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closeATLANTA — Teachers with a national certification would continue to receive their 10 percent bonuses under legislation that narrowly passed the Georgia House of Representatives on Thursday, but the program would be closed to new enrollees.
House Bill 243, which passed 92-79, would allow teachers already getting the bonus to keep it, provided money can be found in the state budget. That’s a step toward keeping the increases in place, though Gov. Sonny Perdue has proposed removing them in favor of other teacher pay supplements.
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How they voted
Here’s how a sampling of Middle Georgia legislators voted on House Bill 243.
State Rep. Jim Cole, R-Forsyth: Yes
State Rep. James “Bubber” Epps, D-Dry Branch: No
State Rep. Buddy Harden, R-Cordele: Yes
State Rep. Lynmore James, D-Montezuma: No
State Rep. David Lucas, D-Macon: No
State Rep. Larry O’Neal, R-Warner Robins: Yes
State Rep. Bobby Parham, D-Milledgeville: No
State Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon: Yes
State Rep. DuBose Porter, D-Dublin: No
State Rep. Jimmy Pruett, R-Eastman: Yes
State Rep. Nikki Randall, D-Macon: No
State Rep. Tony Sellier, R-Fort Valley: Yes
State Rep. Willie Talton, R-Warner Robins: Yes
The $12 million for the program still would have to be found for fiscal 2010 and future years, and Perdue would have to sign off on that funding.
The bill’s intent is to keep the bonuses in place for teachers with a National Board Certification or those working to earn one, said House Education Chairman Brooks Coleman, R-Duluth. Then it would close the bonus program to anyone who tries to get into it after March 1, Coleman said.
“We made a commitment to these people to do this,” Coleman said.
State Rep. Jimmy Pruett, an Eastman Republican and one of Perdue’s floor leaders in the House, said the bill isn’t the one the governor initially wanted, but Perdue considers it “a step in the right direction.”
Perdue has proposed replacing the National Board Certification bonus, which depends on a certification from a national teachers group, with a bonus for “master teachers” named by the state.
That proposal hasn’t moved forward in the House this year, but it’s not supposed to start until at least 2011. Perdue also has proposed bonuses for math and science teachers and for the state’s best principals.
Some said the National Board Certification program improves teachers and student achievement, and some said it doesn’t. Several Democrats spoke against House Bill 243 on Thursday, saying it ends the bonus program “in the name of saving this program,” in House Minority Leader DuBose Porter’s words.
“We pass this, we say we don’t care about moving forward in education,” said Porter, D-Dublin.
Several other education bills also passed the House or Senate on Thursday:
• House Bill 193, which would allow school systems more flexibility in how many days classes are held. Instead of having to meet for 180 days a year, systems could shorten the school year, as long as they have the same amount of instruction time. The bill passed the House 155-1.
• House Bill 455, which would give school systems an extra month to offer contracts to returning teachers. The bill would give systems until May 15 to tender new contracts. It passed 160-8.
• Senate Bill 160, which would require systems to take Nov. 11 — Veterans Day — off. The bill passed the Senate 51-1.
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