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SB 538: Fixated on Us; Not Focused on Students - Take Action
01/15/2015

 

ACTION: Contact Sen. Yoder to OPPOSE SB 538. Contact Sen. Phil Boots, Chairman of Pensions & Labor, to urge him to not hear this bill. Tell them as an educator you view this latest proposal as a distraction from legislation that will help students learn and teachers teach. 

 

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SB 538 was introduced yesterday by Sen. Carlin Yoder, R-Middlebury. This bill changes many of the existing collective bargaining parameters and diminishes the rights of the exclusive representative and its members. SB 538 is very far reaching. Below are some of the most impactful changes:

 

  • Takes authority away from the Department of Education concerning teacher salary schedule oversight and gives it to the Indiana Education Employment Relations Board (IEERB), a board appointed by the governor.
  • Requires that every local bargaining unit hold a new election as prescribed by IEERB sometime in the next 2 years.

Also, according to the bill’s fiscal impact statement, the bill:

 

  • provides that a school employer shall submit a copy of the affidavit submitted by the exclusive representative indicating the number of teachers who are members of the exclusive representative to the IEERB. It provides that if the board determines that the affidavit indicates that the exclusive representative does not represent a majority of the employees, the board shall investigate the affidavit.
  • provides that after investigation by the board, the board may, if necessary, hold a hearing concerning representation by the school employee organization, and, based on the results of the hearing, direct an election by secret ballot within the bargaining unit to determine representation. It provides that an election based on the investigation of an affidavit may be held only once in a five year period.
  • provides that the board shall appoint an individual or an ad hoc panel to review each collective bargaining agreement and make a recommendation regarding its compliance with collective bargaining requirements. It authorizes the board to take certain actions for collective bargaining agreements that do not comply with collective bargaining requirements. It provides that the public hearing for a collective bargaining impasse proceeding may begin not earlier than October 1 in the first year of the state budget biennium and must be concluded by February 1 of the year following the commencement of bargaining.

While ISTA members have students at the center of everything they do, SB 538 diverts attention away from lawmakers engaging in serious debate about helping Hoosier children learn.