2024 Senate Bill 744 / Public Act 134

House Fiscal Agency Analysis

Senate Bill 744 would amend the teacher tenure act, 1937 (Ex Sess) PA 4, which regulates the granting of teacher tenure, including criteria for successfully completing a teacher’s probationary period. The bill would change the performance evaluation ratings a probationary teacher must receive to successfully complete their five-year probationary period. Currently, a teacher is assigned a rating of “highly effective,” “effective,” “minimally effective,” or “ineffective,” based on the outcome of their performance evaluation. Beginning July 1, 2024, the date 2023 PA 225 takes effect,1 those labels will change to “effective,” “developing,” or “needing support.” The act now provides that, beginning July 1, 2024, a teacher must have been rated as “highly effective” (for ratings before July 1, 2024) or “effective” (for ratings after that date) on three consecutive year-end performance evaluations, and meet certain employment requirements, to successfully complete the probationary period. The bill would allow a rating of “effective,” in addition to “highly effective,” for ratings issued before July 1, 2024, to count toward successful completion of probation. In addition, while the three required ratings would no longer have to be earned in consecutive years during the fiveyear probation period, the rating earned by the teacher in the final year would have to meet the applicable criteria