NY State Senate Bill 2015-S4709

Senate Bill S4709

2015-2016 Legislative Session

Relates to annual professional performance review plans submitted by the highest performing ten percent of school districts

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Education Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 06, 2016	referred to education
Apr 10, 2015	referred to education

co-Sponsors

2015-S4709 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Education
Law Section:: Education Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §3012-c, Ed L

2015-S4709 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to annual professional performance review plans submitted by the highest performing ten percent of school districts.

2015-S4709 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                BILL NUMBER:S4709

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the education law, in relation to
annual professional performance review plans submitted by the highest
performing ten percent of school districts

PURPOSE OF BILL:

To authorize the highest performing twenty percent of school
districts, as determined by the commissioner, to submit for a waiver
to exempt them from the requirements of the annual professional
performance review plan.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section one amends subdivision k of section 3012-c of education law,
as added by chapter 21 of the laws of 2012, to allow the highest
performing ten percent of school districts, as determined by the
commissioner, to submit their existing teacher evaluation plans, which
will be deemed approved by the commissioner for the purposes of
receiving state aid.

The highest performing twenty percent of school districts, as
determined by the commissioner, would be authorized to submit their
current evaluation plans in conjunction with a request from waiver
requirements of submitting an APPR plan. The top ten percent would be

granted the waiver, and school districts within the top eleven to
twenty percent, if such waiver is not granted, the commissioner must
submit a statement in writing within thirty days that the school
district's request for waiver has been rejected along with a rationale
for reaching that determination.

If the waiver is issued to the applicant and the existing plan is
accepted, the commissioner shall include a statement indicating the
level of performance that must be maintained by the school district
for the waiver to be active.

The commissioner shall publish and make available to all school
districts its first ranking of schools no later than fourteen calendar
days from the enactment of this act, and no later than April 1st each
succeeding year.

Section two sets the enacting date.

JUSTIFICATION:

The annual professional performance review was recently implemented to
create a new rating system for teachers by school districts based in
part on test results. This bill would provide an automatic acceptance
of performance reviews by the commissioner for the highest rated ten
percent of schools based on performance, including graduation rates
and standardized test scores. Furthermore, the highest performing
eleven to twenty percent of schools can submit their existing
performance evaluation plans along with a request for a waiver from
the requirements set forth by the annual professional performance
review. The determination for approving these waivers will be made by
the commissioner of the Board of Education, who will either approve


the waiver and set a level of performance the school must meet under
the school's existing performance evaluation system, or provide a
explanation within 30 days denying the school district's request.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

S.7279A (2012) - Passed Senate

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None to the state.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

This act shall take effect immediately.

2015-S4709 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  4709

                       2015-2016 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                             April 10, 2015
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen. MARTINS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
  printed to be committed to the Committee on Education

AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation  to  annual  professional
  performance  review  plans  submitted  by  the  highest performing ten
  percent of school districts

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1.  Paragraph  k  of  subdivision  2 of section 3012-c of the
education law, as added by chapter 21 of the laws of 2012, is amended to
read as follows:
  k. (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, rule or  regulation
to  the contrary, by July first, two thousand twelve, the governing body
of each school district and board of  cooperative  educational  services
shall  adopt  a  plan, on a form prescribed by the commissioner, for the
annual professional performance review of all of its classroom  teachers
and  building  principals  in  accordance  with the requirements of this
section and the regulations of the commissioner, and shall  submit  such
plan  to  the  commissioner  for  approval. The plan may be an annual or
multi-year plan, for the annual professional performance review  of  all
of  its  classroom  teachers  and  building principals. The commissioner
shall approve or reject  the  plan  by  September  first,  two  thousand
twelve,  or  as  soon  as  practicable  thereafter. The commissioner may
reject a plan that does not rigorously adhere to the provisions of  this
section  and  the  regulations  of  the commissioner. Should any plan be
rejected, the commissioner shall describe each deficiency in the submit-
ted plan and direct  that  each  such  deficiency  be  resolved  through
collective  bargaining  to the extent required under article fourteen of
the civil service law. If any material changes are made to the plan, the
school district or board of cooperative educational services must submit
the material changes, on a form prescribed by the commissioner,  to  the
commissioner  for  approval. To the extent that by July first, two thou-

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD10400-01-5

S. 4709                             2

sand twelve, or by July first of any subsequent year, if all  the  terms
of the plan have not been finalized as a result of unresolved collective
bargaining  negotiations,  the  entire  plan  shall  be submitted to the
commissioner  upon resolution of all of its terms, consistent with arti-
cle fourteen of the  civil  service  law.    NOTWITHSTANDING  ANY  OTHER
PROVISION  OF LAW TO THE CONTRARY, THE HIGHEST PERFORMING TEN PERCENT OF
SCHOOL DISTRICTS, AS DETERMINED BY THE COMMISSIONER, SHALL BE AUTHORIZED
TO SUBMIT THEIR EXISTING PLANS TO THE COMMISSIONER AND SUCH PLANS  SHALL
BE DEEMED APPROVED FOR PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION AND THE RECEIPT OF STATE
AID.
  (2)  THE  HIGHEST  PERFORMING ELEVEN PERCENT THROUGH TWENTY PERCENT OF
SCHOOL DISTRICTS, AS DETERMINED BY THE COMMISSIONER, SHALL BE AUTHORIZED
TO SUBMIT THEIR EXISTING PLANS, TOGETHER WITH A REQUEST FOR WAIVER  FROM
THE  REQUIREMENTS  OF  SUBMITTING A PLAN AS SET FORTH IN THIS SECTION. A
REJECTION OF ANY SUCH PLAN OR  REQUEST  FOR  WAIVER  AS  TO  ANY  SCHOOL
DISTRICT  AUTHORIZED  TO  SUBMIT  SUCH  REQUEST, SHALL BE IN WRITING AND
SHALL STATE THE COMMISSIONER'S DETERMINATION THAT THE SCHOOL  DISTRICT'S
REQUEST FOR WAIVER FROM THE REQUIREMENTS OF THIS SECTION HAS BEEN DENIED
AND  THE  RATIONALE  FOR SUCH DETERMINATION. THE COMMISSIONER'S GRANT OR
DENIAL OF SUCH REQUESTS SHALL BE ISSUED WITHIN THIRTY DAYS OF THE APPLI-
CANT'S SUBMISSION OF ITS APPLICATION TO THE COMMISSIONER.
  (3) A WAIVER ISSUED TO ANY APPLICANT  WHOSE  EXISTING  PLAN  HAS  BEEN
ACCEPTED  BY  THE COMMISSIONER, SHALL INCLUDE A STATEMENT INDICATING THE
LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE AS DETERMINED BY THE  COMMISSIONER  IN  MAKING  ITS
DETERMINATION,  AND  SHALL  REMAIN  IN  EFFECT FOR SO LONG AS THE SCHOOL
DISTRICT MAINTAINS ITS LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE AT OR  ABOVE  THE  LEVEL  AS
STATED  BY  THE  COMMISSIONER AT THE TIME OF THE ISSUANCE OF THE WAIVER.
ANY WAIVER ISSUED TO A SCHOOL DISTRICT  WHICH  FALLS  BELOW  THIS  LEVEL
SHALL  BE  DEEMED  VOIDED,  AND  THE SCHOOL DISTRICT SHALL THEREAFTER BE
REQUIRED TO SUBMIT A PLAN UNDER THIS SUBDIVISION  FOR  APPROVAL  BY  THE
COMMISSIONER.
  (4)  THE  COMMISSIONER  SHALL PUBLISH AND MAKE AVAILABLE TO ALL SCHOOL
DISTRICTS ITS FIRST RANKING OF SCHOOLS NO LATER THAN  FOURTEEN  CALENDAR
DAYS  AFTER  THE  EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS SUBPARAGRAPH; AND NO LATER THAN
THE FIRST DAY OF APRIL, EACH YEAR THEREAFTER.
  S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Senate Bill S4709

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Jack M. Martins