Senator FANNING proposed the following amendment (WAB\419C164.SM.WAB20):

Amend the bill, as and if amended, Section 59-20-50(4)(b), as contained in SECTION 37.A., by deleting the subitem and inserting:

/ SECTION37. A. Section 59 -20-50(4)(b) of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"(b) The state minimum salary schedule must be based on the state minimum salary schedule index in effect as of July 1, 1984. The minimum starting teacher salary for a teacher with no years of experience and a bachelor's degree must be at least thirty-five thousand dollars. The General Assembly shall establish the starting teacher salary, the salary schedule, and the Education Finance Act inflation factor each year in the annual appropriations act. Annual salary increases must be based on funding provided by the General Assembly in the annual appropriations act and provided through adjustments in the salary schedule to educators identified by the Department of Education as eligible to receive the Education Improvement Act teacher salary supplement during Fiscal Year 2019-2020 as reported to the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office. The state teacher salary scale shall extend with steps through year twenty-eight. The amount of increase to each subsequent step must be equal to the percentage increase in prior-authorized, existing steps. In Fiscal Year 1985, the 1.000 figure in the index is $14,172. (This figure is based on a 10.27% increase pursuant to the South Carolina Education Improvement Act of 1984.) Beginning with Fiscal Year 1986, the 1.000 figure in the index must be adjusted on a schedule to stay at the southeastern average as projected by the Office of Research and Statistic of the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office and provided to the General Assembly during their deliberations on the annual appropriations bill. The southeastern average teacher salary is the average of the average teachers' salaries of the southeastern states. In projecting the southeastern average, the office shall include in the South Carolina base teacher salary all local teacher supplements and all incentive pay. Under this schedule, school districts are required to maintain local salary supplements per teacher no less than their prior fiscal level. In Fiscal Year 1986 and thereafter teacher pay raises through adjustments in the state's minimum salary schedule may be provided only to teachers who demonstrate minimum knowledge proficiency by meeting one of the following criteria:

(1) holding a valid professional certificate;

(2) having a score of 425 or greater on the Commons Examination of the National Teachers Examinations;

(3) meeting the minimum qualifying score on the appropriate area teaching examination; or

(4) meeting the minimum standards on the basic skills examinations as prescribed by the State Board of Education provided in Section 59-26-20." /