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7 LONG TITLE
8 General Description:
9 This bill amends provisions regarding additional paid professional hours that may be
10 available to educators.
11 Highlighted Provisions:
12 This bill:
13 ▸ amends provisions regarding a paid professional hours plan that educators submit;
14 ▸ clarifies the availability of paid professional hours to educators that begin
15 employment during the school year on a prorated basis; and
16 ▸ makes technical and conforming changes.
17 Money Appropriated in this Bill:
18 None
19 Other Special Clauses:
20 None
21 Utah Code Sections Affected:
22 AMENDS:
23 53F-7-203, as enacted by Laws of Utah 2022, Chapter 386
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25 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
26 Section 1. Section 53F-7-203 is amended to read:
27 53F-7-203. Paid professional hours for educators.
28 (1) Subject to legislative appropriations, the state board shall provide funding to each
29 LEA to provide additional paid professional hours to the following educators in accordance
30 with this section:
31 (a) general education and special education teachers;
32 (b) counselors;
33 (c) school administration;
34 (d) school specialists;
35 (e) student support;
36 (f) school psychologists;
37 (g) speech language pathologists; and
38 (h) audiologists.
39 (2) The state board shall distribute funds appropriated to the state board under
40 Subsection 53F-9-204(6) to each LEA in proportion to the number of educators described in
41 Subsection (1) within the LEA.
42 (3) An LEA shall use funding under this section to provide paid professional hours
43 that:
44 (a) provide educators with the knowledge and skills necessary to enable students to
45 succeed in a well-rounded education and to meet the challenging state academic standards; and
46 (b) may include activities that:
47 (i) improve and increase an educator's:
48 (A) knowledge of the academic subjects the educator teaches;
49 (B) time to plan and prepare daily lessons based on student needs;
50 (C) understanding of how students learn; and
51 (D) ability to analyze student work and achievement from multiple sources, including
52 how to adjust instructional strategies, assessments, and materials based on the analysis;
53 (ii) are an integral part of broad school-wide and LEA-wide educational improvement
54 plans;
55 (iii) allow personalized plans for each educator to address the educator's specific needs
56 identified in observation or other feedback;
57 (iv) advance educator understanding of:
58 (A) effective and evidence-based instructional strategies; and
59 (B) strategies for improving student academic achievement or substantially increasing
60 the knowledge and teaching skills of educators;
61 (v) are aligned with, and directly related to, academic goals of the school or LEA; and
62 (vi) include instruction in the use of data and assessments to inform and instruct
63 classroom practice.
64 (4) (a) An educator shall:
65 [
66 plan, in consultation with the educator's principal, on how the educator plans to use paid
67 professional hours provided under this section during the school year; and
68 [
69 educator's principal of how the educator used paid professional hours provided under this
70 section during the school year.
71 (b) (i) Subsection (4)(a)(i) does not limit an educator who begins employment after the
72 fifth day of instruction in a given year from receiving paid professional hours under this
73 section.
74 (ii) An LEA may prorate the paid professional hours of an educator who begins
75 employment after the fifth day of instruction in a given year according to the portion of the
76 school year for which the LEA employs the educator.