44th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 1999

RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS; CREATING A PERFORMANCE-BASED COMPENSATION PILOT PROJECT; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. TEMPORARY PROVISION--PERFORMANCE-BASED COMPENSATION PILOT PROJECT.--The state department of public education shall develop and conduct a pilot project for teacher compensation based on performance evaluations. The department shall seek no more than forty-five teachers from New Mexico public high schools to volunteer to participate in the pilot project. The pilot project shall be conducted in two phases to include a development process during the first semester of fiscal year 2000 and an implementation process during the second semester of fiscal year 2000. The development process shall include students, teachers, parents and representatives of educational organizations to develop evaluation instruments teaching standards of excellence and procedures for teachers to be evaluated, including student evaluations and evaluation portfolios and instructions for students on how to conduct teacher evaluations and in the use of the evaluation instruments. The implementation process shall involve the teachers, students and school principal in the conduct of the study. The department shall review and evaluate the pilot project, report to the legislative education study committee and make recommendations to the first session of the forty-fifth legislature.

Section 2. APPROPRIATION.--One hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) is appropriated from the general fund to the state department of public education for expenditure in fiscal years 2000 and 2001 to conduct the teacher compensation pilot project. Teachers selected for involvement in the evaluation process and who meet the standards of excellence established shall receive a two-thousand-dollar ($2,000) award. No more than ten percent of the appropriation shall be used by the department for administrative costs. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2001 shall revert to the general fund.