CHAPTER 6. EMPLOYMENT OF TEACHERS AND OTHER PERSONNEL; COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
IC 20-24-6
Chapter 6. Employment of Teachers and Other Personnel;
Collective Bargaining
IC 20-24-6-1
Employees; collective bargaining agreements; accrual of and
financial responsibility for benefits
Sec. 1. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), individuals who
work at a charter school are employees of the charter school or of an
entity with which the charter school has contracted to provide
services.
(b) Teachers in a conversion charter school are employees of both
the charter school and the school corporation that sponsored the
charter school. For purposes of the collective bargaining agreement,
conversion charter school teachers are considered employees of the
school corporation that sponsored the charter school.
(c) All benefits accrued by teachers as employees of the
conversion charter school are the financial responsibility of the
conversion charter school. The conversion charter school shall pay
those benefits directly or reimburse the school corporation for the
cost of the benefits.
(d) All benefits accrued by a teacher during the time the teacher
was an employee only of the school corporation that sponsored the
charter school are the financial responsibility of the school
corporation. The school corporation shall pay those benefits directly
or reimburse the conversion charter school for the cost of the
benefits.
(e) For any other purpose not otherwise stated in this section, a
teacher is an employee of the charter school.
As added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.8.
IC 20-24-6-2
Teachers; voluntary service and hiring
Sec. 2. Individuals must choose to be teachers at a charter school
voluntarily, and a charter school must voluntarily choose those
individuals to be its teachers.
As added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.8.
IC 20-24-6-3
Collective bargaining permitted
Sec. 3. Employees of a charter school may organize and bargain
collectively under IC 20-29.
As added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.8.
IC 20-24-6-4
Conversion charter schools; collective bargaining
Sec. 4. (a) This section applies to a conversion charter school.
(b) After the conversion, the teachers in a conversion charter
school remain part of the bargaining unit of the sponsor and are
subject to all the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement.
(c) The governing body, the equivalent body of the conversion
charter school, and the exclusive representative may by mutual
agreement grant a waiver of a specific provision of the collective
bargaining agreement.
(d) Noncertificated employees (as defined in IC 20-29-2-11)
remain in existing bargaining units and are covered under existing
collective bargaining agreements.
As added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.8.
IC 20-24-6-5
Teachers; license or completion of transition to teaching program
required; other services; appropriate license required
Sec. 5. (a) An individual who teaches in a charter school must
either:
(1) hold a license to teach in a public school in Indiana under
IC 20-28-5; or
(2) be in the process of obtaining a license to teach in a public
school in Indiana under the transition to teaching program
established by IC 20-28-4-2.
(b) An individual described in subsection (a)(2) must complete the
transition to teaching program not later than three (3) years after
beginning to teach at a charter school.
(c) An individual who provides to students in a charter school a
service:
(1) that is not teaching; and
(2) for which a license is required under Indiana law;
must have the appropriate license to provide the service in Indiana.
As added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.8.
IC 20-24-6-6
Substitute teachers
Sec. 6. A charter school may employ a substitute teacher or an
individual who holds a limited license to teach in the same manner
in which a noncharter public school may employ a substitute teacher
or an individual who holds a limited license to teach.
As added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.8.
IC 20-24-6-7
Participation of employees in retirement fund
Sec. 7. (a) A charter school may participate in any of the
following:
(1) The Indiana state teachers' retirement fund in accordance
with IC 5-10.4.
(2) The public employees' retirement fund in accordance with
IC 5-10.3.
(3) Another employee pension or retirement fund.
(b) Except as provided in subsection (e), a person who teaches in
a charter school is a member of the Indiana state teachers' retirement
fund. Service in a charter school is creditable service for purposes of
IC 5-10.4.
(c) Except as provided in subsection (e), a person who:
(1) is a local school employee of a charter school; and
(2) is not eligible to participate in the Indiana state teachers'
retirement fund;
is a member of the public employees' retirement fund.
(d) The boards of the Indiana state teachers' retirement fund and
the public employees' retirement fund shall implement this section
through the organizer of the charter school, subject to and
conditioned upon receiving any approvals either board considers
appropriate from the Internal Revenue Service and the United States
Department of Labor.
(e) Charter school employees may participate in a private pension
or retirement program, if the organizer of the charter school offers
the opportunity to participate in the program.
As added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.8. Amended by P.L.2-2006, SEC.105;
P.L.234-2007, SEC.226.
IC 20-24-6-8
Decision to grant charter; not subject to restraint by collective
bargaining agreement
Sec. 8. The decision by a sponsor whether to grant a charter is not
subject to restraint by a collective bargaining agreement.
As added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.8.
IC 20-24-6-9
Personnel adjustments in noncharter schools; continuation of legal
or contractual provisions
Sec. 9. If a school corporation grants a charter to a charter school
and individuals choose and are chosen by the charter school to teach
in the charter school, the school corporation may make personnel
adjustments among its noncharter school teachers that the school
corporation believes are necessary or appropriate to match existing
resources with existing needs in its noncharter schools. If, as part of
the adjustments, the school corporation eliminates a teaching
position within the corporation, the legal or contractual provisions,
if any, that otherwise apply to the teacher in one (1) of the noncharter
schools whose contract with the school corporation is canceled as a
result of the elimination of the position within the school corporation
continue to apply to that teacher.
As added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.8.
IC 20-24-6-10
Transfer of teacher to nonconversion charter school; continuation
of seniority status
Sec. 10. (a) The governing body:
(1) must grant a transfer of not more than two (2) years; and
(2) may grant a transfer for a period in addition to the period
required in subdivision (1);
to a teacher of a noncharter school in the school corporation who
wishes to teach and has been accepted to teach at a nonconversion
charter school.
(b) During the term of the transfer under subsection (a):
(1) the teacher's seniority status under law continues as if the
teacher were an employee of a noncharter school in the school
corporation; and
(2) the teacher's years as a charter school employee shall not be
considered for purposes of permanent or semipermanent status
with the school corporation under IC 20-28-6, IC 20-28-7, or
IC 20-28-8.
As added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.8.