1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to education; providing for teacher development and evaluation 
1.3 	revenue and equalized levy; appropriating money;amending Minnesota 
1.4 	Statutes 2014, sections 122A.40, subdivisions 5, 8; 122A.41, subdivisions 2, 5; 
1.5 	proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 122A; repealing 
1.6 	Minnesota Statutes 2014, sections 122A.413; 122A.414; 122A.4144; 122A.415, 
1.7 	subdivisions 1, 3, 4, 5, 6; 122A.4155; 122A.416.
1.8 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.9 	Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2014, section 122A.40, subdivision 5, is amended to read:
1.10 		Subd. 5.Probationary period. (a) The first three consecutive years of a teacher's 
1.11 	first teaching experience in Minnesota in a single district is deemed to be a probationary 
1.12 	period of employment, and, the probationary period in each district in which the teacher is 
1.13 	thereafter employed shall be one year. The school board must adopt a plan for written 
1.14 	evaluationformative evaluations of and feedback on teachers during the probationary 
1.15 	period that is consistent with subdivision 8. Evaluation must occur at least three times 
1.16 	periodically throughout each school year for a teacher performing services during 
1.17 	that school year; the first evaluation must occur within the first 90 days of teaching 
1.18 	service. Days devoted to parent-teacher conferences, teachers' workshops, and other 
1.19 	staff development opportunities and days on which a teacher is absent from school must 
1.20 	not be included in determining the number of school days on which a teacher performs 
1.21 	services. The adopted plan must include a summative evaluation at the end of each of the 
1.22 	three years of the probationary period of employment. Except as otherwise provided in 
1.23 	paragraph (b), during the probationary period any annual contract with any teacher may 
1.24 	or may not be renewed as the school board shall see fit. However, the board must give 
1.25 	any such teacher whose contract it declines to renew for the following school year written 
2.1 	notice to that effect before July 1. If the teacher requests reasons for any nonrenewal 
2.2 	of a teaching contract, the board must give the teacher its reason in writing, including 
2.3 	a statement that appropriate supervision was furnished describing the nature and the 
2.4 	extent of such supervision furnished the teacher during the employment by the board, 
2.5 	within ten days after receiving such request. The school board may, after a hearing held 
2.6 	upon due notice, discharge a teacher during the probationary period for cause, effective 
2.7 	immediately, under section 122A.44.
2.8 	(b) A board must discharge a probationary teacher, effective immediately, upon 
2.9 	receipt of notice under section 122A.20, subdivision 1, paragraph (b), that the teacher's 
2.10 	license has been revoked due to a conviction for child abuse or sexual abuse.
2.11 	(c) A probationary teacher whose first three years of consecutive employment are 
2.12 	interrupted for active military service and who promptly resumes teaching consistent with 
2.13 	federal reemployment timelines for uniformed service personnel under United States 
2.14 	Code, title 38, section 4312(e), is considered to have a consecutive teaching experience 
2.15 	for purposes of paragraph (a).
2.16 	(d) A probationary teacher whose first three years of consecutive employment are 
2.17 	interrupted for maternity, paternity, or medical leave and who resumes teaching within 12 
2.18 	months of when the leave began is considered to have a consecutive teaching experience 
2.19 	for purposes of paragraph (a) if the probationary teacher completes a combined total of 
2.20 	three years of teaching service immediately before and after the leave.
2.21 	(e) A probationary teacher must complete at least 120 days of teaching service each 
2.22 	year during the probationary period. Days devoted to parent-teacher conferences, teachers' 
2.23 	workshops, and other staff development opportunities and days on which a teacher is 
2.24 	absent from school do not count as days of teaching service under this paragraph.

2.25 	Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 2014, section 122A.40, subdivision 8, is amended to read:
2.26 		Subd. 8.Development, evaluation, and peer coaching for continuing contract 
2.27 	teachers. (a) To improve student learning and success, a school board and an exclusive 
2.28 	representative of the teachers in the district, consistent with paragraph (b), may develop 
2.29 	a teacher evaluation and peer review process for probationary and continuing contract 
2.30 	teachers through joint agreement. If a school board and the exclusive representative 
2.31 	of the teachers do not agree to an annual teacher evaluation and peer review process, 
2.32 	then the school board and the exclusive representative of the teachers must implement 
2.33 	the state teacher evaluation plan under paragraph (c). The process must include having 
2.34 	trained observers serve as peer coaches or having teachers participate in professional 
3.1 	learning communities, consistent with paragraph (b). For the purposes of this subdivision, 
3.2 	"teacher" has the meaning given in section 122A.06, subdivision 2.
3.3 	(b) To develop, improve, and support qualified teachers and effective teaching 
3.4 	practices and improve student learning and success, the annual evaluation process for 
3.5 	teachers:
3.6 	(1) must, for probationary teachers, provide for all evaluations required under 
3.7 	subdivision 5;
3.8 	(2) must establish a three-year professional review cycle for each teacher that 
3.9 	includes an individual growth and development plan, a peer review process, and at least 
3.10 	one summative evaluation performed by a qualified and trained evaluator such as a school 
3.11 	administrator. For the years when a tenured teacher is not evaluated by a qualified and 
3.12 	trained evaluator, the teacher must be evaluated by a peer review. A probationary teacher 
3.13 	enters the three-year professional review cycle at the beginning of the fourth year of 
3.14 	employment in the district;
3.15 	(3) must be based on professional teaching standards established in rule;
3.16 	(4) must coordinate staff development activities under sections 122A.60 and 
3.17 	122A.61 with this evaluation process and teachers' evaluation outcomes;
3.18 	(5) may provide time during the school day and school year for peer coaching and 
3.19 	teacher collaboration;
3.20 	(6) may include job-embedded learning opportunities such as professional learning 
3.21 	communities;
3.22 	(7) may include mentoring and induction programs;
3.23 	(8) must include an option for teachers to develop and present a portfolio 
3.24 	demonstrating evidence of reflection and professional growth, consistent with section 
3.25 	122A.18, subdivision 4, paragraph (b), and include teachers' own performance assessment 
3.26 	based on student work samples and examples of teachers' work, which may include video 
3.27 	among other activities for the summative evaluation;
3.28 	(9) must use data from valid and reliable assessments aligned to state and local 
3.29 	academic standards and must use state and local measures of student growth and literacy 
3.30 	that may include value-added models or student learning goals to determine 35 percent of 
3.31 	teacher evaluation results;
3.32 	(10) must use longitudinal data on student engagement and connection, and other 
3.33 	student outcome measures explicitly aligned with the elements of curriculum for which 
3.34 	teachers are responsible, including academic literacy, oral academic language, and 
3.35 	achievement of content areas of English learners;
4.1 	(11) must require qualified and trained evaluators such as school administrators to 
4.2 	perform summative evaluations and ensure school districts and charter schools provide for 
4.3 	effective evaluator training specific to teacher development and evaluation;
4.4 	(12) must give teachers not meeting professional teaching standards under clauses 
4.5 	(3) through (11) support to improve through a teacher improvement process that includes 
4.6 	established goals and timelines; and
4.7 	(13) must discipline a teacher for not making adequate progress in the teacher 
4.8 	improvement process under clause (12) that may include a last chance warning, 
4.9 	termination, discharge, nonrenewal, transfer to a different position, a leave of absence, or 
4.10 	other discipline a school administrator determines is appropriate.
4.11 	Data on individual teachers generated under this subdivision are personnel data 
4.12 	under section 13.43. The observation and interview notes of peer coaches may only be 
4.13 	disclosed to other school officials with the consent of the teacher being coached.
4.14 	(c) The department, in consultation with parents who may represent parent 
4.15 	organizations and teacher and administrator representatives appointed by their respective 
4.16 	organizations, representing the Board of Teaching, the Minnesota Association of School 
4.17 	Administrators, the Minnesota School Boards Association, the Minnesota Elementary 
4.18 	and Secondary Principals Associations, Education Minnesota, and representatives of 
4.19 	the Minnesota Assessment Group, the Minnesota Business Partnership, the Minnesota 
4.20 	Chamber of Commerce, and Minnesota postsecondary institutions with research expertise 
4.21 	in teacher evaluation, must create and publish a teacher evaluation process that complies 
4.22 	with the requirements in paragraph (b) and applies to all teachers under this section and 
4.23 	section 122A.41 for whom no agreement exists under paragraph (a) for an annual teacher 
4.24 	evaluation and peer review process. The teacher evaluation process created under this 
4.25 	subdivision does not create additional due process rights for probationary teachers under 
4.26 	subdivision 5.

4.27 	Sec. 3. Minnesota Statutes 2014, section 122A.41, subdivision 2, is amended to read:
4.28 		Subd. 2.Probationary period; discharge or demotion. (a) All teachers in 
4.29 	the public schools in cities of the first class during the first three years of consecutive 
4.30 	employment shall be deemed to be in a probationary period of employment during which 
4.31 	period any annual contract with any teacher may, or may not, be renewed as the school 
4.32 	board, after consulting with the peer review committee charged with evaluating the 
4.33 	probationary teachers under subdivision 3, shall see fit. The school site management 
4.34 	team or the school board if there is no school site management team, shall adopt a plan 
4.35 	for a written evaluationformative evaluations of and feedback on teachers during the 
5.1 	probationary period according to subdivisions 3 and 5. Evaluation by the peer review 
5.2 	committee charged with evaluating probationary teachers under subdivision 3 shall occur 
5.3 	at least three times periodically throughout each school year for a teacher performing 
5.4 	services during that school year; the first evaluation must occur within the first 90 days of 
5.5 	teaching service. Days devoted to parent-teacher conferences, teachers' workshops, and 
5.6 	other staff development opportunities and days on which a teacher is absent from school 
5.7 	shall not be included in determining the number of school days on which a teacher performs 
5.8 	services. The adopted plan must include a summative evaluation at the end of each of the 
5.9 	three years of the probationary period of employment. The school board may, during such 
5.10 	probationary period, discharge or demote a teacher for any of the causes as specified in 
5.11 	this code. A written statement of the cause of such discharge or demotion shall be given to 
5.12 	the teacher by the school board at least 30 days before such removal or demotion shall 
5.13 	become effective, and the teacher so notified shall have no right of appeal therefrom.
5.14 	(b) A probationary teacher whose first three years of consecutive employment are 
5.15 	interrupted for active military service and who promptly resumes teaching consistent with 
5.16 	federal reemployment timelines for uniformed service personnel under United States 
5.17 	Code, title 38, section 4312(e), is considered to have a consecutive teaching experience 
5.18 	for purposes of paragraph (a).
5.19 	(c) A probationary teacher whose first three years of consecutive employment are 
5.20 	interrupted for maternity, paternity, or medical leave and who resumes teaching within 12 
5.21 	months of when the leave began is considered to have a consecutive teaching experience 
5.22 	for purposes of paragraph (a) if the probationary teacher completes a combined total of 
5.23 	three years of teaching service immediately before and after the leave.
5.24 	(d) A probationary teacher must complete at least 120 days of teaching service each 
5.25 	year during the probationary period. Days devoted to parent-teacher conferences, teachers' 
5.26 	workshops, and other staff development opportunities and days on which a teacher is 
5.27 	absent from school do not count as days of teaching service under this paragraph.

5.28 	Sec. 4. Minnesota Statutes 2014, section 122A.41, subdivision 5, is amended to read:
5.29 		Subd. 5.Development, evaluation, and peer coaching for continuing contract 
5.30 	teachers. (a) To improve student learning and success, a school board and an exclusive 
5.31 	representative of the teachers in the district, consistent with paragraph (b), may develop an 
5.32 	annual teacher evaluation and peer review process for probationary and nonprobationary 
5.33 	teachers through joint agreement. If a school board and the exclusive representative of 
5.34 	the teachers in the district do not agree to an annual teacher evaluation and peer review 
5.35 	process, then the school board and the exclusive representative of the teachers must 
6.1 	implement the state teacher evaluation plan developed under paragraph (c). The process 
6.2 	must include having trained observers serve as peer coaches or having teachers participate 
6.3 	in professional learning communities, consistent with paragraph (b). For the purposes of 
6.4 	this subdivision, "teacher" has the meaning given in section 122A.06, subdivision 2.
6.5 	(b) To develop, improve, and support qualified teachers and effective teaching 
6.6 	practices and improve student learning and success, the annual evaluation process for 
6.7 	teachers:
6.8 	(1) must, for probationary teachers, provide for all evaluations required under 
6.9 	subdivision 2;
6.10 	(2) must establish a three-year professional review cycle for each teacher that 
6.11 	includes an individual growth and development plan, a peer review process, and at least 
6.12 	one summative evaluation performed by a qualified and trained evaluator such as a school 
6.13 	administrator. A probationary teacher enters the three-year professional review cycle at 
6.14 	the beginning of the fourth year of employment in the district;
6.15 	(3) must be based on professional teaching standards established in rule;
6.16 	(4) must coordinate staff development activities under sections 122A.60 and 
6.17 	122A.61 with this evaluation process and teachers' evaluation outcomes;
6.18 	(5) may provide time during the school day and school year for peer coaching and 
6.19 	teacher collaboration;
6.20 	(6) may include job-embedded learning opportunities such as professional learning 
6.21 	communities;
6.22 	(7) may include mentoring and induction programs;
6.23 	(8) must include an option for teachers to develop and present a portfolio 
6.24 	demonstrating evidence of reflection and professional growth, consistent with section 
6.25 	122A.18, subdivision 4, paragraph (b), and include teachers' own performance assessment 
6.26 	based on student work samples and examples of teachers' work, which may include video 
6.27 	among other activities for the summative evaluation;
6.28 	(9) must use data from valid and reliable assessments aligned to state and local 
6.29 	academic standards and must use state and local measures of student growth and literacy 
6.30 	that may include value-added models or student learning goals to determine 35 percent of 
6.31 	teacher evaluation results;
6.32 	(10) must use longitudinal data on student engagement and connection and other 
6.33 	student outcome measures explicitly aligned with the elements of curriculum for which 
6.34 	teachers are responsible, including academic literacy, oral academic language, and 
6.35 	achievement of English learners;
7.1 	(11) must require qualified and trained evaluators such as school administrators to 
7.2 	perform summative evaluations and ensure school districts and charter schools provide for 
7.3 	effective evaluator training specific to teacher development and evaluation;
7.4 	(12) must give teachers not meeting professional teaching standards under clauses 
7.5 	(3) through (11) support to improve through a teacher improvement process that includes 
7.6 	established goals and timelines; and
7.7 	(13) must discipline a teacher for not making adequate progress in the teacher 
7.8 	improvement process under clause (12) that may include a last chance warning, 
7.9 	termination, discharge, nonrenewal, transfer to a different position, a leave of absence, or 
7.10 	other discipline a school administrator determines is appropriate.
7.11 	Data on individual teachers generated under this subdivision are personnel data 
7.12 	under section 13.43. The observation and interview notes of peer coaches may only be 
7.13 	disclosed to other school officials with the consent of the teacher being coached.
7.14 	(c) The department, in consultation with parents who may represent parent 
7.15 	organizations and teacher and administrator representatives appointed by their respective 
7.16 	organizations, representing the Board of Teaching, the Minnesota Association of School 
7.17 	Administrators, the Minnesota School Boards Association, the Minnesota Elementary 
7.18 	and Secondary Principals Associations, Education Minnesota, and representatives of 
7.19 	the Minnesota Assessment Group, the Minnesota Business Partnership, the Minnesota 
7.20 	Chamber of Commerce, and Minnesota postsecondary institutions with research expertise 
7.21 	in teacher evaluation, must create and publish a teacher evaluation process that complies 
7.22 	with the requirements in paragraph (b) and applies to all teachers under this section and 
7.23 	section 122A.40 for whom no agreement exists under paragraph (a) for an annual teacher 
7.24 	evaluation and peer review process. The teacher evaluation process created under this 
7.25 	subdivision does not create additional due process rights for probationary teachers under 
7.26 	subdivision 2.

7.27 	Sec. 5. [122A.411] TEACHER DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION 
7.28 	REVENUE.
7.29 		Subdivision 1.Basic teacher development and evaluation aid. (a) The basic 
7.30 	teacher development and evaluation allowance for a school district or site that received 
7.31 	revenue under Minnesota Statutes 2014, section 122A.415, in fiscal year 2015 equals 
7.32 	$169. The basic teacher development and evaluation allowance for a school district or 
7.33 	site that did not receive revenue under Minnesota Statutes 2014, section 122A.415, 
7.34 	in fiscal year 2015 equals $50.
8.1 	(b) A school district, intermediate school district, school site, or charter school is 
8.2 	eligible for basic teacher development and evaluation aid. Basic teacher development 
8.3 	and evaluation aid for a school district or site equals the basic teacher development and 
8.4 	evaluation allowance times the number of pupils enrolled at the district or site on October 
8.5 	1 of the previous fiscal year.
8.6 	(c) For a newly combined or consolidated district, the aid shall be computed using 
8.7 	the sum of pupils enrolled on October 1 of the previous year in the districts entering 
8.8 	into the combination or consolidation. The commissioner may adjust the aid computed 
8.9 	for a site using prior year data to reflect changes attributable to school closings, school 
8.10 	openings, or grade level reconfigurations between the prior year and the current year.
8.11 	(d) Aid under this subdivision must be reserved for activities under section 122A.40, 
8.12 	subdivision 8, or 122A.41, subdivision 10.
8.13 		Subd. 2.Supplemental teacher development and evaluation revenue eligibility; 
8.14 	amount. (a) A school district, intermediate school district, school site, or charter school 
8.15 	that received revenue under Minnesota Statutes 2014, section 122A.415, in fiscal year 
8.16 	2015 is eligible for supplemental teacher development and evaluation revenue if the 
8.17 	agreed upon teacher development, evaluation, and peer review process under section 
8.18 	122A.40, subdivision 8, or 122A.41, subdivision 10, contains at least two of the following 
8.19 	components:
8.20 	(1) teacher leadership positions, such as mentor, peer coach, instructional coach, 
8.21 	peer review, peer observer, professional learning community facilitator, or team leader;
8.22 	(2) new teacher mentoring and induction support;
8.23 	(3) additional job-embedded professional development;
8.24 	(4) performance incentives at the school or individual teacher level based on student 
8.25 	outcomes or teacher performance or both; or
8.26 	(5) reform of the salary schedule based on evaluation results.
8.27 	(b) Supplemental teacher development and evaluation revenue equals $91 times the 
8.28 	number of pupils enrolled at the district or site on October 1 of the previous fiscal year, or 
8.29 	on October 1 of the current year for a charter school in the first year of operation.
8.30 		Subd. 3.Supplemental teacher development and evaluation levy. The teacher 
8.31 	development and evaluation levy for a school district eligible for supplemental teacher 
8.32 	development and evaluation revenue under subdivision 2 equals its supplemental teacher 
8.33 	development and evaluation revenue times the lesser of: (1) one; or (2) the ratio of its 
8.34 	adjusted net tax capacity per adjusted pupil unit in the year preceding the year the levy is 
8.35 	certified to $6,100.
9.1 		Subd. 4.Supplemental teacher development and evaluation aid. (a) 
9.2 	Supplemental teacher development and evaluation aid for a school district equals the 
9.3 	difference between its supplemental teacher development and evaluation revenue and its 
9.4 	supplemental teacher development and evaluation levy. If a district does not levy the 
9.5 	entire amount permitted under subdivision 3, the aid under this paragraph must be reduced 
9.6 	in proportion to the actual amount levied. 
9.7 	(b) Supplemental teacher development and evaluation aid for an intermediate school 
9.8 	district or charter school equals its supplemental teacher development and evaluation 
9.9 	revenue, times the ratio of (1) the sum of the supplemental teacher development and 
9.10 	evaluation aid and supplemental teacher development and evaluation levy for all 
9.11 	participating school districts to (2) the maximum supplemental teacher development and 
9.12 	evaluation revenue for those districts under subdivision 2.

9.13 	EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective for revenue for fiscal year 2016 
9.14 	and later.

9.15 	Sec. 6. [122A.412] TEACHER DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION; 
9.16 	TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.
9.17 	A school district, intermediate school district, school site, or charter school may 
9.18 	request that the department provide it with technical assistance related to its agreed 
9.19 	upon teacher evaluation and peer review process. Technical assistance includes, but is 
9.20 	not limited to:
9.21 	(1) support and training for evaluators;
9.22 	(2) creating materials that allow districts or schools to perform self-review and 
9.23 	engage in continuous improvement;
9.24 	(3) creating materials that help districts or schools align their locally developed 
9.25 	process with other plans such as world's best workforce plans under section 120B.11, and 
9.26 	staff development plans under section 122A.60; and
9.27 	(4) support for districts and charter schools in reporting on their local use of state 
9.28 	funding for teacher development and evaluation.

9.29 	Sec. 7. APPROPRIATION.
 9.30 		Subdivision 1.Department of Education. The sums indicated in this section are 
9.31 	appropriated from the general fund to the Department of Education for the fiscal years 
9.32 	designated.
10.1 		Subd. 2.Basic teacher development and evaluation aid. For basic teacher 
10.2 	development and evaluation aid under Minnesota Statutes, section 122A.411, subdivision 1:

10.3		$
	.....
	.....
	2016
	
10.4		$
	.....
	.....
	2017
	
10.5 		Subd. 3.Supplemental teacher development and evaluation aid. For 
10.6 	supplemental teacher development and evaluation aid under Minnesota Statutes, section 
10.7 	122A.411, subdivision 4:

10.8		$
	.....
	.....
	2016
	
10.9		$
	.....
	.....
	2017

10.10 	Sec. 8.  REPEALER.
 10.11 	Minnesota Statutes 2014, sections 122A.413; 122A.414; 122A.4144; 122A.415, 
10.12 	subdivisions 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6; 122A.4155; and 122A.416, are repealed effective July 
10.13 	1, 2015.