Arkansas Administrative Code
Agency 005 - DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Division 16 - Division of Human Resources ***
Rule 005.16.11-003 - ADE 278: Rules Governing Incentives for Teacher Recruitment and Retention in High Priority Districts with an Average Daily Membership of 1,000 or Fewer
Universal Citation: AR Admin Rules 005.16.11-003
Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 9, September, 2024
1.00 Regulatory Authority
1.01 These
rules shall be known as the Arkansas Department of Education Rules Governing
Incentives for Teacher Recruitment and Retention in High Priority
Districts.
1.02 The State Board of
Education enacts these Rules pursuant to its authority as set forth in Ark.
Code Ann. §§
6-11-105,
6-17-811, and
25-15-201 et
seq.
2.00 Purpose
The purpose of this rule is to establish the procedures to provide incentives for teacher recruitment and retention in high priority districts.
3.00 Definitions
Unless otherwise specifically stated herein, the term:
3.01 Department - Means the Arkansas
Department of Education.
3.02 High
Priority District - Means a public school district identified by the Department
by February 15 of each year as having a three-quarter average daily membership
in the previous year of one thousand (1,000) or fewer students, and in which
eighty percent (80%) or more of public school students are national school
lunch students.
3.02.1 Qualifying teachers in
the resulting school district in an approved voluntary consolidation or in a
receiving district in an approved voluntary annexation shall continue to
receive the funding provided under this section if all school districts in the
voluntary consolidation or annexation were high-priority districts in the
immediately preceding school year, even if the average daily membership of the
resulting or receiving school district is one thousand (1,000) or
above.
3.03 National
School Lunch Students - Means, for the sole purpose of these Rules, those
students or the percentage of enrolled students from low socioeconomic
backgrounds as indicated by eligibility for free or reduced-price meals under
the National School Lunch Act as determined on October 1 of each previous
school year and submitted to the Department of Education, unless the school
district is identified by the Department of Education as participating in the
special assistance certification and reimbursement alternative implemented
under
42 U.S.C. §
1759a, as interpreted in
7
C.F.R. §
245.9.
3.03.1 If the school district is
participating under
42 U.S.C. §
1759a, then for purposes of this section, the
school district's annual percentage of national school lunch students is equal
to the percentage submitted in the base year, which means the last school year
for which eligibility determinations were made and meal counts were taken by
type.
3.04 New Teacher
Bonus - Means an incentive bonus provided under Sections 4.01.1 through 4.01.3
of these rules to a teacher who is within the first three (3) years of
employment with a single high priority district.
3.05 Previous year - Means the school year
immediately preceding the current school year.
3.06 Retention Bonus - Means an incentive
bonus of three thousand dollars ($3,000) to be paid to a teacher who has
received a new teacher bonus and enters his or her fourth or subsequent year of
service in the same or other high- priority school district or for a teacher
employed in a high-priority district who does not meet the requirements of
Sections 4.01.1 through 4.01.3 of these rules.
3.07 Teacher - Means a licensed classroom
teacher who spends seventy percent (70%) of his or her time working directly
with students in a classroom setting teaching all grade-level or subject-
matter appropriate classes, including guidance counselors and
librarians.
4.00 Incentives
4.01 At the end of the
school year and upon completion of a licensed teacher's contracted teaching
obligation, a teacher who completes the entire current school year teaching in
a high-priority district may be entitled to receive, in addition to all other
contracted salary and benefits:
4.01.1 A
newly hired teacher who has not previously taught in a high-priority district,
a one-time signing bonus of five thousand dollars ($5,000) for the first year
of service in the district to be paid upon completion of the full year of
teaching.
4.01.2 A newly hired
teacher who meets the requirements of Section 4.01.1 of these rules, who
continues to teach in the same high-priority district and who completes the
second full year of contracted teaching obligations, a new teacher bonus of
four thousand dollars ($4,000).
4.01.3 A teacher who meets the requirements
of Sections 4.01.1 and 4.01.2 of these rules, who continues to teach in the
same high-priority district and who completes the third full year of contracted
teaching obligations, a new teacher bonus in the amount of four thousand
dollars ($4,000).
4.01.4 A teacher
who meets the requirements of Sections 4.01.1 through 4.01.3 of these rules,
who enters the fourth or subsequent year of service with the same high-priority
district or begins employment with a high-priority district other than the
high-priority district where he or she was employed when he or she received any
bonuses pursuant to Sections 4.01.1 through 4.01.3 above shall receive a
retention bonus of three thousand dollars ($3,000) for the fourth and each
subsequent complete year of service in the high-priority district to be paid at
the end of the school year after completing all contractual
obligations
4.01.5 A teacher
employed in a high priority district who does not meet the requirements of
Sections 4.01.1 through 4.01.3 of these rules, shall receive a retention bonus
of three thousand dollars ($3,000) for each complete year of service in the
high-priority district to be paid at the end of the school year after
completing all contractual obligations.
4.02 No teacher is entitled to any incentives
outlined in Section 4.01 above unless the teacher has fulfilled all contractual
obligations for the current school year.
4.03 If the funds appropriated and available
for the payment of the bonuses under this section are insufficient to pay the
maximum bonus amounts to each qualifying teacher, the Department shall
distribute the available funding to qualified teachers on a pro rata
basis.
4.04 The bonus amounts
provided under this section are the maximum amounts to be paid to qualifying
teachers in high-priority districts, and are subject to the appropriation and
availability of funding for the payment of the bonuses.
4.05 Districts will be responsible for the
payment of all matching benefit payments.
5.0 Documentation
5.01 The Department shall issue by February
15 of each year a list of the high priority districts in which eighty percent
(80%) or more of the public school students are eligible for the free or
reduced-price lunch program under the National School Lunch Act and that had a
three-quarter average daily membership in the previous year of one thousand
(1,000) or fewer students.
5.02 The
Free and Reduced Price Meal calculation shall be based on the list of eligible
students in a district as verified by the Child Nutrition Unit of the
Department based on the October 1 list of eligible students for grades K-12 for
the previous school year.
5.03 The
determination of eligibility for high priority district designation under
Section 5.01 of these Rules for a school district participating under
42 U.S.C. §
1759a shall be made utilizing the number of
students eligible for free and reduced-price meals submitted by the district
for the Department during its base year, which means the last school year for
which eligibility determinations were made and meal counts were taken by
type.
5.04 Subject to the
provisions of subsection 3.02.01 above, the determination of eligibility for
high priority district designation in annexed or consolidated districts is made
based on the combination of enrollment, average daily membership and free and
reduced-price meal calculations for the two or more districts that were annexed
or consolidated.
5.05 No later than
June 1, high priority districts shall notify the Department on forms provided
by the Department, and identify all eligible teachers employed at the high
priority district for the current school year.
5.05.1 The district shall list teachers who
were not employed by the high priority district during the previous school year
and teachers employed the previous school year who continue to be employed for
the current school year.
5.05.2 The
Superintendent of the high-priority district where the teacher is employed
shall certify in writing to the Department that the teacher has completed all
contractual obligations for the school year as of the date of
certification.
5.05.3 If a teacher
fails to complete his or her contractual obligations between the date of
certification under Section 5.05 and the following June 15, the Superintendent
shall give written notice to the Department no later than June 15.
5.06 Upon receipt of the form from
each high priority district and the written certification from the
Superintendent required by Section 5.05 of these rules, the Department shall
distribute the funds to the districts who will distribute the appropriate
bonuses to the teachers employed by the high priority
districts.
6.00 Monitoring of Program
6.01 It shall be
the responsibility of each high-priority district to monitor the incentive
bonus distribution in their district and provide data to the Arkansas
Department of Education.
6.02 The
Arkansas Department of Education's Teacher Recruitment and Retention Unit will
collect the data and monitor the total program for the
state.
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