Chapter 265
2011 -- S 1062 SUBSTITUTE B
Enacted 07/09/11
A N A C T
RELATING TO
EDUCATION -- SCHOOL COMMITTEES AND SUPERINTENDENTS
Introduced By: Senators Jabour, Goodwin, Metts, Pichardo, and Ruggerio
Date Introduced: June 21, 2011
It is enacted by the
General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 16-2-9 of the General Laws in Chapter
16-2 entitled "School
Committees and
Superintendents" is hereby amended to read as follows:
16-2-9. General powers and duties of school committees. -- (a) The entire care,
control, and management of all public school interests of the
several cities and towns shall be
vested in the school committees of the several cities and
towns. School committees shall have, in
addition to those enumerated in this title, the following
powers and duties:
(1) To identify
educational needs in the community.
(2) To develop
education policies to meet the needs of the community.
(3) To provide for and
assure the implementation of federal and state laws, the
regulations of the board of regents for elementary and secondary
education, and of local school
policies, programs, and directives.
(4) To provide for the
evaluation of the performance of the school system.
(5) To have
responsibility for the care and control of local schools.
(6) To have overall
policy responsibility for the employment and discipline of school
department personnel.
(7) To approve a master
plan defining goals and objectives of the school system. These
goals and objectives shall be expressed in terms of what
men and women should know and be
able to do as a result of their educational experience.
The committee shall periodically evaluate
the efforts and results of education in light of these
objectives.
(8) To provide for the
location, care, control, and management of school facilities and
equipment.
(9) To adopt a school
budget to submit to the local appropriating authority.
(10) To adopt any
changes in the school budget during the course of the school year.
(11) To approve
expenditures in the absence of a budget, consistent with state law.
(12) To employ a
superintendent of schools and assign any compensation and other
terms and conditions as the school committee and superintendent
shall agree, provided that in no
event shall the term of employment of the superintendent
exceed three (3) years. Nothing
contained in this chapter shall be construed as invalidating or
impairing a contract of a school
committee with a school superintendent in force on May 12,
1978.
(13) To give advice and
consent on the appointment by the superintendent of all school
department personnel.
(14) To establish
minimum standards for personnel, to adopt personnel policies, and to
approve a table of organization.
(15) To establish
standards for the evaluation of personnel.
(16) To establish
standards for conduct in the schools and for disciplinary actions.
(17) To hear appeals
from disciplinary actions.
(18) To enter into
contracts; provided, however, that notwithstanding any other provision
of the general or public laws, whether of specific or
general application, and notwithstanding the
provisions of any charter of any municipality where the school
committee is appointed and not
elected, but not including, the
16-2-34, the power and duty to enter into collective
bargaining agreements shall be vested in the
chief executive officer of the municipality and not in the
school committee.
(19) To publish policy
manuals which shall include all school committee policies.
(20) To establish
policies governing curriculum, courses of instruction,
and text books.
(21) To provide for transportation
services which meet or exceed standards of the board
of regents for elementary and secondary education.
(22) To make any
reports to the department of education as are required by the board of
regents for elementary and secondary education.
(23) To delegate,
consistent with law, any responsibilities to the superintendent as the
committee may deem appropriate.
(24) To address the
health and wellness of students and employees.
(25) To establish a
subcommittee of the school board or committee to decrease obesity
and address school health and wellness policies for
students and employees consistent with
section 16-21-28.
(26) To annually
undertake a minimum of six (6) hours of professional development as
set forth and described in section 16-2-5.1.
(b) Nothing in this
section shall be deemed to limit or interfere with the rights of teachers
and other school employees to collectively bargain
pursuant to chapters 9.3 and 9.4 of title 28 or
to allow any school committee to abrogate any agreement
reached by collective bargaining.
(c) The elected
school committees of each city, town, or regional school district, or the
chief executive officer of any municipality having an
appointed school committee, shall have
the
power to bind their successors and successor committees by
entering into contracts of
employment in the exercise of their governmental functions.
(d) Notwithstanding any
provisions of the general laws to the contrary, the requirement
defined in subsections (d) through (f) of this section shall
apply. The school committee of each
school district shall be responsible for maintaining a
school budget which does not result in a
debt.
(e) The school
committee shall, within thirty (30) days after the close of the first and
second quarters of the state's fiscal year, adopt a budget
as may be necessary to enable it to
operate without incurring a debt, as described in subsection
(d).
(f) In the event that
any obligation, encumbrance, or expenditure by a superintendent of
schools or a school committee is in excess of the amount
budgeted or that any revenue is less than
the amount budgeted, the school committee shall within
five (5) working days of its discovery of
potential or actual over expenditure or revenue deficiency
submit a written statement of the
amount of and cause for the over obligation or over
expenditure or revenue deficiency to the city
or town council president and any other person who by
local charter or statute serves as the city
or town's executive officer; the statement shall further
include a statement of the school
committee's plan for corrective actions necessary to meet the
requirements of subsection (d). The
plan shall be approved by the auditor general.
(g) Notwithstanding any
other provision of law, whether of general or specific
application, and notwithstanding any contrary provision of any
city or town charter or ordinance,
the elected school committee of any city, town and
regional school district shall be, and is hereby
authorized to retain the services of such independent legal
counsel as it may deem necessary and
convenient. Any counsel so retained shall be compensated out of
funds duly appropriated to the
school committee, and in no event shall the independent
counsel be deemed to be an employee of
the pertinent city or town for any purpose.
SECTION 2. Section 16-2-21.6 of the General Laws in Chapter
16-2 entitled "School
Committees and
Superintendents" is hereby amended to read as follows:
16-2-21.6.
Collective bargaining fiscal impact statements. --
(a) Prior to executing any
collective bargaining agreement between a school committee and
representatives of teachers
and/or other school employees, the school committee in
any municipality, or regional school
district with an elected school committee, or the chief
executive officer in any municipality with
an appointed school committee shall prepare or cause to be prepared a collective
bargaining fiscal
impact statement. These statements shall set forth, in
dollar amounts, estimates of the fiscal
impact, during the term of the proposed agreement. No
comment or opinion relative to the merits
of the terms of the contract shall be included, except
that technical or mechanical errors or defects
may be noted.
(b) The fiscal impact
statement and the awarded contract shall be publicized and shall be
made immediately available upon ratification of the
contract.
SECTION 3. Section 16-7-19.1 of the General Laws in Chapter
16-7 entitled
"
16-7-19.1.
Optional incentive plan. -- (a) Any
school committee in a municipality, or
regional school district with an elected school committee, may
by resolution to the retirement
board, and the chief executive officer in any municipality
with an appointed school committee
may by order to the retirement board, as a result
of a bargaining agreement with its teacher
employees, accept by resolution to the retirement board
an incentive plan to provide supplemental
payments for teachers who are eligible for a service
retirement allowance at the time they retire,
or who become eligible for a service retirement allowance
subsequent to their retirement, as
follows: As an incentive to retire, the school committee
shall grant no later than thirty (30) days
following retirement a lump sum payment not to exceed one
hundred fifty dollars ($150) for each
year of service in that community, up to a maximum of
thirty (30) years of service.
(b) Each teacher must
notify the school committee by July 1 of the year in which they
intend to retire. The incentive payment shall be paid to the
teacher no later than thirty (30) days
following retirement or at the time they become eligible for a
service retirement allowance and no
retirement contribution shall be made from this payment.
(c) Incentive payments
under the plan shall not be included in the final salary of a
teacher for the computation of the basic pension due from the
retirement plan and the
supplemental amount shall be computed as a separate item based on
the existing pension formula,
including three (3) year average, and the supplemental payment
shall then be added to the
teacher's basic pension amount.
(d) Supplemental
payments under this section shall be applied, in the case of an option,
after the option annuity amount is determined, and shall be
continued for the lifetime of the
teacher only and not to a beneficiary.
(e) Supplemental
payments under this section shall not be included in the original
pension allowance subject to any cost of living increase
provided by section 16-16-40.
(f) The total of all supplemental
payments to retired teachers under this section shall be
reimbursed to the retirement board by the school districts on a
monthly basis. Whenever any
amounts due are not paid within thirty (30) days from the
date due, the board shall levy regular
interest on the payments from date due to date of payment.
(g) Any school
committee in a municipality or regional school district with an elected
school committee
may terminate the optional incentive plan by resolution to the retirement board
and the chief executive officer of a municipality with an
appointed school committee may
terminate the optional incentive plan by order to the
retirement board, provided that:
(1) No teacher who
retires after the termination of the plan shall be eligible for any
incentive or supplemental payments.
(2) Any retired teacher
who is receiving supplemental payments prior to the termination
of the plan shall continue to receive payments for the
remaining lifetime of the teacher, and the
school district shall continue to be liable for the
reimbursement of the payments to the retirement
board as provided in subsection (f) of this section.
SECTION 4. Section 16-7-29 of the General Laws in Chapter
16-7 entitled "Foundation
16-7-29.
Minimum salary schedule established by community.
-- Minimum salary
schedule. -- (a)
Every community municipality and regional
school district shall establish and put
into full effect by appropriate action of its school
committee in a municipality or regional school
district where the school committee is elected, or by
appropriate action of the chief executive
officer, in a municipality where the school committee is
appointed, a salary schedule recognizing
years of service, experience, and training for all
certified personnel regularly employed in the
public schools and having no more than twelve (12) annual
steps. The term "school year" as
applied to the salary schedule means the ten (10) calendar
months beginning in September and
ending the following June.
(b) Nothing in this
section shall prohibit a freeze or reduction of the monetary value of
the steps in the salary schedule through the collective
bargaining process.
SECTION 5. Sections 16-13-4 and 16-13-5 of the General Laws
in Chapter 16-13
entitled "Teachers' Tenure" are hereby amended to
read as follows:
16-13-4.
Statement of cause for dismissal -- Hearing -- Appeals -- Arbitration.
-- (a)
The statement of cause for dismissal shall be given to
the teacher, in writing, by the governing
body of the schools at least one month prior to the close
of the school year. The teacher may,
within fifteen (15) days of the notification, request, in
writing, a hearing before the full board.
The hearing shall be public or private, in the
discretion of the teacher. Both teacher and school
board shall be entitled to be represented by counsel and to
present witnesses. The board shall
keep a complete record of the hearing and shall furnish
the teacher with a copy. Any teacher
aggrieved by the decision of the school board shall have the
right of appeal to the department of
elementary and secondary education and shall have the right of
further appeal to the superior
court.
(b) Nothing contained
in this section shall be construed to prohibit or at any time to have
prohibited a school committee in a municipality or regional
school district with an elected school
committee, or the chief executive officer in a municipality with
an appointed school committee
from agreeing, in a collective bargaining agreement, to
the arbitration of disputes arising out of
the nonrenewal, dismissal, and/or suspension of a teacher
pursuant to sections 16-13-2, 16-13-3,
and/or 16-13-5.
16-13-5.
Suspension for cause -- Payment for period suspended. -- (a) Section
16-13-4
shall not prevent the suspension of a teacher for good and
just cause. Prior to the suspension of a
teacher as provided in this section, the school committee
shall hold a pre-suspension hearing to
determine if a suspension is warranted, and at the
pre-suspension hearing, shall consider any
available evidence and afford the teacher or his or her counsel
an opportunity to respond to that
evidence. In the event a teacher is suspended or otherwise not
permitted to perform his or her
duties prior to the presuspension
hearing, then the teacher shall be paid his or her regular salary
during that period.
(b) Whenever a teacher
is suspended by a school committee, the school committee shall
furnish the teacher with a complete statement of the cause(s)
of the suspension and, upon request,
shall afford the teacher a hearing and appeal pursuant to
the procedure set forth in section 16-13-
4. If the teacher shall be vindicated as a result of
the hearing or any appeal the teacher shall be
paid in full for the period of suspension, and provided
further, that during the period of
suspension, all medical and insurance benefits shall remain in
full force and effect.
(c) Nothing contained
in this section shall be construed to prohibit or at any time to have
prohibited a school committee in a municipality or regional
school district with an elected school
committee, or the chief executive officer in a municipality
with an appointed school committee,
from agreeing, in a collective bargaining agreement, to
the arbitration of disputes arising out of
the suspension of a teacher pursuant to subsection (a) of
this section.
SECTION 6. Section 28-9.3-2 of the General Laws in Chapter
28-9.3 entitled "Certified
School Teachers'
Arbitration" is hereby amended to read as follows:
28-9.3-2.
Right to organize and bargain collectively. -- (a)
The certified teachers in the
public school system in any city, town, or regional school
district have the right to negotiate
professionally and to bargain collectively with their respective
school committees and to be
represented by an association or labor organization in the
negotiation or collective bargaining
concerning hours, salary, working conditions, and all other
terms and conditions of professional
employment.
(b) For purposes of
this chapter, "certified teachers" means certified
teaching personnel
employed in the public school systems in the state of
including support personnel whose positions require a
professional certificate issued by the state
department of education and personnel licensed by the department
of health; or other non-
administrative professional employees.
(c) Whenever the
word "school committee" is used in this chapter, in a municipality
with
an appointed school committee, it means the chief
executive officer of the municipality.
(c)(d)
Superintendents, assistant superintendents, principals, and assistant
principals, and
other supervisors above the rank of assistant principal,
are excluded from the provisions of this
chapter.
(d)(e)
Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), collective bargaining
agreements
shall not provide for benefits for health care
("benefit plans") for certified employees unless such
benefit plans are authorized in accordance with chapter
27-73. Active employees whose
collective bargaining agreements expire on or after June 30,
2011 shall, upon expiration of such
collective bargaining agreements, receive coverage under benefit
plans authorized in accordance
with chapter 27-73.
SECTION 7. This act shall not effect
any municipality in receivership, or the Central
Falls school district board
of trustees established by section 16-2-34.
SECTION 8. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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LC02916/SUB B
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