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Dale Hickam Excellent Teaching Program

 

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Bonuses

Florida offers two separate bonuses, the certification bonus and the mentoring bonus, to those teachers who achieve National Board Certification. Each bonus is equal to 10% of the previous year’s state-wide average teachers’ salary, plus the employer’s share of FICA. Recent legislation provides the option of prorating both bonuses based on budget availability, with a priority on the certification bonus, and limited the bonus eligibility period to 10 years for initial certification only.

District DHETP contacts verify the eligibility of each National Board Certified Teacher and request disbursement of funds from the State. Once the funds are received, they are distributed to each eligible NBCT by the district finance office.

To be eligible to receive the certification bonus, a teacher must:

  1. Hold a valid NBPTS certificate in its initial 10-year validity period or notice of certificate award;
  2. Be currently employed by the district school board or by a public school within the school district.
  3. Be certified annually by the district to have demonstrated satisfactory “teaching” performance pursuant to Section 1012.34, Florida Statutes.

To be eligible to receive the mentoring bonus, a teacher must:

  1. Hold a valid NBPTS certificate in its initial 10-year validity period or notice of certificate award
  2. Be currently employed by the district school board or by a public school within the school district.
  3. Be certified annually by the district to have demonstrated satisfactory “teaching” performance pursuant to Section 1012.34, Florida Statutes.
  4. Have provided (as previously agreed to in writing) the equivalent of 12 workdays of mentoring and related services to public classroom teachers pursuant to Section 1012.72, F.S., and that the 12 equivalent workdays were not completed during student contact hours during the 196 days of required service.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The 2011 Legislature did NOT provide funding for either bonus this year.