Bill > HB2511

This bill establishes the Nationally Certified School Psychologist Program and incorporates it into the existing National Teacher Certification Incentive Reward Program. The bill modifies the existing law to expand the National Teacher Certification Incentive Reward Program Fund (now renamed to include the school psychologist program) to provide financial incentives for public school psychologists who obtain national certification from the National Association of School Psychologists. Specifically, the bill allows eligible school psychologists to receive an initial state-funded award of $5,000 and subsequent annual awards of $2,500 for the life of their national certification, similar to the existing incentive program for teachers. The fund will be managed by the State Treasurer and will remain nonreverting, meaning any unspent funds will not return to the general fund but will stay within the dedicated program fund. The Board is authorized to establish guidelines for the program and to determine award amounts if insufficient funds are available to provide full awards to all eligible participants.