Committee
Education; Appropriations
Author
Dennis DeBar
Session
2022 Session
Senate Bill 2443 would delete caps on the number of nurses and speech pathologists that can receive salary supplements for being National Board-certified, as well as qualify athletic trainers for National Board salary supplements. SB 2443 has also been amended to provide for the same pay raise that is outlined in SB 2444. The two bills are now essentially the same.
Initially, SB 2443 was intended solely to delete the caps on nurses and speech pathologists for National Board supplements and qualify athletic trainers for supplements. Under current state law, no more than 35 school nurses and 20 speech pathologists statewide may receive salary supplements for being National Board-certified; athletic trainers are not currently authorized to receive these supplements at all. The language in SB 2443 is identical to HB 43—a standalone bill to delete National Board supplement caps—and SB 2444, which includes the Senate’s teacher pay raise proposal as well as the removal of supplement caps.
On February 10, the Senate amended SB 2443 to include the same teacher pay raise that is outlined in SB 2444. This is likely an effort to increase the likelihood of signing the Senate’s teacher pay raise proposal into law. SB 2444 and SB 2443 are now essentially the same bill. For a full analysis of the Senate’s teacher pay raise proposal, read our analysis of SB 2444.
Now that the Senate has passed SB 2443, it will be transmitted to the House.
On February 2, SB 2444 unanimously passed the Senate. It will now be transmitted to the House, where the House Appropriations Committee and House Education Committee will be expected to take action on it in the coming weeks.
Updates
3/1/22 Update:
The House declined to take action on SB 2443 by the March 1 deadline, causing this bill to die in committee.