§ 59-25-47. Unused leave payments authorized.

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(A)A local school district board of trustees or, in the case of a charter school, the governing body of a charter school, is authorized to adopt a policy consistent with the school district or, in the case of a charter school, the school budget, providing that all certified and noncertified public school teachers identified in the Professional Certified Staff listing, certified special school classroom teachers, certified school librarians, certified school counselors, and career specialists who are employed by a school district or a charter school who earn, but do not use sick and annual leave in excess of ninety days, may be eligible to receive payment at the end of each fiscal year for these earned days in excess of ninety days for each excess day at a district's or charter school's established rate of substitute pay for their individual job classification, or another amount, subject to approval by the local school board, or, in the case of a charter school, the governing body of the charter school. This provision applies only to sick leave and annual leave in excess of ninety days that is accrued after July 1, 2018.

(B)A local school district board of trustees or, in the case of a charter school, the governing body of a charter school, must adopt a policy enabling all district or charter school employees to contribute any unused sick or annual leave in excess of sixty days to a sick leave bank that is made available to all district or charter school employees. Such policy must include criteria for employee eligibility to apply for use of the sick leave bank, procedures for review of applications for use of the sick leave bank, and criteria for the maximum number of days an employee may access from the sick leave bank during a single fiscal year.

(C)Notwithstanding any provision contained in this section, this section does not and may not be construed to amend or to repeal:

(1)the rights of a school district, charter school, or legislative delegation to set or restrict any existing teacher incentive payment programs; or

(2)any existing teacher incentive payment programs provided by current law or any existing limitation on the fiscal autonomy of a school district or charter school that is more restrictive than any incentives provided in subsection (A).

(D)A local district, prior to the effective date of this act, who has implemented a leave bank policy or a policy that advances the full annual leave balance to a new employee with the first payroll disbursement shall be exempt from the requirements of this section.