SECTION B - SALARY CREDITS

1. Approval of College/University Coursework – A teacher must seek pre-approval of any coursework for which s/he wished to accrue salary lane change. The administration shall provide approval or non-approval before the course begins. The teacher must submit the request for approval no later than two weeks before the course begins.

a. The course must be offered by an accredited institution of higher education.

b. The course must have assignments and/or evaluations to be completed outside of class meetings.

c. Hours should be of graduate level, although special consideration may be given for certain undergraduate courses for which previous approval has been obtained.

d. The course must have some form of evaluation such as an exam, paper, or a project.

2. A teacher who is denied approval for salary credit advancement pursuant to Article XII, Section B, May appeal the decision of the Superintendent or designee to a committee composed of a member of the Board and an administrator (both to be appointed by the President of the Board) and two (2) Teachers to be appointed by the Association President or designee.

3. For the purposes of lane advancement on the salary schedule, one credit hour at an accredited university equals one credit hour advancement on the salary schedule.

KTI Classes. The District will offer a minimum of 15 KTI classes per school year. Teachers taking KTI courses will be compensated in credits for lane advancement or they may select to be paid a stipend. Each KTI course must state the content areas that it fulfills. If the KTI satisfies no content area specialty, it shall state “no content credit offered.”

a. Lane advancement for KTI credits must fulfill the following criteria:

i. Content/Professional Area (minimum of 9 credits per lane-change block)

1. KTI course tailored to your specific academic discipline, certificate area or teaching assignment

2. Special Education coursework to satisfy state recertification requirements (i.e. CDPUs)

3. Any study skills course or teaching methodology course for those with special education certificates (e.g. classroom management skills, study techniques, managing anxiety and emotions)

b. Enrichment Courses (maximum of 6 credits per lane-change block)

i. Courses focusing on general teaching, classroom management skills for those without Special Education certificates.

ii. KTI courses not geared toward the teacher’s specific discipline.

c. A teacher may select to take a KTI course for credit or for cash. The amount of credit and stipend will be stated in the course offering syllabus.

i. Teachers who elect to take a KTI course shall be paid at the rate of .00070 of the base salary per hour (BA Step 1) unless the said teacher does not fulfill the requirements of the class or if the said teacher elects to take the credit for lane advancement. One credit will be offered for every 15 contact hours.

d. KTI instructors will be paid at the rate of .0015 of the base salary per hour (BA Step 1) or the instructor may elect to take credit for lane advancement. Two credits will be offered for every 15 contact hours in content “designated” courses only.

e. Teachers may not take the exact same course twice for cash or credit.

f. Instructors may only take credit the first time that they teach the course; every subsequent time that they teach the exact same course, they can only take the cash stipend.

g. If the KTI instructor changes the substance of the course, then cash and/or credit can be offered to instructors and teachers.

4. Salary Lanes

a. Lane advancements will be granted if a teacher has earned a minimum of nine (9) content credits per lane-change block. A maximum of six (6) enrichment credits can be can be used per lane-change block. A teacher can earn a lane-change block solely with content credit.

b. Excess content or enrichment area courses that teachers may earn during a lane change block will be “banked” for a subsequent lane change.

c. A teacher with a Bachelor’s Degree shall earn four (4) semester hours or six (6) hours of graduate credit in an approved institution every three (3) years until he/she has earned a Master’s Degree. The degree shall be earned in his/her teaching field or in an area approved in advance by the Superintendent or designee.

d. Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctor’s Degrees will be recognized at the start of the semester following the awarding of the degree.

e. BA + 15 - Preferably, these hours will be part of a program directed towards the attainment of the Master’s Degree. However, any staff member with fifteen (15) hours and beyond the Bachelor’s Degree can have these hours evaluated to establish qualifications for recognition on this column.

f. MA + 15, MA + 30, MA+45, MA + 60 – These hours must be in the Teacher’s teaching field, or with approval of the Superintendent or designee, in a field that would be complementary to the Teacher’s teaching field or in a field in which the Teacher has aspirations as part of his/her future growth. Only hours earned after the attainment of the Master’s Degree will be considered. Hours should be of graduate level although special consideration may be given for certain undergraduate courses for which previous approval has been obtained.

g. Doctoral Degree – Degree must be granted from an institution recognized by the North Central Association or its equivalent as qualified to grant such degrees. It would normally be expected that the degree earned be related to the teaching assignment of the Teacher.

5. Timelines for transcripts

a. It is the responsibility of the staff member to see that transcripts of his or her records are in the personnel file in time for evaluation and assignment to new salary lane.

i. First semester lane change request and official transcripts must be submitted to the District Office by September 30^th

ii. Second semester lane change requests and official transcripts must be submitted to the District Office by January 30^th