Signed by Governor Mitch Daniels, Jr.

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that amends collective bargaining procedures for school employees.

Highlights:

• Specifies that all contracts between teachers and schools must (Sec. 3):
• Be in writing;
• Be signed by both parties;
• Contain the beginning date of the school term and number of days in the school term;
• Contain the total salary to be paid to the teacher during the school year, and the number of salary payments to be made to the teacher during the school year; and
• Contain the number of hours per day the teacher is expected to work.

• Authorizes the use of temporary teacher contracts in cases where a new teacher is hired for a position funded by an outside grant, whereas existing law did not authorize the use of temporary teacher contracts for this purpose (Sec. 3).

• Authorizes the Department of Education to pay temporary teachers a salary that may be less than the state minimum salary, whereas existing law required the Department to pay temporary teachers the state minimum salary (Sec. 4).

• Prohibits teacher contracts from including provisions that conflict with restructuring options available to school employers under federal or state statutes, because of the failure of a school to meet federal or state accountability standards (Sec. 12).

• Prohibits a school employer from entering into any agreement that would place the employer in a position of deficit financing (Sec. 13).

• Limits collective bargaining to salary, wages, and fringe benefits, whereas existing law authorized collective bargaining for salary, wages, fringe benefits and hours (Sec. 14).

• Prohibits a school employer from bargaining collectively on the following issues, for all contracts entered into after June 30, 2011 (Sec. 15):
• The school calendar;
• Teacher dismissal procedures and criteria;
• Restructuring options available to a school employer under federal or state statutes because of the failure of a school to meet federal or state accountability standards; or
• The ability of a school employer to contract, partner, or operate jointly with an educational entity that provides postsecondary credits to students of the school employer or dual credits from the school employer and the educational entity.

• Authorizes school employers to include a grievance procedure in teacher contracts that does not culminate in binding arbitration, whereas existing law required the grievance procedure to end in binding arbitration (Sec. 17). 

• Specifies that formal collective bargaining shall begin before August 1 in the first year of the state budget biennium (Sec. 20).

• Prohibits contracts from extending past the end of the state budget biennium (Sec. 16).

Full Bill Text

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that amends collective bargaining procedures for school employees.

Highlights:

• Specifies that all contracts between teachers and schools must (Sec. 3):
• Be in writing;
• Be signed by both parties;
• Contain the beginning date of the school term and number of days in the school term;
• Contain the total salary to be paid to the teacher during the school year, and the number of salary payments to be made to the teacher during the school year; and
• Contain the number of hours per day the teacher is expected to work.

• Authorizes the use of temporary teacher contracts in cases where a new teacher is hired for a position funded by an outside grant, whereas existing law did not authorize the use of temporary teacher contracts for this purpose (Sec. 3).

• Authorizes the Department of Education to pay temporary teachers a salary that may be less than the state minimum salary, whereas existing law required the Department to pay temporary teachers the state minimum salary (Sec. 4).

• Prohibits teacher contracts from including provisions that conflict with restructuring options available to school employers under federal or state statutes, because of the failure of a school to meet federal or state accountability standards (Sec. 12).

• Prohibits a school employer from entering into any agreement that would place the employer in a position of deficit financing (Sec. 13).

• Limits collective bargaining to salary, wages, and fringe benefits, whereas existing law authorized collective bargaining for salary, wages, fringe benefits and hours (Sec. 14).

• Prohibits a school employer from bargaining collectively on the following issues, for all contracts entered into after June 30, 2011 (Sec. 15):
• The school calendar;
• Teacher dismissal procedures and criteria;
• Restructuring options available to a school employer under federal or state statutes because of the failure of a school to meet federal or state accountability standards; or
• The ability of a school employer to contract, partner, or operate jointly with an educational entity that provides postsecondary credits to students of the school employer or dual credits from the school employer and the educational entity.

• Authorizes school employers to include a grievance procedure in teacher contracts that does not culminate in binding arbitration, whereas existing law required the grievance procedure to end in binding arbitration (Sec. 17). 

• Specifies that formal collective bargaining shall begin before August 1 in the first year of the state budget biennium (Sec. 20).

• Prohibits contracts from extending past the end of the state budget biennium (Sec. 16).

Full Bill Text

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that amends collective bargaining procedures for school employees.

Highlights:

• Limits the number of teachers the exclusive representative may appoint to serve on statutory or locally-created committees of a school corporation to no more than the percentage of teachers in the school corporation who are members of the exclusive representative (Sec. 7).

• Specifies that a contract agreement may not include provisions that conflict with a school employer's ability to do the following (Sec. 8):
• Restructure schools that do not meet federal or state accountability standards; or
• Enter into programs that offer postsecondary credit or dual credits to students.

• Requires that contracts entered into after June 30, 2011 may not extend past the end of a state biennium (Sec. 8).

• Excludes the following items from collective bargaining agreements (Sec. 10):
• The school calendar, other than on the total number of days a teacher must work during a regular school year;
• Teacher evaluation procedures and criteria;
• Teacher dismissal procedures and criteria; and
• A school employer's ability to:
• Restructure schools that do not meet federal or state accountability standards; or -Enter into programs that offer postsecondary credit or dual credits to students.

• Requires that collective bargaining between a school corporation and the exclusive representative shall not begin later than (Sec. 12):
• May 1 of the last year of the state budget biennium; or
• If the agreement expires before the state biennium budget, May 1 of the year preceding the last year of the state budget biennium.

Full Bill Text