Senators MASSEY and SHEALY proposed the following amendment (419R059.SP.ASM):

Amend the bill, as and if amended, PART VI, Educator Development, Satisfaction, and Incentives, by adding appropriately numbered new SECTIONS to read:

/SECTION __. Chapter 26, Title 59 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 59-26-125. The State Department of Education shall pay for fees and costs associated with a first-time teacher certification as provided in Section 59-26-30 not to exceed five hundred dollars ."

SECTION__. Article 1, Chapter 25, Title 59 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 59-25-60. (A) Based on a public decision of the school board, all certified public school teachers, certified special school classroom teachers, certified media specialists, certified guidance counselors, and career specialists who are employed by a school district or a charter school, and lead teachers employed in a publicly funded, full-day, four-year-old kindergarten classroom approved by the South Carolina First Steps to School Readiness, may receive a reimbursement of five hundred fifty dollars each school year to offset expenses incurred by them for teaching supplies and materials.

(B) The State Department of Education shall disburse funds to school districts by July fifteenth based on the last reconciled professional certified staff listing from the previous year. With the remaining funds for this program, any deviation in the professional certified staff and actual teacher count shall be reconciled by December thirty-first or as soon as practicable thereafter. Based on the public decision of a school district and no later than May fifteenth annually, the district shall notify all individuals entitled to receive these funds of the manner in which the funds will be disbursed. Funds may be disbursed to teachers by check in a manner separate and distinct from their payroll checks on the first day that teachers, by contract, are required to be in attendance at school for the current contract year, or the funds may be disbursed to teachers by direct deposit as long as the funds are handled in a manner separate and distinct from their payroll checks. The State shall not consider this reimbursement to be taxable income. Special schools include the Governor's School for Science and Math, the Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, Wil Lou Gray Opportunity School, John de la Howe School, School for the Deaf and the Blind, Felton Lab, Department of Juvenile Justice, and Palmetto Unified School District.

(C) Funds distributed to school districts or allocated to schools must not supplant existing supply money paid to teachers from other sources. If a school district requires receipts for tax purposes , then the receipts may not be required before December thirty-first. Districts that do not wish to require receipts may have teachers retain the receipts and certify for the district that they have received the allocation for the purchase of teaching supplies or materials and that they have purchased or will purchase supplies or materials during the fiscal year for the amount of the allocation. Districts shall not have an audit exception related to the non-retention of receipts in any instances in which a similar instrument is utilized. Any district requiring receipts must notify any teacher who has not submitted receipts between November twenty-fifth and December sixth that he must submit receipts to the district. Districts may not add any additional requirement not listed herein related to this reimbursement." /