The Senate Education Committee on Tuesday carried over House Bill 3196 after extended debate over provisions that would change notice and discipline rules for teachers and create a sick‑leave bank for school employees.

The bill would require districts to give teachers tentative assignments at least 14 calendar days before students return and would require written reemployment notices to include a projected minimum salary schedule and a promise to provide a final schedule ‘‘as soon as practical.’’ It would also require districts, upon request, to provide the factors used to determine a teacher’s pay category on the salary schedule.

The bill would let certified and noncertified school employees donate unused sick or annual leave in excess of 60 days to a sick‑leave bank available to district and charter employees. A subcommittee amendment would exempt districts that already have an approved policy at the bill’s effective date.

The measure would increase the number of professional development days on a district calendar from three to four while reducing planning days from five to four, and it changes the disciplinary finding for contract breach from a finding of ‘‘unprofessional conduct’’ to a finding of ‘‘breach of contract,’’ limiting certain certificate‑suspension authority to six months and making suspension or revocation discretionary rather than mandatory.

The bill would also convert a retired educator certificate from a renewable to a lifetime certificate for the purpose of returning to temporary or full‑time employment. Subcommittee language reinserted a disqualifier for prior suspended or voluntarily surrendered certificates and made other clarifications, staff told the committee.

Debate centered on a subcommittee amendment that would impose a $1,000 penalty on a district that fails to notify a teacher of a contract decision by the May 1 statutory deadline. Senator Turner (subcommittee chair) told colleagues the penalty is intended to force districts to be ‘‘active’’ in the contract process rather than allowing a ‘‘passive’’ rolling renewal system to continue. He said the penalty is meant to encourage districts to evaluate staffing and avoid routine noncompliance with state law.

Several senators questioned whether a monetary penalty was preferable to existing practice — which some described as protecting the teacher by treating failure to notify the teacher as an effective reemployment — and asked whether the penalty could harm classroom funding if districts paid fines. Senator from Williamsburg said he supported incentives for districts to act but was not yet prepared to endorse the policy shift.

Committee members also discussed whether the contract‑notice requirements apply only to classroom teachers or also to administrators who hold professional certificates; staff agreed to clarify definitions.

After debate, the committee voted to carry the bill over so staff can draft additional amendments and phased implementation language.

The chair said the committee would revisit the bill in two weeks.