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2010 SESSION

10101040D
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 91
Offered January 13, 2010
Prefiled January 13, 2010
Directing the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study the methodology employed to develop the Biennial Report on Public School Teacher Compensation. Report.
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Patron-- Houck
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Referred to Committee on Rules
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WHEREAS, the Director of Human Resource Management is required to conduct a biennial review of the compensation of teachers and other occupations requiring similar education and training and to consider the Commonwealth's compensation for teachers relative to member states in the Southern Regional Education Board; and

WHEREAS, the 2007 Biennial Report on Public School Teacher Compensation concluded that the entry-level salary for Virginia public school teachers was 17.9 percent above that of private industry, and that the average public school teacher salary in Virginia for 2005-2006 ranked fifth among the 16 states in the Southern Regional Education Board; and

WHEREAS, these results contradicted a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute titled The Teaching Penalty, which found that in 2006 Virginia teachers made 32.7 percent less than comparable private sector employees and that Virginia ranked 15th out of 16 states in the Southern Regional Education Board in teacher salary; and

WHEREAS, in order to ensure that Virginia teachers are indeed being compensated at a competitive rate, it is crucial that the methodology to develop the biennial report is designed to produce unbiased, accurate information; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission be directed to study the methodology employed to develop the Biennial Report on Public School Teacher Compensation.

In conducting its study, Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) shall (i) review the current methodology used to develop this biennial report for scientific accuracy, (ii) compare this methodology with that used by private entities that have produced similar reports with substantially different results, and (iii) make recommendations as to how to improve this methodology to produce unbiased, accurate results.

Technical assistance shall be provided to JLARC by the Department of Human Resource Management. All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to JLARC for this study, upon request.

JLARC shall complete its meetings for the first year by November 30, 2010, and for the second year by November 30, 2011, and the Director shall submit to the Division of Legislative Automated Systems an executive summary of its findings and recommendations no later than the first day of the next Regular Session of the General Assembly for each year. Each executive summary shall state whether JLARC intends to submit to the General Assembly and the Governor a report of its findings and recommendations for publication as a House or Senate document. The executive summaries and reports shall be submitted as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents and reports and shall be posted on the General Assembly's website.