The district school board shall:

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   (1) Designate positions to be filled, prescribe qualifications for those positions, and provide for the appointment, compensation, promotion, suspension, and dismissal of employees as follows, subject to the requirements of this chapter:

   (a)() Positions, qualifications, and appointments.—

   (1.) The district school board shall act upon written recommendations submitted by the district school superintendent for positions to be filled, for minimum qualifications for personnel for the various positions, and for the persons nominated to fill such positions.

   (2.) The district school board may reject for good cause any employee nominated.

   (3.) If the third nomination by the district school superintendent for any position is rejected for good cause, if the district school superintendent fails to submit a nomination for initial employment within a reasonable time as prescribed by the district school board, or if the district school superintendent fails to submit a nomination for reemployment within the time prescribed by law, the district school board may proceed on its own motion to fill such position.

   (4.) The district school board’s decision to reject a person’s nomination does not give that person a right of action to sue over the rejection and may not be used as a cause of action by the nominated employee.

   (b)() Time to act on nominations.—The district school board shall act not later than 3 weeks following the receipt of FCAT scores and data, including school grades, or June 30, whichever is later, on the district school superintendent’s nominations of supervisors, principals, and members of the instructional staff.

   (c)() Compensation and salary schedules.—

   (1.) The district school board shall adopt a salary schedule or salary schedules designed to furnish incentives for improvement in training and for continued efficient service to be used as a basis for paying all school employees and fix and authorize the compensation of school employees on the basis thereof.

   (2.) A district school board, in determining the salary schedule for instructional personnel, must base a portion of each employee’s compensation on performance demonstrated under s. 1012.34, must consider the prior teaching experience of a person who has been designated state teacher of the year by any state in the United States, and must consider prior professional experience in the field of education gained in positions in addition to district level instructional and administrative positions.

   (3.) In developing the salary schedule, the district school board shall seek input from parents, teachers, and representatives of the business community.

   (4.) Beginning with the 2007-2008 academic year, each district school board shall adopt a salary schedule with differentiated pay for both instructional personnel and school-based administrators. The salary schedule is subject to negotiation as provided in chapter 447 and must allow differentiated pay based on district-determined factors, including, but not limited to, additional responsibilities, school demographics, critical shortage areas, and level of job performance difficulties.

   (d)() Contracts and terms of service.—The district school board shall provide written contracts for all regular members of the instructional staff.

   (e)() Transfer and promotion.—The district school board shall act on recommendations of the district school superintendent regarding transfer and promotion of any employee.

   (f)() Suspension, dismissal, and return to annual contract status.—The district school board shall suspend, dismiss, or return to annual contract members of the instructional staff and other school employees; however, no administrative assistant, supervisor, principal, teacher, or other member of the instructional staff may be discharged, removed, or returned to annual contract except as provided in this chapter.

   (g)() Awards and incentives.—The district school board shall provide for recognition of district employees, students, school volunteers, and advisory committee members who have contributed outstanding and meritorious service in their fields or service areas. After considering recommendations of the district school superintendent, the district school board shall adopt rules establishing and regulating the meritorious service awards necessary for the efficient operation of the program. An award or incentive granted under this paragraph may not be considered in determining the salary schedules required by paragraph (c). Monetary awards shall be limited to persons who propose procedures or ideas adopted by the board which will result in eliminating or reducing district school board expenditures or improving district or school center operations. Nonmonetary awards shall include, but are not limited to, certificates, plaques, medals, ribbons, and photographs. The district school board may expend funds for such recognition and awards. No award granted under this paragraph shall exceed $2,000 or 10 percent of the first year’s gross savings, whichever is greater.

   (h)() Planning and training time for teachers.—The district school board shall adopt rules to make provisions for teachers to have time for lunch, professional planning, and professional development time when they will not be directly responsible for the children if some adult supervision is furnished for the students during such periods.

   (i)() Comprehensive program of staff development.—The district school board shall establish a comprehensive program of staff development that incorporates school improvement plans pursuant to s. 1001.42 and is aligned with principal leadership training pursuant to s. 1012.986 as a part of the plan.

   (2) Adopt policies relating to personnel leave as follows:

   (a)() Annual leave.—The district school board may adopt rules that provide for the earning of annual leave by employees, including educational support employees, who are employed for 12 calendar months a year.

   (b)() Sick leave.—The district school board may adopt rules relating to sick leave, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

   (c)() Illness-in-line-of-duty leave.—The district school board may adopt rules relating to illness-in-the-line-of-duty leave, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

   (d)() Sabbatical leave.—The district school board may adopt rules relating to sabbatical leave, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

s. 697, ch. 2002-387; s. 50, ch. 2003-391; s. 56, ch. 20