49-5-5308 - Payment of supplements to principals.

49-5-5308. Payment of supplements to principals.

(a)  All supplements due to principals or assistant principals under parts 50, 52, this part and parts 54 and 55 of this chapter shall be paid directly by the department of education to the LEA and shall be in addition to its foundation entitlement program, and not a part of the foundation entitlement program.

(b)  Once determined, the state salary supplement for career level principals or assistant principals shall remain constant, notwithstanding any increased training and experience attained.

(c)  All supplements shall be subject to the availability of funds as appropriated in each year's general appropriations act.

(d)  Any person receiving a salary supplement under parts 50, 52, this part and parts 54 and 55 of this chapter shall continue to receive the state base pay to which the person would be entitled if the person were not receiving a salary supplement provided for in this part. In devising its local salary schedule, an LEA may not reduce or freeze the pay of any person receiving a salary supplement under parts 50, 52, this part and parts 54 and 55 of this chapter, but the person shall receive any local pay to which principals with similar training and experience are otherwise entitled.

(e)  If the usual term of a principal's or assistant principal's employment extends to eleven (11) or twelve (12) months, and the state and local base pay of the principal is paid for each of these months, the principal shall be eligible only for that portion of the supplement provided for in parts 50, 52, this part and parts 54 and 55 of this chapter that represents a reward for outstanding performance, and not that portion that represents compensation for the eleventh or twelfth month of service that the principal would otherwise perform.

(f)  A career level principal or assistant principal, if eligible, shall receive the state supplement to which the principal or assistant principal is otherwise entitled during the term of the principal's or assistant principal's current certificate, even though the school at which the principal or assistant principal serves is closed or merged, so long as the principal or assistant principal remains employed in a public school system.

(g)  In order to ensure that no federal funds used to pay a principal or assistant principal are withheld due to the payments made under parts 50, 52, this part and parts 54 and 55 of this chapter, any payment made under parts 50, 52, this part and parts 54 and 55 of this chapter to a principal or assistant principal whose base compensation is paid from federal funds shall be limited, to the extent necessary, to those funds that constitute the supplement for outstanding performance, and not those funds that constitute compensation for work performed by a principal or assistant principal during the eleventh or twelfth month of a contract.

[Acts 1984 (1st E.S.), ch. 7, § 55; 1984, ch. 829, §§ 27-29.]