72-5413. Definitions.
72-5413
72-5413. Definitions.As used in this act and in acts amendatory thereof or supplemental thereto:
(a) The term "persons" includes one or more individuals,organizations, associations, corporations, boards, committees,commissions, agencies, or their representatives.
(b) "Board of education" means the state board of education pursuant toits authority under K.S.A. 76-1001a and 76-1101a, and amendments thereto,the board of education of any schooldistrict, the board of control ofany area vocational-technical school and the board of trustees of anycommunity college.
(c) "Professional employee" means any person employed by a board ofeducation in a position which requires a certificate issued by the stateboard of education or employed by a board of education in a professional,educational orinstructional capacity, but shall not mean anysuch person who is an administrative employee and, commencing in the2006-2007 school year, shall not mean any person who is a retirant from schoolemployment of the Kansas public employees retirement system, regardless ofwhether an agreement between a board of education and an exclusiverepresentative of professional employees that covers terms and conditions ofprofessional service provides to the contrary.
(d) "Administrative employee" means, in the case of a schooldistrict, any person who is employed by a board of education in anadministrative capacity and who is fulfilling duties for which anadministrator's certificate is required under K.S.A.72-7513, and amendments thereto; and, in the case of an areavocational-technical school orcommunity college, any person who is employed by the board ofcontrol or the board of trustees in an administrative capacity and whois acting in that capacity and who has authority, in the interest of theboard of control or the board of trustees, to hire, transfer, suspend,layoff, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward or discipline otheremployees, or responsibly to direct them or to adjust their grievances,or effectively to recommend a preponderance of such actions, if inconnection with the foregoing, the exercise of such authority is not ofa merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independentjudgment.
(e) "Professional employees' organizations" means any one or moreorganizations, agencies, committees, councils or groups of any kind inwhich professional employees participate, and which exist for thepurpose, in whole or part, of engaging in professional negotiation with boardsof education with respect to the terms andconditions of professional service.
(f) "Representative" means any professional employees' organizationor any person it authorizes or designates to act in its behalf or any persona board of education authorizes or designates to act in its behalf.
(g) "Professional negotiation" means meeting, conferring, consultingand discussing in a good faith effort by both parties to reach agreementwith respect to the terms and conditions of professional service.
(h) "Mediation" means the effort through interpretation and adviceby an impartial third party to assist in reconciling a disputeconcerning terms and conditions of professional service which arose inthe course of professional negotiation between a boardof education orits representatives and representatives of the recognized professionalemployees' organization.
(i) "Fact-finding" means the investigation by an individual or boardof a dispute concerning terms and conditions of professional servicewhich arose in the course of professional negotiation, and thesubmission of a report by such individual or board to the parties tosuch dispute which includes a determination of the issues involved,findings of fact regarding such issues, and the recommendation ofthe fact-finding individual or board for resolution of the dispute.
(j) "Strike" means an action taken for the purpose of coercing achange in the terms and conditions of professional service or therights, privileges or obligations thereof, through any failure byconcerted action with others to report for duty including, but notlimited to, any work stoppage, slowdown, or refusal to work.
(k) "Lockout" means action taken by a board of education to provokeinterruptions of or prevent the continuity of work normally and usuallyperformed by the professional employees for the purpose of coercingprofessional employees into relinquishing rights guaranteed by this actand the act of which this section is amendatory.
(l) (1) "Terms and conditions of professional service" means(A) salariesand wages, including pay for duties under supplemental contracts; hoursand amounts of work; vacation allowance, holiday,sick, extended, sabbatical,and other leave, and number of holidays; retirement;insurance benefits; wearing apparel; pay for overtime; jury duty; grievanceprocedure; including binding arbitration of grievances; disciplinary procedure;resignations; termination and nonrenewal of contracts; reemployment ofprofessional employees; terms and form of the individual professional employeecontract; probationary period; professional employee appraisal procedures;each of the foregoing being a term and conditionof professional service, regardlessof its impact on the employee or on the operation of the educational system;(B) matterswhich relate to privileges to be granted the recognizedprofessional employees'organization including, but not limited to, voluntary payrolldeductions;use of school or college facilities for meetings;dissemination of information regarding the professional negotiation processand related matters to members of the bargaining unit on school or collegepremises through direct contact with members of the bargaining unit, theuse of bulletin boards on or about the facility, and the use of the schoolor college mail system to the extent permitted by law; reasonable leavesof absence for members of the bargaining unit for organizational purposessuch as engaging in professional negotiation andpartaking of instructionalprograms properly related to the representation of the bargaining unit;any of the foregoing privileges which are granted the recognizedprofessional employees' organization through the professional negotiationprocess shall not be granted to any other professional employees' organization;and (C) such othermatters as the parties mutually agree upon as properly related toprofessional service including, but not limited to, employment incentive orretention bonuses authorized under K.S.A. 72-8246 and amendmentsthereto.
(2) Nothing in this act, and amendments thereto, shallauthorizethe diminution of any right, duty or obligation of either the professionalemployee or the board of educationwhich have been fixed by statute or by the constitution of thisstate. Except as otherwise expressly provided in this subsection (l),the factthat any matter may be the subject of a statute or the constitution of thisstate does not preclude negotiation thereon so long as the negotiation proposalwould not prevent the fulfillment of the statutory or constitutional objective.
(3) Matters which relate to the duration of the school term, andspecificallyto consideration and determination by a board of education of the questionof the development and adoption of a policy to provide for a school termconsisting of school hours, are not included within the meaning of termsand conditions of professional service and are not subject to professionalnegotiation.
(m) "Secretary" means the secretary of labor ora designee thereof.
(n) "Statutory declaration of impasse date" means June 1in the current school year.
(o) "Supplemental contracts" means contracts for employment duties otherthan those services covered in the principal or primary contract of employmentof the professional employee and shall include, but not be limited to, suchservices as coaching, supervising, directing and assisting extracurricularactivities, chaperoning, ticket-taking, lunchroom supervision, and othersimilar and related activities.
History: L. 1970, ch. 284, § 1;L. 1976, ch. 314, § 1;L. 1977, ch. 248, § 1;L. 1979, ch. 226, § 1;L. 1980, ch. 220, § 1;L. 1989, ch. 216, § 1;L. 1990, ch. 255, § 1;L. 2002, ch. 167, § 4;L. 2004, ch. 179, § 94;L. 2006, ch. 143, § 4;L. 2009, ch. 72, § 1; July 1.