Individual and Team Funding Applications: Faculty and staff (individuals and/or teams) may apply for funding to support learning activities relevant to the TAS philosophy of professional development, under the following guidelines (the Superintendent or Principal in charge of Curriculum may approve of any exceptions to these guidelines under special circumstances):

You may also choose to go to the frequently asked questions section if you want a quick answer to a specific question.

·        Eligibility:

§         Faculty and staff with a minimum of .8 FTE are eligible for full funding.  Part time faculty below .8 FTE will receive a percentage of funding allotted equal to their percentage contract time (e.g. a .6 FTE would receive 60% of funding, a .4 FTE would receive 40%, etc.)

§         Successful completion of all responsibilities related to previous funding for professional development activities is a prerequisite for funding eligibility. 

§         As the application deadline for spring PD applications occurs BEFORE contracts are signed, those who are considering NOT signing their TAS contracts are urged NOT TO APPLY for spring PD.  EARCOS Teacher’s Conference participation will be supported regardless of the contract status, but other PD after February 1 will not be funded for departing faculty.  The employee MAY bear the cost of any funds lost due to cancellation if a contract is not signed.

§         Incoming faculty members will become eligible for professional development funding at the beginning of their contract term, unless requested by the school to attend an activity before the initiation of their contract.

§         Teams may apply for funding support for team professional development activities, such as training, workshops, or consultants.

·        Procedures: Activities funded by the school for professional development purposes must follow a three-step process as outlined below.  At each stage of the process, faculty or staff members will place a copy of their completed documents in the Teacher Data section of their Professional Growth and Evaluation Folder.  An application will be considered complete if the following are submitted by the deadline: a completed application form is EMAILED to the Professional Development Coordinator AND a completed application form is PRINTED and sent to the appropriate department head and principal for signatures.

1.      Application – The faculty or staff member or team must complete the PD Funding Application form after identifying an appropriate learning activity through discussion with their team/department leader and principal.  Applications will be rated using the PD Funding Application Rubric and appropriate funding level determined.

2.      Follow-Up & Self-Assessment - The faculty or staff member must complete the PD Follow-Up & Self-Assessment form within six weeks after completion of the learning activity.  An electronic copy should be emailed to the PD Coordinator and another copy should be signed by their principal and placed in the Teacher Data section of their Professional Growth Folder.

·        Funding:  The PD Council will approve funding allocations under the following guidelines:

§         Equitable access across the school for both professional learning and student learning is the highest priority.

§         Individuals may apply for more than one funding allocation per year with the support of their principal; however, due to budgetary constraints, the PD Council may assign a lower priority for available funds to these applications. 

§         Beginning with applications made in April 2006 for the summer and early fall of 2006, a new rubric will be used in which the previous year’s funding will be factored into an applicant’s rubric score.  Those who have not received funding the previous year will score higher on the rubric than those who have.  This rubric will NOT be in place for 2005-2006 school year applications but only for those applications for events occurring after July 1, 2006.  All funding will be factored in to applications, both previous application funding as well as any allocated funding.

§         Funding for team applications will be determined by the PD Council and not by the individual funding categories listed on the application rubric.

§         Faculty members may apply for professional development funding up to $400 per year (equivalent to Category IV) in support of university coursework for non-SUNY graduate credit.  SUNY courses are already subsidized by PD Funds and therefore will not be eligible for further funding under Category IV. 

§         Applications in support of Category III or IV funding, including for graduate coursework and EARCOS workshops, will be approved by divisional administrators in conjunction with the PD Coordinator and Curriculum Director.   The full PD Council will approve all other applications.