273.22 - CONTRACTS OF NEW AREA EDUCATION AGENCY.
273.22 CONTRACTS OF NEW AREA EDUCATION AGENCY.
1. The terms of employment of the administrator and staff of
affected area education agencies for the school year beginning with
the effective date of the formation of the new area education agency
shall not be affected by the formation of the new area education
agency, except in accordance with the provisions of sections 279.15
through 279.18, and 279.24, and the authority and responsibility to
offer new contracts or to continue, modify, or terminate existing
contracts pursuant to sections 279.12, 279.13, 279.15 through 279.21,
279.23, and 279.24 for the school year beginning with the effective
date of the reorganization shall be transferred from the boards of
the existing area education agencies to the board of the new area
education agency following approval of the reorganization plan by the
state board as provided in section 273.21, subsection 4.
2. The collective bargaining agreement of the area education
agency with the largest basic enrollment, as defined in section
257.6, for the year prior to the year the reorganization is
effective, shall serve as the base agreement in the new area
education agency and the employees of the other area education
agencies involved in the formation of the new area education agency
shall automatically be accreted to the bargaining unit of that
collective bargaining agreement for purposes of negotiating the
contracts for the following years without further action by the
public employment relations board. If only one collective bargaining
agreement is in effect among the area education agencies that are
party to the reorganization, that agreement shall serve as the base
agreement, and the employees of the other agencies involved in the
formation of the new area education agency shall automatically be
accreted to the bargaining unit of that collective bargaining
agreement for purposes of negotiating the contracts for the following
years without further action by the public employment relations
board. The board of the newly formed area education agency, using
the base agreement as its existing contract, shall bargain with the
combined employees of the affected agencies for the school year that
begins on the effective date of the reorganization. The bargaining
shall be completed by the dates specified in section 20.17 prior to
the school year in which the reorganization becomes effective or
within one hundred eighty days after the organization of the new
board, whichever is later. If a bargaining agreement was already
concluded by the board and employees of the affected agency with the
contract serving as the base agreement for the school year beginning
with the effective date of the reorganization, that agreement shall
be void. However, if the base agreement contains multiyear
provisions affecting school years subsequent to the effective year of
the reorganization, the base agreement shall remain in effect as
specified in the agreement.
The provisions of the base agreement shall apply to the offering
of new contracts or continuation, modification, or termination of
existing contracts as provided in subsection 1.
3. The terms of a contract between the board of directors of a
school district and the board of directors of an affected area
education agency shall be carried out by the school board and the
board of directors of the newly formed area education agency except
as provided in this section.
4. The board of directors of a school district that is under a
contract with an affected area education agency may petition the
boards of directors of the affected area education agencies for
release from the contract. If the petition receives a majority of
the votes cast by the members of the boards of the affected area
education agencies, the petition is approved and the contract shall
be terminated on the effective date of the area education agency
reorganization.
5. Not later than fifteen days after the state board notifies an
area education agency of its approval of the area education agency's
reorganization plan or dissolution proposal, the area education
agency shall notify, by certified mail, the school districts located
within the area education agency boundaries, the school districts and
area education agencies that are contiguous to its boundaries, and
any other school district under contract with the area education
agency, of the state board's approval of the plan or proposal, and
shall provide the department of education with a copy of any notice
sent in accordance with this subsection. A petition to join an area
education agency or for release from a contract with an area
education agency, in accordance with subsections 4, 6, and 7, shall
be filed not later than forty-five days after the state board
approves a reorganization plan or dissolution proposal in accordance
with this chapter.
6. Within forty-five days of the state board's approval, the
board of directors of a school district that is contiguous to a newly
reorganized area education agency may petition the board of directors
of their current area education agency and the newly reorganized area
education agency to join the newly reorganized area education agency.
If the initial, or new board if established in time under section
273.23, subsection 3, and the board of the contiguous area education
agency approve the petition, the reorganization, including any school
district whose petition to join the newly reorganized area education
agency has been approved, shall take effect in accordance with the
dates established under section 273.21, subsection 4. Both the
initial, or new, and the contiguous area education agency boards must
act within forty-five days of the deadline, as set forth in this
subsection, for the filing of the school district's petition. Within
ten days of an area education agency board's action, a school
district may appeal to the state board the decision of an area
education agency board to deny the school district's petition.
7. Within forty-five days of the state board's approval, the
board of directors of a school district that is within a newly
reorganized area education agency and whose school district is
contiguous to another area education agency not included in the newly
reorganized area education agency may petition the board of directors
of the newly reorganized area education agency and the contiguous
area education agency to join that area education agency. If the
initial, or new board if established in time under section 273.23,
subsection 3, and the board of the contiguous area education agency
approve the petition, the reorganization, excluding any school
district whose petition to join an area education agency contiguous
to the newly reorganized area education agency has been approved,
shall take effect in accordance with the dates established under
section 273.21, subsection 4. Both the initial, or new, and the
contiguous area education agency boards must act within forty-five
days of the deadline, as set forth in this subsection, for the filing
of the school district's petition. Within ten days of an area
education agency board's action, a school district may appeal to the
state board the decision of an area education agency board to deny
the school district's petition. Section History: Recent Form
2001 Acts, ch 114, §4; 2001 Acts, ch 176, §36, 37; 2002 Acts, ch
1029, §3, 4, 8; 2003 Acts, ch 180, §24--26; 2004 Acts, ch 1101, §96,
102; 2006 Acts, ch 1152, §33
Referred to in § 273.23