The Board of Education, desiring to improve the quality of the educational program, hereby establishes a Tuition Reimbursement Program for its certified teaching staff. The program is available to all teaching and administration staff members of the Bismarck R-V School District.

By establishing this program, the Board of Education intends to achieve the following goals:

1. An improvement in the quality of education for Bismarck R-V School District students.
2. An encouragement for staff members to pursue advanced degrees.
3. An improvement of the intellectual and professional skills of the teaching and administrative staff.
4. An incentive for implementation of individual goals for improvement that will be established through the evaluation process.

Tuition Reimbursement Program Guidelines:

• Employee must earn a grade of 'A' or 'B' in graduate level programs from accredited colleges and universities.
• Employee must be a full-time certified staff member.
• Must complete a Request for Tuition Reimbursement form, attach current official transcript and submit to the Superintendent by September 30 of each year.
• Courses not completed within one year of the September 30 that tuition reimbursement is requested will not be considered.
• Employee must remain employed by the Bismarck R-5 School District for 180 days following a year in which the courses were taken. If the employee refuses to accept a contract for the year following completion of approved courses, no reimbursement will be made.
• Eligibility commences during the first year of employment under the contract. It does not apply to credit received prior to employment. Employment is defined as actually and actively providing teaching services for the district, not merely signing or being under a contract.
• Funding from other sources (grants, fellowships, etc.) will replace the District Tuition Reimbursement program.
• Courses taken must be at the graduate level.
• Coursework must be at an accredited college or university.
• No more than three hours of correspondence work will be reimbursed.
• Courses taken through the SEMO partnership program are not eligible for reimbursement.
• Individuals submitting request for reimbursement for more than six hours must be enrolled in a Master's level program. To establish validity for entrance into a graduate degree program, the employee must submit a letter of acceptance into the program or verification from a major advisor or department head.
• All graduate degrees and/or graduate courses eligible for tuition reimbursement must be in the area of study in which the employee is currently employed, meet a staff need for the District as approved by the Superintendent, or apply to a Master's in teaching.
• Master's degrees may be sought in Educational Administration for any full-time certificated staff member currently working in a teaching position, but this is still subject to the approval of the Superintendent for reimbursement consideration, pending District circumstances.
• Individuals who wish to seek a degree in a field which does not meet the criteria above (i.e., administrator, librarian, counselor) will need to submit this request in writing to their building principal prior to enrolling in the program. The request will be brought before an administrative review team and final approval (if granted) will be from the Board of Education. If the administrative team denies the request, the employee may appeal to the Board of Education.
• Once a Master's degree is earned, any additional reimbursement request must be submitted through a formal letter of request from the employee and approved by the Superintendent for "other educational area to meet staffing needs of the District" prior to beginning the coursework to be eligible for reimbursement.
• Hours not in the area of study employed, or hours not previously approved by the Superintendent will not qualify for reimbursement.
• The actual amount of reimbursement to be paid to employees each year will be determined by the Superintendent and recommended to the Board of Education. The recommendation will be based upon the availability of funds. The amount of reimbursement paid for undergraduate hours will not be greater than 75% of the amount allocated for graduate hours. The maximum number of hours eligible for any staff person for any fiscal year is 12.

Certification Coursework

Coursework taken to meet certification guidelines is not eligible for reimbursement or incremental movement on the salary schedule. The only exception is when the Superintendent requests in writing, that an individual enroll in undergraduate coursework. Graduate coursework taken for certification will not be reimbursed unless the courses are part of a degree program or meet the minimum standards listed above.