 70 percent of all teachers agree to implement the alternative teacher professional
pay system, unless the charter school submits an alternative teacher professional pay system
agreement under this section before the first year of operation.
Alternative compensation revenue for a qualifying charter school must be calculated under
section 126C.10, subdivision 34, paragraphs (a) and (b).
    Subd. 2b. Approval process. (a) Consistent with the requirements of this section and
sections 122A.413 and 122A.415, the department must prepare and transmit to interested
school districts, intermediate school districts, school sites, and charter schools a standard form
for applying to participate in the alternative teacher professional pay system. An interested
school district, intermediate school district, school site, or charter school must submit to the
commissioner a completed application executed by the district superintendent and the exclusive
bargaining representative of the teachers if the applicant is a school district, intermediate school
district, or school site, or executed by the charter school board of directors if the applicant is a
charter school. The application must include the proposed alternative teacher professional pay
system agreement under subdivision 2. The department must convene a review committee that at
least includes teachers and administrators within 30 days of receiving a completed application
to recommend to the commissioner whether to approve or disapprove the application. The
commissioner must approve applications on a first-come, first-served basis. The applicant's
alternative teacher professional pay system agreement must be legally binding on the applicant
and the collective bargaining representative before the applicant receives alternative compensation
revenue. The commissioner must approve or disapprove an application based on the requirements
under subdivisions 2 and 2a.
(b) If the commissioner disapproves an application, the commissioner must give the
applicant timely notice of the specific reasons in detail for disapproving the application. The
applicant may revise and resubmit its application and related documents to the commissioner
within 30 days of receiving notice of the commissioner's disapproval and the commissioner must
approve or disapprove the revised application, consistent with this subdivision. Applications
that are revised and then approved are considered submitted on the date the applicant initially
submitted the application.
    Subd. 3. Report; continued funding. (a) Participating districts, intermediate school
districts, school sites, and charter schools must report on the implementation and effectiveness of
the alternative teacher professional pay system, particularly addressing each requirement under
subdivision 2 and make annual recommendations by June 15 to their school boards. The school
board or board of directors shall transmit a copy of the report with a summary of the findings
and recommendations of the district, intermediate school district, school site, or charter school
to the commissioner.
(b) If the commissioner determines that a school district, intermediate school district,
school site, or charter school that receives alternative teacher compensation revenue is not
complying with the requirements of this section, the commissioner may withhold funding from
that participant. Before making the determination, the commissioner must notify the participant of
any deficiencies and provide the participant an opportunity to comply.
    Subd. 4. Planning and staff development. A school district that qualifies to participate in
the alternative teacher professional pay system transitional planning year under subdivision 1a
may use up to two percent of basic revenue that would otherwise be reserved under section
122A.61 for complying with the planning and staff development activities under this section.
History: 1Sp2001 c 6 art 2 s 54; 1Sp2003 c 9 art 2 s 8; 1Sp2005 c 5 art 2 s 40