Revisions to Teacher Contracts
2011-03/02 Jeffrey T. Jones Printer Friendly PDF Version

Each year, school districts issue individual teacher contracts for the upcoming school year to those teachers that the school district plans on retaining.  Often those contracts incorporate terms of the existing Collective Bargaining Agreement. 

Governor Walker’s proposed Budget Repair Bill (the “Bill”), if passed, would make changes that may well impact a school district’s and a union’s right to bargain on matters set forth in existing 2009‑2011 Collective Bargaining Agreements.  If the Bill is passed, a school board will be able to take the position that none of the items in the Collective Bargaining Agreement will be carried over to a new 2011-2013 Collective Bargaining Agreement (with the possible exception of a recognition clause and a salary schedule). 

The Budget Repair Bill as proposed would also delete Subsection 4 of Section 118.22.  Section 118.22 is the teacher contract renewal/nonrenewal statute.  Subsection 4 of the statute addresses a school district’s and a union’s right to modify, waive, or replace provisions of Section 118.22.  Subsection 4 is often cited as the statutory provision which permits layoffs on dates agreed to by the parties in lieu of following the contract nonrenewal procedures and deadlines in Section 118.22.

In light of the proposed Bill, school districts may wish to revise the individual teacher contracts that they will be issuing to their teaching staff for the upcoming 2011-2012 school year.  This would be of particular importance if the individual contract refers to or incorporates the current Collective Bargaining Agreement.  If the Bill should pass as proposed, a school board may chose to refuse to carry over certain or all of the provisions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and actually will be prohibited from doing so.  However, a reference in an individual teacher contract to the existing 2009-2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement could give rise to a claim that a teacher is vested with the rights and benefits as stated in that Agreement since the Agreement was existing at the time the teacher accepted his or her individual contract. 

Another possible change to the individual contract would be to incorporate a layoff provision that would be applicable in the upcoming 2011-2012 school year regardless of the elimination of the layoff provision in a Collective Bargaining Agreement and Subsection 4 of Section 118.22.  This would allow for a modification to the statutory timelines and perhaps provide a later date for issuing a final notice of layoff/nonrenewal.

Please feel free to contact Jeff Jones, the author of this article, or any of the attorneys in the School Districts and Educational Institutions Focus Group of Ruder Ware: Dean Dietrich, Ron Rutlin, Mary Ellen Schill, or Chris Toner
if you have any questions in regard to this matter or we can be of assistance. Thank you.

© 2011 Ruder Ware, L.L.S.C. Accurate reproduction with acknowledgment granted. All rights reserved.
This document provides information of a general nature regarding legislative or other legal developments. None of the information contained herein is intended as legal advice or opinion relative to specific matters, facts, situations, or issues, and additional facts and information or future developments may affect the subjects addressed.