2001 Minnesota Statutes

     123A.75 Employees of reorganized districts. 

    Subdivision 1.    Teacher assignment.  (a) As of the 
 effective date of a consolidation in which a district is divided 
 or the dissolution of a district and its attachment to two or 
 more existing districts, each teacher employed by an affected 
 district shall be assigned to the newly created or enlarged 
 district on the basis of a ratio of the pupils assigned to each 
 district according to the new district boundaries.  The district 
 receiving the greatest number of pupils must be assigned the 
 teacher with the greatest seniority, and the remaining teachers 
 must be alternately assigned to each district until the district 
 receiving the fewest pupils has received its ratio of teachers 
 who will not be retiring before the effective date of the 
 consolidation or dissolution. 

    (b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a), the board and the 
 exclusive representative of teachers in each district involved 
 in the consolidation or dissolution and attachment may negotiate 
 a plan for assigning teachers to each newly created or enlarged 
 district. 

    Subd. 2.    Collective bargaining.  The organization 
 certified as the exclusive bargaining representative for the 
 teachers in the particular preexisting district which employed 
 the largest proportion of the teachers who are assigned to a new 
 employing district according to subdivision 1 shall be certified 
 as the exclusive bargaining representative for the teachers 
 assigned to that new employing district, until that organization 
 is decertified or another organization is certified in its place 
 pursuant to sections 179A.01 to 179A.25.  For purposes of 
 negotiation of a new contract with the board of the new 
 employing district and the certification of an exclusive 
 bargaining representative for purposes of that negotiation, the 
 teachers assigned to that district shall be considered an 
 appropriate unit of employees of that district as of the date 
 the county board orders its interlocutory order of dissolution 
 and attachment to be final and effective or as of the date the 
 commissioner assigns an identification number to a new district 
 created by consolidation.  During the school year before the 
 consolidation becomes effective, the newly elected board or the 
 board of the district to which a dissolved district is attached, 
 may place teachers assigned to it on unrequested leave of 
 absence as provided in section 122A.40 according to:  (a) a plan 
 negotiated in a new master contract between it and the exclusive 
 bargaining representative of the teachers assigned to it, or (b) 
 if no such plan exists, an applicable plan negotiated in the 
 contract which according to this subdivision will temporarily 
 govern the terms and conditions of employment of teachers 
 assigned to it, or (c) if no plan exists pursuant to either (a) 
 or (b), the provisions of section 122A.40, subdivision 11, on 
 the basis of a combined seniority list of all teachers assigned 
 to it.  

    Subd. 3.    Interim contractual agreements.  (a) Until a 
 successor contract is executed between the new board and the 
 exclusive representative of the teachers of the new district, 
 the boards of both districts and the exclusive representatives 
 of the teachers of both districts may agree: 

    (1) to comply with the contract of either district with 
 respect to all of the teachers assigned to the new district; or 

    (2) that each of the contracts shall apply to the teachers 
 previously subject to the respective contract.  

    (b) In the absence of an agreement according to paragraph 
 (a), the following shall apply: 

    (1) if the effective date is July 1 of an even-numbered 
 year, each of the contracts shall apply to the teachers 
 previously subject to the respective contract and shall be 
 binding on the new board; or 

    (2) if the effective date is July 1 of an odd-numbered 
 year, the contract of the district that previously employed the 
 largest proportion of teachers assigned to the new district 
 applies to all of the teachers assigned to the new district and 
 shall be binding on the new board.  The application of this 
 section shall not result in a reduction in a teacher's basic 
 salary, payments for cocurricular or extracurricular 
 assignments, district contributions toward insurance coverages 
 or tax-sheltered annuities, leaves of absence, or severance pay 
 until a successor contract is executed between the new board and 
 the exclusive representative.  

    Subd. 4.    Contracts; termination; tenure.  Except as 
 provided in this section, the provisions of section 122A.40 or 
 122A.41 shall apply to the employment of each teacher by the new 
 employing district on the same basis as they would have applied 
 to the employment if the teacher had been employed by that new 
 district before the effective date of the consolidation or 
 dissolution and attachment.  For the purpose of applying the 
 provisions of subdivision 2, clause (c), and the provisions of 
 section 122A.40, subdivision 11, each district must be 
 considered to have started school each year on the same date.  

    HIST: 1978 c 764 s 27; 1Sp1981 c 4 art 1 s 46; 1984 c 462 s 
 27; 1986 c 444; 1989 c 329 art 6 s 15-17; 1992 c 499 art 6 s 14; 
 1Sp1995 c 3 art 1 s 5; 1998 c 397 art 5 s 62-64,104; art 11 s 3