Alabama § 16-13-336 - Teams Fund.

§ 16-13-336. Teams Fund.

(a) The TEAMS Fund is created in the State Treasury for the purpose of providing funding for differential pay and salary supplements to participating teachers as provided by this article. The Legislature shall appropriate to this fund amounts sufficient to sustain the operation of the program. All funds received by the TEAMS Fund shall remain in the TEAMS Fund and shall not revert or be expended for any purpose other than those set out in this article.

(b) Each local board is allocated one position for mathematics and one position for science funded through the TEAMS program for every 105 students in combined grades 6-12.

(c) It is not the intent of this article to make appropriations, but the appropriations required by this article shall be from the Education Trust Fund, or any other funding source, for the designated fiscal year.

(d) Beginning with the 2021-2022 school year, and each school year thereafter, each participating teacher shall be paid in accordance with the TEAMS salary schedule established by the Legislature in the Education Trust Fund Appropriation Act and adopted by the State Board of Education.

(e)(1) The department shall allocate funding to local boards for the following:

a. The appropriate incremental TEAMS salary increases net of the State Minimum Salary Schedule under Sections 16-6B-8 and 16-13-231, upon verification of eligibility of a participating teacher.

b. The hard-to-staff supplement provided in Section 16-13-335.

(2) The department shall distribute monies from the TEAMS Fund to local boards monthly to fund the allocations provided in this section.

(f) The provisions and requirements of this section shall be in addition to those of Section 16-13-231.1, relating to the State Minimum Salary Schedule. Each participating teacher shall be properly placed on the TEAMS program salary schedule according to degree earned and years of public education service, either in-state or out-of-state, which shall not be less than the amounts appropriated for the State Minimum Salary Schedule. The participating teacher shall be paid according to degree earned and length of public education experience. The local board shall transmit to the department the appropriate documentation for each participating teacher in a timely fashion; thereafter, each participating teacher shall be paid under this article as soon as certified by the department.

(g) All salaries and salary increases shall be paid in full to each individual employed before the end of the applicable fiscal year as defined in Section 16-1-1.

(h) Nothing in this article shall prohibit a local board from paying additional supplements to participating teachers in accordance with local board policies.