TEACHER TENURE: EVALUATION S.B. 1581 & 1582:
FLOOR SUMMARY
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Senate Bills 1581 and 1582 (as reported without amendment)
Sponsor: Senator Wayne Kuipers
Committee: Education
CONTENT
Senate Bill 1581 would amend the teachers' tenure Act to do all of the following:
-- Allow a school board to require a tenured teacher to serve an additional four-year probationary period if he or she were rated as ineffective for two consecutive years.
-- Provide that a teacher in the final year of a probationary period could not be considered to have successfully completed that period unless he or she were rated as effective, and that he or she could not be employed for the ensuing year unless he or she were rated as effective.
-- Require teachers on continuing tenure to be given a performance evaluation at least annually, rather than at least once every three years.
Senate Bill 1582 would amend the Revised School Code to do the following:
-- Require a school board's performance evaluation system to rate a teacher as "effective" or "ineffective" and ensure that at least 50% of an evaluation was based on student growth.
-- Require the evaluations to be used for teacher tenure decisions.
-- Require the evaluation system to provide for an appeal process for teachers.
The bills are tie-barred.
MCL 38.81 et al. (S.B. 1581) Legislative Analyst: Patrick Affholter
380.1249 (S.B. 1582)
FISCAL IMPACT
Senate Bill 1581: The State could see increased levels of teacher tenure appeals, which would increase State costs. However, an estimate of potential costs is not determinable and would depend upon the new level of teacher tenure appeal activity directly attributable to the proposed changes.
School districts likely would see increased costs associated with the requirement to conduct an annual performance evaluation of tenured teachers, instead of the current practice of evaluating once every three years. The changes in teacher tenure rules potentially could affect school district costs, and any fiscal impact would depend upon how the changes proposed affected the numbers of existing tenured teachers or the process of tenuring teachers on probation, and how that in turn would affect the hiring or employment of affected teachers.
Senate Bill 1582: The bill would have no fiscal impact on State government.
School districts could see slight changes in cost (either positive or negative) with the requirement to change their existing evaluation systems to ensure that at least 50% of the annual evaluation was based on student growth, but any cost adjustments should be temporary in nature until the evaluation systems were revised to meet this requirement. School districts also could see additional administrative costs from the requirement that the teacher evaluation system include an appeal process.
Date Completed: 11-10-10 Fiscal Analyst: Kathryn Summers
Analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent. sb1581&1581/0910