A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT authorizing the CHARLOTTE‑MECKLENBURG SCHOOLS TO DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT ALTERNATIVE SALARY PLANS FOR INSTRUCTIONAL PERSONNEL AND SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  The State Board of Education shall establish a pilot program authorizing the Charlotte‑Mecklenburg Schools to develop and implement alternative salary plans for instructional personnel and school administrators designed to improve student performance and increase teacher effectiveness by financially rewarding instructional personnel and school administrators through a performance‑based compensation system. Under this pilot program, the value of each of the Charlotte‑Mecklenburg Schools' instructional positions will be funded in accordance with the then‑current State method for funding such positions, but the Charlotte‑Mecklenburg Schools shall have discretion in determining how funds are allocated among such positions. Such funds may be used to develop and implement a compensation system for instructional personnel and school administrators that provides differentiated levels of pay based on student achievement gains, evaluations, and observations.  Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, in no event shall the amount of funds received by the Charlotte‑Mecklenburg Schools be less than the amount it would have received under the then‑current State method for allocating such funds.
SECTION 2.  As part of its performance‑based pay structure, the Charlotte‑Mecklenburg Schools shall adopt a performance salary schedule that accomplishes the following:
(1)	Aligns annual salary adjustments for instructional personnel and school administrators with documented student growth in learning.
(2)	Evaluates instructional personnel and school administrators on the local level in order to measure the degree to which students have shown academic growth.
(3)	Substantially incorporates input from instructional personnel and school administrators in devising evaluation systems upon which compensation is based.
(4)	Ensures that no amount paid in base salary for any instructional personnel or school administrator declines below the amount of base salary paid to such instructional personnel or school administrator from the date of implementation of any performance salary schedule. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, nothing in this act shall be deemed or interpreted to require any increase in base salary from the date of implementation of a performance salary schedule.
SECTION 3.  The evaluation system shall do the following:
(1)	Support effective instruction and student achievement, and the results must be used to inform district- and school-level improvement plans.
(2)	Provide appropriate instruments, procedures, and criteria for continuous quality improvement of the professional skills, and the results must be used to inform the professional development of instructional personnel and school administrators.
(3)	Include a mechanism to examine performance data from multiple sources to measure teacher effectiveness and drive instructional practices that can lead to improved levels of student achievement.
(4)	Differentiate among levels of performance, which are tied to differentiated levels of pay based on student achievement gains.
(5)	Allow instructional personnel and school administrators to be evaluated by multiple measures.
SECTION 4.  The Charlotte‑Mecklenburg Schools shall ensure that some percentage of the evaluation for instructional personnel is to be based on data and indicators of student learning growth assessed annually by State assessments or, for subjects and grade levels not measured by the State assessments, by district‑developed assessments.  The Charlotte‑Mecklenburg Schools may use State‑adopted measures of student growth or select comparable district‑developed measures of student growth for grades and subjects by taking into account the student's prior performance, grade level, and subject while considering other factors, including, but not limited to, student attendance, student disciplinary records, student disabilities, and student English language proficiency.
SECTION 5.  The Charlotte‑Mecklenburg Schools shall annually submit to the Department of Public Instruction an implementation and outcome evaluation of the performance‑based compensation system, including the aggregate performance results of instructional personnel and school administrators.  In addition, the Charlotte‑Mecklenburg Schools shall provide consistent periodic updates to its employees concerning the development and implementation of a performance‑based pay structure plan.  Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, the Charlotte‑Mecklenburg Schools shall make the details of any proposed performance‑based pay structure plan public prior to the adoption of such plan.
SECTION 6.  The State Board of Education shall grant waivers of laws, rules, policies, procedures, and practices to enable the Charlotte‑Mecklenburg Schools to implement and sustain its performance‑based compensation system.  In addition, the State Board of Education shall allow Charlotte‑Mecklenburg Schools flexibility in allocating all mandated State‑funded compensation, including, but not limited to, salary increases, longevity compensation, and bonuses for all of its employees.
SECTION 7.  This act applies to Charlotte‑Mecklenburg Schools only.
SECTION 8.  This act is effective when it becomes law.