Minnesota’s Alternative Professional Pay Systems law is unique in the nation. It bases teacher performance pay on three measures:

• Site-level student achievement gains using a standardized assessment
• Other measures of student achievement
• Teacher evaluation 

The two main sections of the law deal with the Educational Improvement Plan on which performance pay must be based, and the pay plan itself.

The first section includes the eight components of the Educational Improvement Plan and requires the plan to be negotiated and ratified by the district and teachers union. In addition, Minnesota’s other professional development statutes remain in effect.

The second section describes the pay plan. It provides:

• No requirement to use student test scores in teacher evaluation.
• No requirement to link student test scores to individual teacher pay.
• The pay plan must be negotiated and ratified by the district and teachers union.

The legislation also provides funding of $260 per student from a combination of state aid and local levy revenue.