MN HF1629

Allows school districts, intermediate school districts, school sites, and charter schools to offer hiring bonuses or additional compensation to teachers rated as effective or highly effective who work in hard-to-fill positions or hard-to-staff settings.

Defines hard-to-staff settings as schools with a majority of students whose families meet federal poverty guidelines, geographically isolated schools, or schools identified by the state as eligible for targeted programs or services.

Requires at least 60 percent of any compensation increase be based on teacher performance using schoolwide student achievement gains, student growth and literacy measures, and objective evaluation programs.

Mandates participating schools provide job-embedded learning opportunities such as professional learning communities led by trained teacher leaders during the school day.

Prevents any teacher's current compensation from being reduced when participating in the alternative pay system and allows all teachers in participating schools to opt into the system without quotas or limits.

Effective for the 2015-2016 school year and applies to alternative teacher professional pay agreements entered into or modified after that date.