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The 2019 Florida legislative session enacted significant changes to this program.  This page will provide a summary of those changes found in Section  , Florida Statutes.

Eligibility for this state award will no longer require ACT or SAT scores.

The purpose of the new Best and Brightest Teacher and Principal program is “to recruit, retain and recognize teachers who meet the needs of this state and have achieved success in the classroom” as well as “to designate school principals whose schools make noticeable academic improvement as Florida’s best and brightest principals”

There are three ways employees may be eligible to be part of this state program:

• Retention Award – must work in a school which has improved an average of three (3) percentage points or more in the percentage of total possible points achieved for determining school grades over the prior three (3) years and satisfy the following:
  • A classroom teacher as defined in must have been rated as highly effective or effective the preceding year, and teach in a school for two (2) consecutive school years, including the current year.
  • A school principal is eligible to receive an award if he or she has served as school principal at his or her school for at least four (4) consecutive school years, including the current school year.

Here is a list of qualifying schools for the Retention Award as determined by FLDOE:

• Recruitment Award – To be eligible for a one-time recruitment award, a newly hired classroom teacher to BPS in the 2019-2020 school year, must be considered a “content expert” in mathematics, science, computer science, reading or civics based on the criteria established by the State Board of Education,. A “content expert” is defined by FLDOE by this State Board of Education rule .

An application process was developed for teachers who believe they meet the “content expert” criteria.  Application deadline is December 20, 2019.  Applications for each content expert area can be found at the bottom of this page.  Completed applications and supporting documents can be emailed to:  BestAndBrightest@brevardschools.org

• Recognition Award – To be eligible for a recognition award, instructional personnel as defined in must be rated as highly effective or effective, and be selected by his or her school principal, based on performance criteria and policies adopted by the district school board or charter school governing board. This section is still under development.

The following are the award amounts as set forth by state statute for eligible employees:

• Retention Award
  • $2,500 for highly effective teachers and $1,000 for effective teachers
  • $5,000 for principals
• Recruitment Award
  • Up to $4,000
• Recognition Award
  • There is no set amount for this award and the amount will be determined by the district. In establishing this amount, be aware recognition awards must be provided from funds remaining after the payment of all recruitment and retention awards.

No action needs to be taken at this time for eligible employees.  This memo is meant to simply inform employees of the changes to the Best and Brightest Teacher and Principal Program.  Future action steps will be detailed within Leadership Team Packet memos later this semester for classroom teachers that believe they qualify for the Recruitment Award.

 If you have any questions, please send them to the BestAndBrightest@brevardschools.org  district email account.