The State Board of Education wants $263,000 to execute the rollout of Idaho’s new master teacher premium.

And the budget request, presented Monday, provides a glimpse into how the application process would unfold.

The State Board is projecting 2,500 applications for the premiums, which would provide $4,000 a year to high-performing veteran teachers, starting this year.

The board wants three professionals to review each applicant’s portfolio — a detailed document that constitutes the core of the master teacher premium application. Reviewing the portfolios will be an arduous job, State Board executive director Matt Freeman told the Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, so the board doesn’t expect reviewers to grade more than 15 applications.

That means the state would need about 500 professionals to conduct a total of 7,500 portfolio reviews.

And the board wants to pay each reviewer a $500 stipend — making up the bulk of the $263,000 budget request.

The $263,000 is not to be confused with the line item for the master teacher premiums themselves. That’s a $7.2 million line item in Gov. Brad Little’s budget request.

Little has also recommended the $263,000 for the master premium rollout.