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View Amendment Current Amendment: 31 to Bill 5150

Senator FANNING proposes the following amendment (SM STATE AID TO CLASSROOMS):

Amend the bill, as and if amended, Part IB, Section 1, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, page 274, proviso 1.3, by striking the proviso in its entirety and inserting:

/ (SDE: State Aid to Classrooms) To the extent possible within available funds, it is the intent of the General Assembly to provide for one hundred percent of full implementation of the Education Finance Act via an allocation from the State Aid to Classrooms appropriation. The funds appropriated for State Aid to Classrooms shall be allocated as follows: 59.89 percent must be allocated based on the Education Finance Act formula and the differentiated student weightings in this Act; 27.30 percent must be allocated based on the manner of distribution of EFA employer contributions in the prior fiscal year; and 12.81 percent must be allocated to fully implement the State Minimum Teacher Salary Schedule with a minimum starting teacher salary of $38,500. The department is authorized to adjust the percentage allocation related to EFA employer contributions to accommodate for the disbursement of the state retirement funds and any other related employee allocation sent to districts. For the current fiscal year, the total pupil count is projected to be 761,855. These funds represent an average per pupil of $4,220 in State Aid to Classrooms. The average per pupil funding is projected to be $7,629 state, $1,274 federal, and $7,859 local. This is an average total funding level of $16,762 excluding revenues of local bond issues. It is the intent of the General Assembly that the consolidation of the Education Finance Act and Education Finance Act- Employer Contributions appropriations, and the subsequent allocation of the State Aid to Classrooms appropriation back to these categories, should not significantly alter the application of funding formulas or maintenance of effort requirements referencing the Education Finance Act and Education Finance Act- Employer Contributions.

The funds allocated from State Aid to Classrooms for implementing the revised State Minimum Teacher Salary Schedule shall be distributed to school districts using the EIA Teacher Salary Supplement methodology. The resulting estimated teacher salary schedule is as follows:

The State Minimum Teacher Salary Schedule for the current fiscal year is as follows:

CLASS 8CLASS 7 CLASS 1 CLASS 2 CLASS 3

DRMASTERS MASTERSBACHELORS BACHELORS

YRSDEGREE DEGREE DEGREE DEGREE DEGREE

EXP +30 HRS +18 HRS

050,576 47,076 43,576 40,076 38,500

5.20%5.61% 6.09% 6.65% 6.94%

151,093 47,313 43,877 40,338 38,619

5.14%5.58% 6.04% 6.61% 6.92%

251,424 47,388 44,025 40,494 38,813

5.11%5.57% 6.02% 6.58% 6.88%

351,736 47,457 44,164 40,607 38,962

5.08%5.56% 6.00% 6.56% 6.86%

452,078 47,558 44,331 40,780 39,167

5.04%5.55% 5.98% 6.53% 6.82%

552,370 47,625 44,462 40,888 39,306

5.01%5.54% 5.96% 6.51% 6.79%

653,634 48,574 45,411 41,773 40,191

4.89%5.43% 5.83% 6.37% 6.63%

754,900 49,522 46,359 42,627 41,046

4.77%5.32% 5.70% 6.23% 6.49%

856,165 50,471 47,308 43,512 41,931

4.66%5.21% 5.58% 6.10% 6.34%

957,430 51,421 48,257 44,366 42,785

4.55%5.11% 5.46% 5.97% 6.21%

1058,696 52,370 49,207 45,253 43,671

4.45%5.01% 5.35% 5.85% 6.07%

1159,960 53,318 50,155 46,106 44,524

4.35%4.92% 5.25% 5.73% 5.95%

1261,226 54,267 51,104 46,992 45,411

4.26%4.83% 5.14% 5.62% 5.83%

1362,491 55,216 52,053 47,846 46,265

4.17%4.74% 5.05% 5.51% 5.71%

1463,756 56,165 53,001 48,732 47,150

4.08%4.66% 4.95% 5.41% 5.60%

1565,022 57,114 53,951 49,586 48,004

4.00%4.58% 4.86% 5.31% 5.49%

1666,287 58,063 54,900 50,471 48,890

3.92%4.50% 4.77% 5.21% 5.39%

1767,552 59,011 55,848 51,325 49,744

3.84%4.42% 4.69% 5.12% 5.29%

1868,193 59,567 56,372 51,804 50,206

3.81%4.38% 4.64% 5.07% 5.24%

1968,839 60,128 56,901 52,287 50,673

3.77%4.34% 4.60% 5.02% 5.19%

2069,493 60,694 57,435 52,775 51,146

3.73%4.30% 4.55% 4.97% 5.14%

2170,153 61,265 57,974 53,267 51,621

3.70%4.25% 4.51% 4.92% 5.09%

2270,820 61,843 58,519 53,764 52,103

3.66%4.21% 4.46% 4.88% 5.04%

2371,493 62,427 59,070 54,267 52,589

3.62%4.17% 4.42% 4.83% 4.99%

As further used in this act, references to the Education Finance Act or EFA funds shall be interpreted to mean the 59.89 percent of funds appropriated for State Aid to Classrooms and allocated for the Education Finance Act and, where appropriate, the 27.30 percent of State Aid to Classrooms allocated for Education Finance Act Employer Contributions.

For the purpose of maintaining consistency when calculating maintenance of effort, references to the base student cost shall be interpreted as the base student cost resulting from the 59.89 percent of funds appropriated for State Aid to Classrooms and allocated for the Education Finance Act and, where appropriate, the 27.30 percent of State Aid to Classrooms allocated for Education Finance Act Employer Contributions, and other any other items normally included in the base student cost calculation.

For the purpose of maintaining consistency when calculating the Base Student Cost, the base student cost calculation shall include funds from State Aid to Classrooms consisting of the 59.89 % of funds appropriated for State Aid to Classrooms allocated based on the Education Finance Act formula and the 12.81% that are allocated to fully implement the State Minimum Teacher Salary Schedule.

For the current fiscal year the South Carolina Public Charter School District and any institution of higher education sponsoring a public charter school shall receive and distribute state EFA funds to the charter school as determined by one hundred percent of the current years base student cost, as funded by the General Assembly multiplied by the weighted pupils enrolled in the charter school, which must be subject to adjustment for student attendance.

The Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office, must post in a prominent place on their website for each school district projections, including the per pupil state, federal and local revenues, excluding revenues of local bond issues, for the current fiscal year. Also, as soon as practicable, upon determining the exact numbers regarding pupil count and funding, the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office, shall also post on their website the one hundred thirty-five day average daily membership for each school district and per pupil state, federal and local revenues, excluding revenues of local bond issues, based on the most recent audited financial statement as reported annually pursuant to Section 59-17-100. The Department of Education and the Education Oversight Committee shall provide in a prominent place on their internet websites a link to the information posted by the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office, including the projected numbers and the exact numbers.

For the current fiscal year, the pupil classification weightings are as follows:

(1) K-12 pupils or base students including homebound students 1.00

Students served in licensed residential treatment facilities (RTFs) for children and adolescents as defined under Section 44-7-130 of the 1976 Code shall receive a weighting of 2.10.

(2) Weights for students with disabilities as prescribed in Section 59-20-40(1)(c) Special Programs

(3) Precareer and Career Technology 1.29

(4) Additional weights for personalized instruction:

(a) Gifted and Talented 0.15

(b) Academic Assistance 0.15

(d) Pupils in Poverty 0.20

(e) Dual Credit Enrollment 0.15

No local match is required for the additional weightings for personalized instruction in the current school year. Charter school per pupil calculations for locally sponsored charters will continue to be calculated according to Section 59-40-140 of the 1976 Code. Students may receive multiple weights for personalized instruction; however, within each weight, students should only be counted once. These weights are defined below:

Students in poverty are students who qualify for Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, or are homeless, transient, or in foster care.

Gifted and talented students are students who are classified as academically or artistically gifted and talented or who are enrolled in Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and Cambridge International courses in high school. Districts shall set-aside twelve percent of the funds for serving artistically gifted and talented students in grades three through twelve.

Students in need of academic assistance are students who do not meet state standards in mathematics, English language arts, or both on state approved assessments in grades three through eight and high school assessments for grades nine through twelve. The additional weight generates funds needed to provide additional instructional services to these students.

Students with limited English proficiency are students who require intensive English language instruction programs and whose families require specialized parental involvement intervention.

Funds received by a school district pursuant to the dual credit weighting must be used to defray all possible costs of dual credit courses for students. Students identified for dual credit enrollment must be identified in PowerSchool as taking a course that will lead to both high school credit and post-secondary credit. Districts must utilize these funds to offset the cost of tuition, fees, instructors, and instructional materials for qualifying courses with the local technical college or other institution of higher education. Each school district shall report to the department the number of students participating in dual credit courses and specify the cost borne by each entity. School districts must assist students in accessing Lottery Tuition Assistance when applicable.

Further, the Department of Education may use school district student counts for personalized instruction as collected in the same manner as the prior fiscal year, PowerSchool or other available existing data sources as determined by the department to calculate the school district add on weightings for the personalized instruction classifications and the determination of the school districts monetary entitlement. End of year adjustments shall be based on the one hundred thirty-five day student average daily membership for all classifications. During the current fiscal year, the department will update PowerSchool calculations, reports, screen development, documentation, and training to incorporate the new pupil classification weightings and to make final district allocation adjustments by June 30. The department must provide districts with technical assistance with regard to student count changes in PowerSchool.

For Fiscal Year 2022-23, prior to making recommendations for changes to any state education funding formula to the General Assembly, Revenue and Fiscal Affairs shall meet with school business officials from a representative sample of school districts in the state including at a minimum one from each of the following categories: 1) districts with an Average Daily Membership of no more than 2,499; 2) districts with an Average Daily Membership of 2,500- 4,999; 3) districts with an Average Daily Membership of 5,000-9,999; and 4) districts with an Average Daily Membership of 10,000 and higher. RFA shall include any recommendations made regarding reforms to school funding formulae by those business officials in any report made to the General Assembly./

Amend the bill further, as and if amended, Part IB, Section 1, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, page 303, proviso 1.79, by striking the proviso in its entirety, and inserting

/ (SDE-EIA: Teacher Salaries/SE Average) The projected Southeastern average teacher salary shall be the average of the average teachers salaries of the southeastern states as projected by the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office. For the current school year the Southeastern average teacher salary is projected to be $55,898. The General Assembly remains desirous of raising the average teacher salary in South Carolina through incremental increases over the next few years so as to make such equivalent to the national average teacher salary.

Additionally, for the current fiscal year, a local school district board of trustees must increase the salary compensation for all eligible certified teachers employed by the district by no less than one year of experience credit using the district salary schedule utilized the prior fiscal year as the basis for providing the step. Application of this provision must be applied uniformly for all eligible certified teachers. For Fiscal Year 2022-23, the requirement that school districts maintain local salary supplements per teacher no less than their prior fiscal year level is suspended if additional State funds fill the gap.

Funds allocated by Proviso 1.3 for implementing a revised state minimum salary schedule for Teacher Salaries must be used to increase salaries of those teachers eligible pursuant to Section 59-20-50(4)(b), to include classroom teachers, librarians, guidance counselors, psychologists, social workers, occupational and physical therapists, school nurses, orientation/mobility instructors, and audiologists in the school districts of the state by not less than two thousand, five hundred dollars. Districts must use the district salary schedule utilized the prior fiscal year as the basis for providing the increase. /

Amend the bill further, as and if amended, Part IB, Section 1A, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION-EIA, page 326, proviso 1A.36, by striking the proviso in its entirety, and inserting

Amend sections, totals and title to conform.