(a) When used in this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

(1) BOARD. Any public city or county board of education; the Board of Trustees of the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind; the Alabama Youth Services Board in its capacity as the Board of Education for the Youth Services School District; the Board of Directors of the Alabama School of Fine Arts; the Board of Directors of the Alabama High School of Mathematics and Science; and, as applied to two-year postsecondary education institutions, the State Board of Education.

(2) SUPPORT PERSONNEL or SUPPORT EMPLOYEE. Maid, custodian, adult bus driver, lunchroom or cafeteria worker, secretary, clerk, clerical assistant, maintenance worker, or other non-certificated employee who works an average of at least 20 hours weekly, excluding those employees who are covered by the State Merit System and the employees at the Alabama Industries for the Blind.

(3) TEACHER. Any certificated employee in the public schools; and for postsecondary institutions, any instructor, professor, or any other position requiring at least a baccalaureate degree.

(b) Each board may grant up to five days of personal leave to each teacher and support employee annually noncumulative, during the time the schools are in session for teachers, and during the regularly scheduled work year for support personnel. The board shall enact written policies providing for the uniform administration of personal leave consistent with Section 16-1-30. The board shall determine whether personal leave is to be with part pay, full pay, or without pay. Any approved leave for which the state's Foundation Program includes funding shall be with pay. Each board shall grant not less than two days of paid personal leave to its support personnel each scholastic year. Personal leave may, at the discretion of the teacher, be reimbursed to the teacher at the end of the school year at the same daily rate as is paid to substitute teachers for each day of personal leave not taken by the teacher. The number of unused personal leave days subject to reimbursement shall be limited to the number of personal leave days for which state or local funding is provided. No teacher, or support employee, as a condition to receive personal leave, shall be required to divulge his or her reasons for requesting such leave.

(c) The teacher or support employee may choose to convert personal leave days to sick leave days at the end of the school year. Only those unused or unreimbursed personal leave days which are funded by the state or the board shall be eligible for conversion to sick leave days.