SENATE BILL 116
53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2018
INTRODUCED BY
William P. Soules
AN ACT
RELATING TO SCHOOL PERSONNEL; CREATING A LEVEL FOUR TEACHING LICENSE; PROVIDING DUTIES; ESTABLISHING MINIMUM SALARY.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. Section 22-10A-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2003, Chapter 153, Section 35, as amended by Laws 2005, Chapter 315, Section 4 and by Laws 2005, Chapter 316, Section 1) is amended to read:
"22-10A-4. TEACHERS AND SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS--PROFESSIONAL STATUS--LICENSURE LEVELS--SALARY ALIGNMENT.--
A. Teaching and school administration are recognized as professions, with all the rights, responsibilities and privileges accorded professions, having their first responsibility to the public they serve. The primary responsibilities of the teaching and school administration professions are to educate the children of this state and to improve the professional practices and ethical conduct of their members.
B. The New Mexico licensure framework for teachers and school administrators is a progressive career system in which licensees are required to demonstrate increased competencies and undertake increased duties as they progress through the licensure levels. The minimum salary provided as part of the career system shall not take effect until the department has adopted increased competencies for the particular level of licensure and a highly objective uniform statewide standard of evaluation.
C. A level one license is a provisional license that gives a beginning teacher the opportunity, through a formal mentorship program, for additional preparation to be a quality teacher. A level two license is given to a teacher who is a fully qualified professional who is primarily responsible for ensuring that students meet and exceed department-adopted academic content and performance standards; a teacher may choose to remain at level two for the remainder of the teacher's career. A level three-A license is the next highest level of teaching licensure for those teachers who choose to advance as instructional leaders in the teaching profession and undertake greater responsibilities such as curriculum development, peer intervention and mentoring. A level three-B license is for teachers who commence a new career path in school administration by becoming school administrators. A level four license is for master teachers who are primarily responsible for working with classroom teachers and educational assistants to improve their teaching skills through professional development activities, including mentoring, peer intervention and coursework, and working with struggling students.
D. All teacher and school administrator salary systems shall be aligned with the licensure framework in a professional educator licensing and salary system.
E. All teachers and school administrators who hold teaching or administrator certificates on the effective date of the 2003 act shall meet the requirements for their level of licensure by September 1, 2006 and shall be issued licenses."
SECTION 2. A new section of the School Personnel Act is enacted to read:
"[NEW MATERIAL] LEVEL FOUR LICENSURE--QUALIFICATIONS-- DUTIES--MINIMUM SALARY.--
A. A level four license is a five-year license granted to a teacher who meets the qualifications for that level and who annually demonstrates essential competency in teaching, mentoring and training teachers, developing standards- and school-based curriculum frameworks and syllabi and serving as an educational leader and professional development resource for other school personnel. If a level four teacher does not demonstrate essential competency during a school year, the school district may choose not to contract with that teacher as a level four teacher; provided that the school district can choose to offer the level four teacher a lower teaching position or another position in the school district for which the teacher is qualified. If a level four teacher chooses to teach as a level two or three teacher, the teacher's salary will be commensurate with the lower level of teaching.
B. Although a level four teacher may be assigned to teach, the level four teacher is not primarily a classroom teacher. When not in the classroom, the duties of a level four teacher may include:
(1) leading teams of teachers to develop and improve classroom lessons, syllabi and curriculum frameworks;
(2) working with teachers and instructional support providers to ensure that all students are being taught in the most appropriate and effective manner and are provided, insofar as practicable, with the academic, emotional, social and family resources they need to succeed;
(3) observing and critiquing teachers and educational assistants in the classroom as part of ongoing professional development;
(4) setting up and implementing formal and informal mentoring programs for level one through level three-A teachers and for educational assistants;
(5) designing, and conducting as appropriate, professional development programs for teachers, educational assistants and other instructional support providers who interact with students in a classroom setting and, insofar as the school budget allows, finding off-site professional development programs targeted to the needs of specific teachers and other staff in the public school;
(6) working with struggling students; and
(7) performing other professional duties as assigned by the school principal or local superintendent.
C. The department shall grant a level four license to an applicant who:
(1) has been a level three teacher for at least five years;
(2) holds a post-baccalaureate degree in educational leadership or a complementary field or national board for professional teaching standards certification;
(3) has taken eight or more credit hours in higher level graduate education courses or certification in appropriate areas of educational leadership approved by the department; and
(4) has demonstrated instructional leader competence as a level three teacher as required by the department and verified by the local superintendent through the highly objective uniform statewide standard of evaluation; and meets other qualifications for the license as required by the department.
D. The minimum salary for a level four teacher shall be fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) multiplied by the applicable responsibility factor for assistant school principals in the same public school in which the level four teacher is employed."
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