HB-4626, As Passed House, June 9, 2011

SUBSTITUTE FOR

HOUSE BILL NO. 4626

(As amended June 8, 2011)

A bill to amend 1937 (Ex Sess) PA 4, entitled

"An act relative to continuing tenure of office of certificated

teachers in public educational institutions; to provide for

probationary periods; to regulate discharges or demotions; to

provide for resignations and leaves of absence; to create a state

tenure commission and to prescribe the powers and duties thereof;

and to prescribe penalties for violation of the provisions of this

act,"

by amending section 4 of article I, sections 1 and 3 of article IV,

and section 2 of article V (MCL 38.74, 38.101, 38.103, and 38.112),

section 4 of article I and section 3 of article IV as amended by

2005 PA 124 and section 1 of article IV as amended by 2005 PA 136.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

ARTICLE I

Sec. 4. The word "demote" means to suspend without pay for [15]

House Bill No. 4626 (H-2) as amended June 8, 2011

or more consecutive days or reduce compensation for a particular

school year by more than an amount equivalent to 3 [30] days'

compensation or to transfer to a position carrying a lower salary.

However, demote does not include discontinuance of salary pursuant

to section 3 of article IV or a necessary reduction in personnel,

including, but not limited to, a reduction in workweeks or

workdays.

ARTICLE IV

Sec. 1. (1) Except as otherwise provided in section 1a of this

article, discharge or demotion of a teacher on continuing tenure

may be made only for ~~reasonable and just cause~~ a reason that is not

arbitrary and capricious and only as provided in this act.

(2) There is a rebuttable presumption that a teacher whose job

performance has been rated as ineffective on 2 consecutive

performance evaluations under section 1249 of the revised school

code, 1976 PA 451, MCL 380.1249, is an ineffective teacher.

(3) This act does not prevent any controlling board from

establishing a reasonable policy for retirement to apply equally to

all teachers who are eligible for retirement under the public

school employees retirement act of 1979, 1980 PA 300, MCL 38.1301

to ~~38.1408,~~ 38.1437, or, having established a reasonable retirement

age policy, from temporarily continuing on a year-to-year basis on

criteria equally applied to all teachers the contract of any

teacher whom the controlling board might wish to retain beyond the

established retirement age for the benefit of the school system.

Sec. 3. (1) On the filing of charges in accordance with this

article, the controlling board may suspend the accused teacher from

active performance of duty until 1 of the following occurs:

(a) The teacher fails to contest the decision to proceed upon

the charges within the time period specified in section 4(1) of

this article.

(b) A preliminary decision and order discharging or demoting

the teacher is issued by the administrative law judge under section

4(5)(i) of this article.

teacher, a final decision and order is rendered by the tenure

commission under section 4(5)(m) of this article.

(2) If a teacher is suspended as described in subsection (1),

the teacher's salary shall continue during the suspension until the

expiration of 90 calendar days after the teacher's claim of appeal

is filed with the tenure commission or until the conclusion of the

hearing conducted under section 4(5) of this article, whichever is

earlier. However, if the teacher is convicted of a felony that is

not a listed offense or of a misdemeanor that is a listed offense,

the controlling board may discontinue the teacher's salary

effective upon the date of the conviction. If the teacher is

convicted of a felony that is a listed offense, the controlling

board shall discontinue the teacher's salary effective upon the

date of conviction. As used in this subsection, "listed offense"

means that term as defined in section 2 of the sex offenders

registration act, 1994 PA 295, MCL 28.722.

(3) If a preliminary decision and order discharging a teacher

is issued by the administrative law judge and the tenure commission

subsequently reverses the preliminary decision and order of the

administrative law judge, the tenure commission may order back pay.

ARTICLE V

Sec. 2. (1) Any controlling board upon written request of a

teacher may grant leave of absence for a period not to exceed 1

year, subject to renewal at the will of the board. ~~: Provided, That~~

~~without request,~~ Additionally, a controlling board may grant a

leave of absence because of physical or mental disability ~~may be~~

~~granted by any controlling board~~ without receiving a written

request from a teacher for a period not to exceed 1 year, :

~~Provided further, That any~~ subject to renewal at the will of the

controlling board. A teacher so who is placed on an unrequested

leave of absence ~~shall have~~ has the right to a hearing on ~~such~~ the

unrequested leave of absence in accordance with the provisions for

a hearing in section 4 of article 4. ~~, section 4 of this act:~~

~~Provided, That no~~ A leave of absence ~~shall~~ does not serve to

terminate continuing tenure previously acquired under this act.

(2) As a condition to reinstating the teacher at the

expiration of the leave of absence, a controlling board may require

a teacher who is on an unrequested leave of absence due to physical

or mental disability to furnish verification acceptable to the

controlling board of the teacher's ability to perform his or her

essential job functions.

Enacting section 1. This amendatory act does not take effect

unless all of the following bills of the 96th Legislature are

enacted into law:

(a) House Bill No. 4625.

(b) House Bill No. 4627.