(1) The general assembly hereby finds that:

(a) Teachers have a great impact in student achievement. Evidence shows that teacher quality can account for the majority of variances in student learning and test scores.

(b) The teaching and learning conditions under which teachers practice their profession, though often overlooked, are essential elements to student achievement and teacher retention. These conditions must be systematically studied and addressed for Colorado to develop a critical mass of teachers who are well prepared to teach and who will remain in hardest-to-staff schools long enough to make a significant difference for students and their families.

(c) Research also demonstrates that the negative effects of teacher shortages and distribution challenges have a disproportionate impact on the nation's most disadvantaged students, leaving poor and minority children more likely to be taught by less-qualified and under-prepared teachers.

(d) Teachers who are truly highly qualified teach well-designed, standards-based lessons and are able to teach those lessons successfully because they know how and why their students learn. These teachers work effectively with their colleagues to push and lead school improvement and work steadily to sharpen their skills and increase their knowledge because they believe it is part of their professional responsibility to do so.

(e) National board certification is a nationally accepted sign of quality in the teaching profession and offers a nationwide standard for evaluating and encouraging quality teaching. It is a means to recognize and reward the accomplished teachers the state needs to build competitive, world-class schools. National board certified teachers advance the quality of teaching and learning by maintaining high and rigorous standards for what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do.

(2) The general assembly further finds and declares that, for purposes of section 17 of article IX of the state constitution, implementation of measures designed to improve teacher quality, recruitment, and retention through this part 5 and through House Bill 08-1384, as enacted at the second regular session of the sixty-sixth general assembly, is a critical element of accountable education reform, accountable programs to meet state academic standards, and performance incentives for teachers and, therefore, may receive funding from the state education fund created in section 17 (4) of article IX of the state constitution.