Teacher merit pay regulations finalized

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Board of Education on Thursday finalized a set of rules that helps clear the way for distribution of as much as $10,000 in merit pay per teacher as soon as next month.

There is $10 million in state funding allocated for the incentive or merit pay.

The Educator Performance rules with its merit teacher incentive pay component will now go to the Arkansas Legislative Council for review and then be filed with the secretary of state’s office.

Education Board members unanimously approved the Educator Performance rules at a meeting during which they acted on almost two dozen sets of rules, giving final approval to four sets and releasing others — including both draft of rules and proposed repeal of existing rules — for 30 days of public review and comment.

State rules are intended to provide guidance on how to carry out different parts of a law. Most of the final and draft rules presented Thursday — including the Educator Performance rules — are an extension of the Arkansas LEARNS Act or Act 237 of 2023. The multipart law to overhaul public education was championed by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Education Board member Jeff Wood of Little Rock noted that the Educator Performance rules produced

a relatively high number of comments from school leaders and others in recent weeks.

“I understand why,” he said. “The most important people in the process of educating children are directly impacted by this and so it generated a lot of interest, and that interest is going to continue.”

Wood urged the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education to communicate directly and explicitly with the state’s educators about the law and rules, and let them know that they are valuable to the state and their comments were heard and appreciated.

Stacy Smith, the division’s deputy commissioner, said school districts are for the first time linking students and test results to their primary teachers. That is prompting a lot of questions, including questions about how the incentive pay relates to job evaluations, she said.

To be eligible for the incentive pay, a teacher must be rated as effective or highly effective on their annual rating. Smith said that annual rating referred to in the rules is not the same and not as comprehensive as the more traditional summative evaluation done every four years.

Division of Elementary and Secondary Education leaders have been traveling across the state and using different telecommunication systems to explain the incentive pay plan, including the annual rating, to district leaders and school board members.

“As we roll this out this first year, we are going to err on the side of teachers,” Smith told the Education Board. “If someone doesn’t have an annual rating and we see their scores [are high], we are going to contact that district. We are going to make sure the opportunity is given. … We don’t want to punish a teacher because someone else didn’t know or didn’t have something done.”

The law and the rules state that the Merit Teacher Incentive Fund program is intended to recognize and reward excellent teachers statewide.

To be eligible for the money, applicants must demonstrate a positive impact on student growth, serve as a mentor to aspiring teachers, teach in a subject area in which there is a critical teacher shortage or teach in a geographical area identified as experiencing a critical shortage of teachers.

Other rules approved Thursday by the Education Board were:

• Student Protection Act Rules, based on Act 653 of 2023, which prohibits districts and charter schools from knowingly entering into contracts with individuals and entities that provide abortion referrals.

• Student Transfer Rules based on Act 731 of 2023 that empowers parents to petition the state Education Board if a student transfer request for a school change is denied by a local board.

• Right to Read Act Rules, based on the LEARNS Act provision that establishes supports for student reading, including those students not meeting third-grade reading levels.

The Education Board approved the following draft rules for release for public comment and review:

• Arkansas Governor’s School Rules that update 2004 rules regarding selection of site, faculty and students for the summer residential program.

• Background Check Rules, based on the LEARNS Act, which requires registered volunteer coaches to have background checks through the Arkansas Department of Education and requires tagging an employment record as being “under review” if there is an investigation of an allegation underway.

• Code of Ethics Rules, based on the LEARNS Act, to make registered volunteers in coaching jobs subject to investigation by the state’s Professional Licensing Standards Board if there is a complaint against the individual.

• Better Beginnings Rules, based on the LEARNS Act, to transition the state’s Office of Early Childhood from the Department of Human Services to the Department of Education.

• Birth through Pre-kindergarten Teaching Credential Rules, stemming from the LEARNS Act, that sets requirements for earning a birth through pre-kindergarten teaching credential such as an associate’s degree.

• Dyslexia Screenings and Interventions, based on the LEARNS Act, to streamline screening and services for students with characteristics of dyslexia.

• Educator Licensure Rules, based on the LEARNS Act to, to create different ways of attaining a state license as a special education teacher and also requiring a yearlong residency for completers of teacher preparation programs, starting in the spring of 2027. • Emergency Response Equipment and Training Rules as required by the LEARNS Act to require opioid overdose rescue kits at each public school campus.

• Fiscal Assessment and Accountability Program Rules that are the result of the LEARNS Act that repealed the Arkansas Teacher Fair Dismissal Act and the Public School Employee Fair Hearing Act.

• Maternity Leave Cost Sharing Rules, based on the LEARNS Act, that provide a 50-50 split between the state and local school districts for the cost of up to 12 weeks of paid maternity leave for certified and support service employees. • Water Safety Rules as required by Act 101 of 2023 that call for public schools to inform parents about the importance of and location of water safety education and swimming lessons.

The board approved for release for public review and comment existing rules proposed for repeal because they are outdated or have been folded into other rules:

• Educator Compensation Reform.

• Traveling Teacher Program. • Incentives for Teacher Recruitment and Retention in High Priority Districts. • Reimbursement by School Districts for Election Expenses. • School Board Zones and Rezoning.

• School District Duty to Report Criminal Acts.

• Succeed Scholarship Program.

• Methods of Administration of Career and Technical Education Programs.

The above rules and draft rules are available on the State Board of Education’s May 2024 agenda, which is here: https://meetings.boardbook. org/Public/Agenda/1133?meeting=632042