HB1590: Teachers; salary should equal or surpass national average for those in public schools.


HOUSE BILL NO. 1590
Offered January 20, 2006
A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 22.1-289.1 and 22.1-295 of the Code of Virginia, relating to teacher quality.
Patron-- Tyler

Referred to Committee on Education

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1.  That §§ 22.1-289.1 and 22.1-295 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 22.1-289.1. Teacher compensation; biennial review required.

It is a goal of the Commonwealth that its public school teachers be compensated at a rate that is competitive in order to attract and keep competent teachers.It is also a goal of the Commonwealth that the average salary for Virginia public school teachers equal or surpass the national average salary for public school teachers.

The Director of Human Resource Management shall conduct a biennial review of the compensation of teachers and other occupations requiring similar education and training. The results of these reviews shall be reported to the Governor, the General Assembly, and the Board of Education by June 1 of each odd-numbered year beginning with 1989. However, a preliminary report shall be submitted by the Director of Human Resource Management by December 15, 1987.The Director shall include in each report the average salary for teachers in the Commonwealth, the national average salary for public school teachers, and the Commonwealth's national ranking for such salaries.

§ 22.1-295. Employment of teachers.

A. The teachers in the public schools of a school division shall be employed and placed in appropriate schools by the school board upon recommendation of the division superintendent. In placing teachers, school boards shall fill positions with licensed instructional personnel qualified in the relevant subject areas.

B. School boards shall, in accordance with guidelines established by the Board of Education, adopt employment policies and practices designed to promote the employment and retention of the highest quality instructional personnel and to effectively serve the educational needs of students. Such policies shall include, but need not be limited to, incentives for excellence in teaching, including financial support for teachers attending professional development seminars or those seeking and obtaining national certification. School boards shall develop a procedure for use by division superintendents and principals in evaluating instructional personnel that is appropriate to the tasks performed and addresses, among other things, student academic progress and the skills and knowledge of instructional personnel, including, but not limited to, instructional methodology, classroom management, and subject matter knowledge. Each teacher with continuing contract status shall be evaluated not less than once every three years. A teacher with continuing contract status who has an unsatisfactory evaluation shall be evaluated the following year. Such evaluations of instructional personnel shall be maintained in the employee's personnel file. Copies of the evaluations shall be made available to the Board of Education, upon the request of the Board.

The Board of Education shall establish guidelines for the evaluation of instructional personnel and for the review by the division superintendent or his designee of an unsatisfactory evaluation.