1.1                          A bill for an act
  1.2             relating to education; providing for disclosure of 
  1.3             past buyout arrangements by superintendents to be; 
  1.4             amending Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 123.34, by 
  1.5             adding a subdivision. 
  1.6   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.7      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 123.34, is 
  1.8   amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
  1.9      Subd. 9a.  [DISCLOSE PAST BUYOUTS OR CONTRACT IS VOID.] (a) 
  1.10  It is the public policy of the state of Minnesota that a 
  1.11  previous buyout agreement in the circumstance described in 
  1.12  paragraph (b) must be publicly disclosed before a person may 
  1.13  enter into a superintendent's contract with a school board.  The 
  1.14  previous buyout agreement must be publicly disclosed in writing 
  1.15  by the would-be superintendent to the hiring school board even 
  1.16  if the would-be superintendent is a party to an agreement not to 
  1.17  disclose some or all of the previous buyout agreement.  The 
  1.18  school board must provide candidates for superintendent with a 
  1.19  copy of this act and require them to make the required 
  1.20  disclosure in writing or write that there is nothing to 
  1.21  disclose.  If all the circumstances in paragraph (b) are 
  1.22  present, the amounts, terms, and stated purpose for the payments 
  1.23  or rights referred to in paragraph (b) must be disclosed by the 
  1.24  would-be superintendent. 
  1.25     (b) The circumstances that require disclosure by a person 
  2.1   under paragraph (a) are: 
  2.2      (1) the person was previously employed by a school district 
  2.3   in Minnesota, or elsewhere, as a superintendent of schools, for 
  2.4   a fixed term or indefinitely, subject to termination or 
  2.5   discharge only for cause after a hearing; 
  2.6      (2) the person stopped performing some or all the services 
  2.7   of a superintendent, before the term, if any, was up, and in any 
  2.8   event, without being terminated or discharged for cause after a 
  2.9   hearing, and did not resume regular and continuous performance 
  2.10  of the stopped services; 
  2.11     (3) the person received a sum of money or the right to a 
  2.12  sum of money from or on behalf of the school district for some 
  2.13  purpose other than performing the services of a superintendent; 
  2.14  and 
  2.15     (4) the person would not have received the money, or the 
  2.16  right to the money, for that purpose, if the person had finished 
  2.17  the term, if any, or been terminated or discharged for cause 
  2.18  after hearing. 
  2.19     (c) Disclosure by a person is not required under paragraph 
  2.20  (a) of information about the receipt of, or rights to, something 
  2.21  of value from a school district that is in the nature of a 
  2.22  fringe benefit that is available to a group of employees that is 
  2.23  larger than the superintendent alone, under a school board 
  2.24  policy that includes a formula for payments to all eligible 
  2.25  members of the group. 
  2.26     (d) Once a person has either made a disclosure or indicated 
  2.27  in writing that there is nothing to disclose under paragraph 
  2.28  (a), the person is not required to make a further disclosure to 
  2.29  that school board under paragraph (a) unless the person is 
  2.30  employed as a superintendent of another school district in the 
  2.31  interim. 
  2.32     (e) The superintendent's contract of a person who fails to 
  2.33  make a timely written disclosure under paragraph (a) is void. 
  2.34     (f) The communication of the stated purpose for the 
  2.35  payments referred to in paragraph (a) cannot be the subject of 
  2.36  an action for libel, slander, or defamation. 
  3.1      Sec. 2.  [EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION.] 
  3.2      Section 1 is effective July 1, 1995, and applies to 
  3.3   superintendents' contracts proposed to take effect after June 
  3.4   30, 1995, with a person not employed as the superintendent in 
  3.5   the hiring district on June 30, 1995.