DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Professional Standards Board
FINAL
REGULATORY IMPLEMENTING ORDER
1501 Salary Supplements for Educators
I. SUMMARY OF THE EVIDENCE AND INFORMATION SUBMITTED
Pursuant to 14 Del.C. §§1203 and 1305(o), the Professional Standards Board ("Board"), acting in consultation and cooperation with the Delaware Department of Education ("Department"), developed amendments to 14 DE Admin. Code 1501 Salary Supplements for Educators. The regulation concerns knowledge and skills salary supplements pursuant to 14 Del.C. §1305(k), national certification salary supplements pursuant to 14 Del.C. §1305(l), and additional responsibility assignment salary supplements pursuant to 14 Del.C. §1305(n). In accordance with 14 Del.C. §1305(o), the Board is required to annually review the supplements and promulgate recommendations as necessary. The proposed amendments to this regulation concern the previously approved additional responsibility assignment salary supplement for mentors. The Board proposes to add "Administrator Mentor" as a defined term and clarify the definitions of "Teacher or Specialist Lead Mentor" and "Teacher or Specialist Mentor" in Section 2.0. Additionally, in subsection 5.4.1, the Board proposes to clarify who qualifies for the additional responsibility assignment salary supplement for mentors. The Board is not proposing any amendments regarding knowledge and skills salary supplements or national certification salary supplements.
Notice of the proposed regulation was published in the Register of Regulations on December 1, 2020. The Professional Standards Board did not receive any written submittals concerning the proposed amendments.
II. FINDINGS OF FACTS
On January 7, 2021, the Professional Standards Board voted to propose 14 DE Admin. Code 1501 Salary Supplements for Educators, in the form attached hereto as Exhibit A, for adoption by the Department subject to the State Board of Education's approval.
The Department finds that the proposed amendments to the regulation are necessary to implement 14 Del.C. Ch. 12 and are designed to improve the quality of the Delaware educator workforce and to improve student performance. Accordingly, the Department finds that it is appropriate to amend 14 DE Admin. Code 1501 Salary Supplements for Educators.
III. DECISION TO AMEND THE REGULATION
For the foregoing reasons, the Department concludes that it is appropriate to amend 14 DE Admin. Code 1501 Salary Supplements for Educators subject to the State Board of Education's approval. Therefore, pursuant to 14 Del.C. §§1203 and 1305(o), 14 DE Admin. Code 1501 Salary Supplements for Educators, attached hereto as Exhibit A, is hereby amended.
IV. TEXT AND CITATION
The text of 14 DE Admin. Code 1501 Salary Supplements for Educators adopted hereby shall be in the form attached hereto as Exhibit A and said regulation shall be cited as 14 DE Admin. Code 1501 Salary Supplements for Educators in the Administrative Code of Regulations for the Department.
V. EFFECTIVE DATE OF ORDER
The effective date of this Order shall be ten days from the date this Order is published in the Register of Regulations.
IT IS SO ORDERED the 21st day of January, 2021.
Department of Education
Susan S. Bunting, Ed.D., Secretary of Education
Approved this 21st day of January, 2021.
State Board of Education
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/s/ Whitney Townsend Sweeney, President |
/s/ Vincent Lofink |
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/s/ Wali W. Rushdan, II, Vice President |
/s/ Audrey J. Noble, Ph.D. |
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Candice Fifer (Absent) |
/s/ Provey Powell, Jr. |
*Please Note: Electronic signatures ("/s/") were accepted pursuant to 6 Del.C. §12A-107(d).
1501 Salary Supplements for Educators
1.1 The following requirements shall be met in order to receive the salary supplements established by 14 Del.C. §1305. This regulation shall apply to the awarding of salary supplements as a percentage of the State portion of an Educator's annual salary paid in accordance with the provisions of 14 Del.C. §1305 for gaining knowledge and skills that lead to more effective instruction, for achieving national certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards or from an equivalent program, and for accepting Additional Responsibility Assignments that impact student achievement.
1.2 Supplements are available subject to an annual appropriation from the General Assembly.
The following words and terms, when used in this regulation, shall have the following meaning unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Additional Responsibility Assignments" means additional assignments for Educators that are academic in nature and that impact student achievement. For purposes of this regulation and pursuant to 14 Del.C. §1305(n) extra curricular §1305(n), extracurricular or noninstructional supervisory activities are specifically excluded from additional responsibility assignments.
“Administrator Mentor” means a certified administrator who holds a Continuing License, is currently employed as an administrator, performs the duties and responsibilities in the State’s administrator mentor program, and is rated as satisfactory on the State’s current evaluation system or the equivalent thereof on a state-approved alternative educator evaluation system. A certified administrator is an Educator who holds at least one of the following Standard Certificates: School Principal and Assistant School Principal Standard Certificate (14 DE Admin. Code 1591), Certified Central Office Personnel Standard Certificate (14 DE Admin. Code 1592), Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent Standard Certificate (14 DE Admin. Code 1593), and Special Education Director Standard Certificate (14 DE Admin. Code 1594).
“Base Salary” means the salary earned by an Educator as determined by the Educator’s level of education and years of service on the Delaware educators’ salary schedule pursuant to 14 Del.C. §1305.
"Department" means the Delaware Department of Education.
"Educator" means a person licensed and certified by the State under 14 Del.C. Ch. 12 to engage in the practice of instruction, administration, or other related professional support services in Delaware public schools, including charter schools, pursuant to the rules and regulations developed by the Professional Standards Board, in consultation and cooperation with the Department, and approved by the State Board of Education. The term ‘educator’ does not include substitute teachers.
"Knowledge and Skills" means understandings and abilities that, when acquired by Educators, lead to more effective instruction.
“National Certification” means an Educator has achieved and maintains a current national certification as provided in 14 Del.C. §1305(l).
"Salary Supplement", when referring to knowledge, skills, national certification, and additional responsibility based supplements, means additional State salary as described in 14 Del.C. §1305.
"Standards Board" means the Professional Standards Board established pursuant to 14 Del.C. §1201.
“Teacher or Specialist Lead Mentor” means an Educator a teacher or specialist who holds a Continuing or Advanced License, has participated in the training approved by the Department for Teacher or Specialist Lead Mentors, is employed by an employing authority as a Teacher or Specialist Lead Mentor, and performs the duties and responsibilities assigned to that position. Educators serving as Teacher or Specialist Lead Mentors must be rated as highly effective or effective on Delaware Performance Appraisal System II (DPAS II) evaluations, have all satisfactory evaluations on the State’s current evaluation system, or the equivalent thereof on a state-approved alternative educator evaluation system, during the school year in which they are mentors and may not be on a DPAS II an improvement plan, or the equivalent therefore in a state-approved alternative educator evaluation system. Teacher or Specialist Lead Mentors oversee the comprehensive induction program at the building level, train Teacher or Specialist Mentors, and provide support to teachers or specialists in years three and four of the program. Teacher or Specialist Lead Mentors may mentor an Educator in years one and two of the program.
“Teacher or Specialist Mentor” means an Educator who holds a Continuing or Advanced License and has participated in the training for Mentors mentors of teachers and specialists specified by the Department and the employing authority. Educators serving as Teacher or Specialist Mentors must be rated as highly effective or effective on DPAS II evaluations, have satisfactory evaluations on the State’s current evaluation system, or the equivalent thereof on a state-approved alternative educator evaluation system, during the school year in which they are mentors and may not be on a Delaware Performance Appraisal System II (DPAS II) an improvement plan, or the equivalent therefore in a state-approved alternative educator evaluation system. Teacher or Specialist Mentors provide one to one support for Educators in years one and two of the program.
Currently, there are not any approved Knowledge and Skills Salary Supplements.
4.1 An Educator may receive a Salary Supplement for achieving and currently maintaining the following certifications as provided in 14 Del.C. §1305(l):
4.1.1 National Board Certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards;
4.1.2 Certificate of Clinical Competence in Audiology (CCC-A) or Certificate of Clinical Competence Speech-Language Pathology (CCC-SLP) from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association;
4.1.3 National Certified School Counselor from the National Board for Certified Counselors;
4.1.4 Music Therapist – Board Certified (MT-BC) from the Certification Board for Music Therapists;
4.1.5 Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP) from the National Association of School Psychologists; or
4.1.6 Nationally Certified School Nurse (NCSN) from the National Board for Certification of School Nurses.
4.2 In order to be eligible for a National Certification Salary Supplement, the Educator shall maintain current certification through the applicable national organization.
4.3 An Educator who is employed as a superintendent, assistant superintendent, or director or in a non-instructional area of transportation, finance/business management, human resources/personnel management, purchasing, community/public relations, administrative services, pupil services, audiology, occupational therapist, physical therapist, psychologist, speech language pathologist, human relations, nurse, social work/services, information technology, or a specialized assignment comparable to these non-instructional areas shall not be eligible for a Salary Supplement for National Certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
4.4 An Educator who achieves and maintains National Certification shall receive an annual Salary Supplement equal to 12 percent of the Educator’s Base Salary for the certification in subsection 4.1.1 or 6 percent of the Educator’s Base Salary for the certifications in subsections 4.1.2 through 4.1.6.
5.1 Additional Responsibility Assignments shall be:
5.1.1 Focused on school improvement issues that impact student achievement;
5.1.2 Supported by high quality, targeted professional development; and
5.1.3 Academic in nature.
5.2 In order to qualify for an Additional Responsibility Assignment Salary Supplement, an Educator shall have completed the State approved training program for the position or, in the absence of a training program, shall meet the criteria set forth for the position by the State, school district, charter school, or other employing authority and shall provide State, school district, charter school, or other employing authority approved levels of service, participate in designated activities throughout the period of responsibility, and document the satisfactory fulfillment of the specified assignment.
5.3 Additional Responsibility Assignment Salary Supplements may be renewed.
5.4 The following assignment is assignments are currently an approved Additional Responsibility Assignment:
5.4.1 Lead Mentor and Mentor Administrator Mentor, Teacher or Specialist Lead Mentor, and Teacher or Specialist Mentor as provided in Section 10.0 of 14 DE Admin. Code 1503 Educator Mentoring.
Additional Responsibility Assignments: An Educator shall provide the school district, charter school, or other employing authority with such information as may be required to enable the school district, charter school, or other employing authority to verify that the Educator has fulfilled the requirements of subsection 5.2 of this regulation.
7.1 Salary Supplements for Additional Responsibility Assignments
7.1.1 Salary supplements earned by Educators who are paid in accordance with the provisions of 14 Del.C. §1305 as a result of fulfilling Additional Responsibility Assignments shall be effective following receipt by the Department of documentation from the school district, charter school, or other employing authority of satisfactory completion of the duties associated with the Additional Responsibility Assignment and shall be paid annually.
Salary supplements shall be paid to an Educator in accordance with the provisions of 14 Del.C. §1305.
