(a) The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Certification Incentive Program is hereby established to award grants to school districts for the purpose of providing awards to teachers who are employed by school districts or charter schools, are assigned to teach in California public schools, and have attained certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Awards shall be granted to the extent that funds have been appropriated for this purpose in the annual Budget Act.

(1) Commencing July 1, 2000, any teacher who has attained certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is eligible to receive an award of up to twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) if he or she agrees to teach at a high-priority school for at least four years. Teaching service before July 1, 2000, may not be counted towards satisfaction of this four-year commitment.

(2) Awards granted pursuant to this subdivision shall be disbursed in annual payments of five thousand dollars ($5,000) over a four-year period. The annual payment shall be made upon completion of the school year, and upon approval of a district-certified application pursuant to the guidelines of subdivision (c) of Section 44396.

(b) The department shall administer the awards authorized by subdivision (a), and shall develop, in consultation with the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, certification and award information, criteria, procedures, and applications, all of which shall be submitted to the State Board of Education for approval. Amendments requested by the State Board of Education to that information, criteria, procedures, and applications shall be made before the dissemination of the material and the granting of any award under this article.

(c) The department shall distribute the materials described in subdivision (b) to school districts. Each school district is strongly encouraged to ensure that teachers employed by the district or by charter schools affiliated with the district are informed about the program and can acquire the necessary application and information materials.

(d) School districts are encouraged to provide for adequate release time and support for a teacher to complete the certification process. As a condition to providing that release time and support, a school district may require that a teacher serve in a mentor teacher capacity.

(e) For purposes of this article, the following definitions apply:

(1) “School district” means school district, county board of education, county superintendent of schools, a state operated program, including a special school, or an education program providing instruction in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, that is offered by a state agency, including the California Youth Authority and the State Department of Developmental Services.

(2) “High-priority school” means a school in the bottom half of all schools based on the Academic Performance Index rankings established pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 52056. This designation shall be determined as of the date of the agreement by the teacher described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a).

(Amended by Stats. 2003, Ch. 227, Sec. 19. Effective August 11, 2003.)