(a) The State Board of Education is authorized and directed to devise and implement a pay-for-performance program for rewarding group productivity. By December 31, 1992, and each December 31 thereafter, the State Board of Education shall develop performance criteria which shall be used to evaluate proposals submitted by local schools or systems for the determination of exemplary performance at the school site. Such criteria will relate to the overall educational performance of the school in areas related to student outcomes and achievement. Such criteria shall also reflect the six national goals for education which have been adopted under Georgia 2000 and, to the extent feasible, socioeconomic or other demographic factors that may affect student achievement or other outcomes of education. Such criteria shall also reflect school level improvement on identified performance criteria, such as the numbers of remedial, SIA, and Chapter I students that achieved grade level performance.

(b) The state board shall create guidelines for the approval of local school proposals under this program and a system for weighing the various criteria in each school proposal according to school performance. The performance evaluation system shall be designed to determine the level of improvement achieved by the school based upon those criteria adopted and approved for the school proposal. Local schools which choose to apply for pay-for-performance awards for group productivity shall submit proposals through the local board of education, which must approve the proposals, to the State Board of Education. Such proposals shall be submitted annually and shall identify which of the state-wide performance criteria will be emphasized by the local school for the determination of award eligibility.

(c) The state board shall advise each local board of education as to whether the proposal submitted by each school applicant meets the guidelines for approval and, consequently, whether the proposal as submitted is eligible for award consideration. Local schools shall be allowed to modify their initial proposals in order to meet guidelines.

(d) Local school boards shall be informed by the state board of whether or not each school proposal has been approved no later than May 1 of the school year preceding the one for which the proposal was created.

(e) The State Board of Education shall evaluate the performance of all schools submitting proposals for a given school year during the summer following that school year, according to the terms of the local school proposal as approved by the state board. The state board shall uniformly apply the criteria for weighing the proposals to the local school proposals, and those schools which are deemed eligible for an award shall be notified no later than September 1 of the school year after the one for which the performance judged exemplary occurred. The state board may appoint an advisory evaluation team from outside the Department of Education to assist in the development and application of the criteria by which the proposals will be evaluated. Awards shall be made by the State Board of Education to each school through the local board for successful school projects no later than December 1 of the school year after the one for which the performance judged exemplary occurred. The amount of the awards shall be distributed through local systems to schools judged exemplary by the State Board of Education according to the number of successful school projects, the size of each school, and the level of funding provided by the General Assembly. The decision of the local school's certificated personnel, in accordance with a process for decision making specified by the State Board of Education, will determine how the awards are spent or distributed at the school site.

(f) The state board shall specify guidelines to ensure the representation of all affected school level constituencies in the award distribution process. These guidelines will ensure that the proceeds in whole or in part may be given to faculty members in the form of bonuses or may be spent for the purpose of providing faculty sabbaticals, for instructional or other equipment, for staff development, for distribution to other school staff in the form of bonuses, or for any other expenditure deemed appropriate by the local school's certificated personnel.

(g) The State Board of Education shall submit a proposal for funding this pay-for-performance program for rewarding group productivity each year with its budget request. Awards made under this program are subject to appropriation by the General Assembly.