A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A SALARY SCHEDULE FOR TEACHER ASSISTANTS.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑12(16) reads as rewritten:
"§ 115C‑12. Powers and duties of the Board generally.
The general supervision and administration of the free public school system shall be vested in the State Board of Education. The State Board of Education shall establish policy for the system of free public schools, subject to laws enacted by the General Assembly. The powers and duties of the State Board of Education are defined as follows:
…
(16)	Power with Regard to Salary Schedules. – The Board shall provide for sick leave with pay for all public school employees in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter and shall promulgate rules and regulations providing for necessary substitutes on account of sick leave and other teacher absences.
a.	Support personnel refers to all public school employees who are not required by statute or regulation to be certified in order to be employed. The State Board of Education is authorized and empowered to adopt all necessary rules for full implementation of all schedules to the extent that State funds are made available for support personnel.
b.	Salary schedules for the following public school support personnel shall be adopted by the State Board of Education: school finance officer, office support personnel, maintenance supervisors, custodial personnel, and transportation personnel. The Board shall classify these support positions in terms of uniform pay grades included in the salary schedule of the State Personnel Commission.
Local boards of education shall place State‑allotted office support personnel, and custodial personnel on the salary schedule adopted by the State Board of Education so that the average salary paid is the State‑allotted amount for the category. In placing employees on the salary schedule, the local board shall consider the education, training, and experience of each employee, including experience in other local school administrative units. It is the intent of the General Assembly that a local school administrative unit not fail to employ an employee who was employed for the prior school year in order to implement the provisions of this sub‑subdivision. A local board of education is in compliance with this sub‑subdivision if the average salary paid is at least ninety‑eight percent (98%) of the State‑allotted amount for the category at the end of the third payroll period of each fiscal year. The Department of Public Instruction shall provide technical assistance to local school administrative units regarding the implementation of this sub‑subdivision.
c.	Salary schedules for other support personnel, excluding teacher assistants and including but not limited to maintenance and school food service personnel, shall be adopted by the State Board of Education. The Board shall classify these support positions in terms of uniform pay grades included in the salary schedule of the State Personnel Commission. These schedules shall apply if the local board of education does not adopt a salary schedule of its own for personnel paid from other than State appropriations. 
d.	The State Board of Education shall adopt guidelines for the implementation of the teacher assistant salary schedule enacted by the General Assembly.
. . . ."
SECTION 2.(a)  Placement of the Teacher Assistants Salary Schedule. – A teacher assistant shall be placed on the salary schedule set out in subsection (b) of this section in accordance with the teacher assistant's years of experience and qualification level as of July 1 prior to the beginning of the school year.  The professional qualification levels used in the salary schedule are as follows:
(1)	"NCLB Criteria Not Met" is the qualification level of a teacher assistant who has not met the employment criteria set out in the No Child Left Behind Law of 2001.
(2)	"Work Keys Occ. Profile" is the qualification level of a teacher assistant who has successfully completed the Work Keys Occupational Profile for Teacher Assistants, Level I assessment.
(3)	"Dept. of Labor Prog./Prof. Development Plan" is the qualification level of a teacher assistant who has successfully completed the North Carolina Department of Labor Teacher Assistant Apprentice Program; or the North Carolina Teacher Assistant's Professional Development Plan.
(4)	"AA Degree" is the qualification level of a teacher assistant who (i) has an associate's degree from a community college or (ii) has completed at least two years of study at a college or community college with at least 48 semester hours of credit.
The State Board of Education shall adopt policies defining years of experience and professional qualifications for teacher assistants.  The State Board shall also adopt forms for documentation of education levels and years of experience.  It is the responsibility of each teacher assistant to provide the documentation to the Department of Public Instruction on forms adopted by the State Board and in accordance with Department policies.
SECTION 2.(b)  Teacher Assistants Salary Schedule. – 

Years of	NCLB Criteria	Work Keys	Dept. of Labor Prog./
Experience	Not Met	Occ. Profile	Prof. Development Plan	AA Degree
	0	$15,050	$15,300	$16,050	$17,050
	1	$15,231	$15,484	$16,243	$17,255
	2	$15,413	$15,669	$16,438	$17,462
	3	$15,598	$15,857	$16,635	$17,671
	4	$15,786	$16,048	$16,834	$17,883
	5	$15,975	$16,240	$17,036	$18,098
	6	$16,167	$16,435	$17,241	$18,315
	7	$16,361	$16,632	$17,448	$18,535
	8	$16,557	$16,832	$17,657	$18,757
	9	$16,756	$17,034	$17,869	$18,982
	10	$16,957	$17,238	$18,083	$19,210
	11	$17,160	$17,445	$18,300	$19,441
	12	$17,366	$17,655	$18,520	$19,674
	13	$17,575	$17,866	$18,742	$19,910
	14	$17,785	$18,081	$18,967	$20,149
	15	$17,999	$18,298	$19,195	$20,391
	16	$18,215	$18,517	$19,425	$20,635
	17	$18,433	$18,740	$19,658	$20,883
	18	$18,655	$18,964	$19,894	$21,134
	19	$18,878	$19,192	$20,133	$21,387
	20	$19,105	$19,422	$20,374	$21,644
	21	$19,334	$19,655	$20,619	$21,904
	22	$19,566	$19,891	$20,866	$22,166
	23	$19,801	$20,130	$21,117	$22,432
	24	$20,039	$20,372	$21,370	$22,702
	25	$20,279	$20,616	$21,627	$22,974
	26	$20,522	$20,863	$21,886	$23,250
	27	$20,769	$21,114	$22,149	$23,529
	28	$21,018	$21,367	$22,415	$23,811
	29	$21,270	$21,624	$22,683	$24,097
	30	$21,525	$21,883	$22,956	$24,386

SECTION 2.(c)  Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, no teacher assistant shall be paid less under this section than that teacher assistant was paid during the prior school year.
SECTION 2.(d)  Teacher assistants who drive school buses or are assigned to tasks that require fewer skills than their professional level shall be paid on the teacher assistant salary schedule; however, if a teacher assistant who drives a school bus is employed for more than 40 hours a week, that teacher assistant shall receive time and one‑half for the additional hours of employment based on the salary of a school bus driver.
SECTION 2.(e)  Nothing in this act shall be construed to modify the provisions of G.S. 115C‑105.25(b)(1).  If a school transfers funds allocated for a teacher assistant position pursuant to G.S. 115C‑105.25(b)(1) or any other law in order to reduce class size, the amount transferred shall equal the average teacher assistant salary.
SECTION 2.(f)  Effective July 1, 2003, State funds for teacher assistants shall be allocated as a position allotment based on years of experience and education.
SECTION 3.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to State Aid to Local School Administrative Units the sum of forty million dollars ($40,000,000) for the 2003‑2004 fiscal year and the sum of forty million dollars ($40,000,000) for the 2004‑2005 fiscal year to implement Section 2 of this act.
SECTION 4.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2003.