125th MAINE LEGISLATURE
		LD 1781		LR 2635(05)
	An Act To Restructure the National Board Certification Program for Teachers
	Fiscal Note for Bill as Engrossed with: C "A" (S-488) S "A" (S-610) to C "A" (S-488)
	Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs
Fiscal Note
			FY 2011-12	FY 2012-13	Projections  FY 2013-14	Projections  FY 2014-15
Net Cost (Savings)
	General Fund		$0	$200,000	$315,000	$410,000
Appropriations/Allocations
	Other Special Revenue Funds		$0	$200,000	$315,000	$410,000
Revenue
	General Fund		$0	($200,000)	($315,000)	($410,000)
	Other Special Revenue Funds		$0	$200,000	$315,000	$410,000
Fiscal Detail and Notes
	The bill provides that the additional funding estimated to be needed to support the scholarship provisions and the salary supplements to eligible teachers who attain certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards beyond the $307,551 currently allocated as a miscellaneous cost within the General Purpose Aid for Local Schools program General Fund account be paid with revenue collected from teacher certification fees.
	The bill will decrease General Fund revenue by $200,000 in fiscal year 2012-13, $315,000 in fiscal year 2013-14 and $410,000 in fiscal year 2014-14 and increase dedicated revenue by the same amounts.  The bill establishes the National Board Certification Scholarship Fund and the National Board Certification Salary Supplement Fund as dedicated funds within the Department of Education and provides Other Special Revenue Funds allocations totaling $200,000 in fiscal year 2012-13.  Of that amount, $150,000 is allocated to the National Board Certification Salary Supplement Fund for the additional costs of providing salary supplements to an estimated 183 certified teachers at $2,500 each and $50,000 is allocated to the National Board Certification Scholarship Fund to provide scholarships for the first 20 teachers accepted into the national teacher board certification program.
	The salary supplement amount increases to $2,750 in fiscal year 2013-14 and $3,000 in fiscal year 2014-15.  Beginning in fiscal year 2012-14, the amount allocated to the Scholarship Fund increases to $75,000 per year and the number of teachers who can receive scholarship funds increases to a maximum of 30 teachers.  It appears that revenues generated from teacher certification renewal fees will be sufficient to cover the costs of the salary supplements and scholarships for the foreseeable future.  However, the distributions are expected to continue to grow over time and a fee increase may be required at some point to fully fund this initiative in the future.