The Public School Employee Cost Savings Program is established for the purpose of making cash awards to individual school district employees for cost saving ideas which are proven to be workable. The program must be administered by the State Department of Education with the advice and assistance of a special committee to screen suggested ideas and recommend those with potential merit to be implemented and evaluated. The committee must be composed of:

1. (1) one member who is serving on a public school board, appointed by the State Board of Education upon the recommendation of the South Carolina School Boards Association;
2. (2) one member who is serving as a public school superintendent, or district financial administrator, appointed by the State Board of Education upon the recommendation of the South Carolina Association of School Administrators;
3. (3) one member who is serving as a public school principal, vocational center director, or school administrator, appointed by the State Board of Education;
4. (4) one public school teacher with a minimum of fifteen years service, appointed by the State Board of Education upon the recommendation of the South Carolina Education Association;
5. (5) one public school teacher with a minimum of fifteen years service, appointed by the State Board of Education upon the recommendation of the Palmetto State Teachers Association;
6. (6) two members appointed by the State Superintendent of Education; and

7. (7) five private sector business persons, who hold no public office, one appointed by the Governor, one appointed by the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, one appointed by the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, one appointed by the Chairman of the House Education and Public Works Committee, and one appointed by the Chairman of the Senate Education Committee.

   Committee members shall serve three-year terms except that of those initially appointed, four shall serve initial terms of one year, four shall serve initial terms of two years, and four shall serve initial terms of three years, these initial terms to be determined by lot at the first meeting of the committee. Members of the committee must not serve on the Education Improvement Act Education Oversight Committee, the Business-Education Partnership for Excellence in Education, or the Business-Education Subcommittee while serving on the committee created under this section. Committee members must attend at least eighty percent of the meetings of the committee in each fiscal year or be replaced. Vacancies must be filled in the manner of original appointment.

   The State Board shall promulgate regulations and establish procedures to administer the program. The regulations shall limit individual cash awards to twenty-five percent of the cost savings for one fiscal year or five thousand dollars, whichever is less. No employee may receive an award for an idea which could have been implemented by the employee through his normal job duties. Employees of the State Department of Education may participate in the program.

   The State Department of Education shall provide administrative support for the program. The State Board of Education shall waive or modify its regulations when appropriate and necessary to achieve cost savings.

   The General Assembly shall provide funds to initiate and support the program. Two years after initial implementation of the program, the program must be self-supporting. It is the intent of the General Assembly that the funds appropriated for this program will then be used for assessing the impact of the programs developed under Target 2000.