HB1762: Teacher Reengagement Program; established, report.

Legislative Summary

School boards; Teacher Reengagement Program established. School boards; Teacher Reengagement Program established. Establishes the Teacher Reengagement Program for the purpose of addressing instructional personnel shortages and COVID-19 pandemic-related student learning loss. The bill permits any school board to hire an individual pursuant to the Program, subject to the following conditions and limitations: (i) the individual works on a part-time basis; (ii) the individual is compensated with part-time pay, with any health, dental, and vision insurance coverage that is available to full-time school board employees, or with some combination of such pay and coverage; (iii) in the case of an individual who holds a renewable or provisional teaching license issued by the Board of Education, the individual's duties consist of teaching students, providing one-on-one tutoring services to students, or mentoring teachers, or some combination thereof; (iv) in the case of an individual who does not hold a renewable or provisional teaching license issued by the Board, the individual has professional experience or expertise in a certain subject matter area and the individual's duties consist of providing one-on-one tutoring services to students in such subject matter area; and (v) the individual complies with all laws, regulations, and school board policies and procedures applicable to part-time school board employees. The bill requires any school board that hires any part-time employee pursuant to the Program to annually report to the Department of Education such data on the implementation of the Program that the Department deems necessary to evaluate its continued effectiveness at addressing instructional personnel shortages and student learning loss. The foregoing provisions of the bill expire on July 1, 2028. The bill requires the Department to submit to the General Assembly no later than October 1, 2027, its recommendation for preserving, extending, or eliminating such expiration date.