118.20(6) (6) Upon request of the state superintendent, the attorney general or district attorney of the county in which any investigation, hearing or trial under this section is pending, shall aid and prosecute under supervision of the state superintendent, all necessary actions or proceedings for the enforcement of this section and for the punishment of all violations thereof.

118.20(7) (7) In administering this section the state superintendent shall have authority to make, amend and rescind rules necessary to carry out the purposes of this section.

118.20 History History: 1975 c. 94; 1977 c. 286 s. 4; 1981 c. 334 s. 25 (2); 1993 a. 492; 1995 a. 27 ss. 3954, 3955, 9145 (1); 1997 a. 27.

118.20 Annotation This section is not the exclusive remedy of a wronged teacher; it is supplementary to the Fair Employment Act, ch. 111. Kurtz v. City of Waukesha, 91 Wis. 2d 103, 280 N.W.2d 757 (1979).

118.21 118.21 Teacher contracts.

118.21(1) (1) The school board shall contract in writing with qualified teachers. The contract, with a copy of the teacher’s authority to teach attached, shall be filed with the school district clerk. Such contract, in addition to fixing the teacher’s wage, may provide for compensating the teacher for necessary travel expense. A teaching contract with any person not legally authorized to teach the named subject or at the named school shall be void. All teaching contracts shall terminate if, and when, the authority to teach terminates.

118.21(2) (2) Any person who contracts to teach in any public school shall file in the office of the school district administrator, within 10 days after entering into such contract, a statement showing the date of expiration, if any, and the grade and character of certificate or license held. In any school district not having a school district administrator, the statement shall be filed with the school district clerk. Teachers employed by a cooperative educational service agency shall file the statement in the office of the agency coordinator. No order or warrant may be issued by the school district clerk in payment of the salary of any teacher, unless the teacher has complied with this subsection.

118.21(3) (3) School boards may provide in the contracts of teachers of agricultural and homemaking courses for payment out of school district funds for services performed outside the school district and connected with the performance of their regular teaching duties, and for travel expenses connected with such services.

118.21(4) (4) School boards may give to any teacher, without deduction from the teacher’s wages, the whole or part of any time spent by the teacher in attending a teachers’ educational convention, upon the teacher’s filing with the school district clerk a certificate of attendance at the convention, signed by the person or secretary of the association conducting the convention.

118.21 History History: 1979 c. 301; 1993 a. 492; 2017 a. 59.

118.21 Cross-reference Cross-reference: See s. 118.22 (2) for requirement that majority vote of full board membership is required for employment of a teacher.

118.21 Annotation A collective bargaining provision that releases only teacher members of a majority union from in-service days to attend, with pay, a state convention of the union is discriminatory, but the school board can deny compensation to minority union members who attend a regional convention of their union if they do so in good faith. Board of Education v. WERC, 52 Wis. 2d 625, 191 N.W.2d 242 (1971).

118.21 Annotation A teacher’s lack of legal authority to teach assigned courses, although known to the school board at the time of hiring and subsequent assignments, was sufficient ground for dismissal despite the fact that the school superintendent repeatedly assured the teacher that the certification problem was an administrative omission that would be cured by the board. Grams v. Melrose-Mindoro Joint School District No. 1, 78 Wis. 2d 569, 254 N.W.2d 730 (1977).

118.21 Annotation An individual teacher’s contract under this section and s. 118.22 is subservient to a collective bargaining contract under s. 111.70. 60 Atty. Gen. 342.

118.21 Annotation School boards have authority to contract with teachers to provide for an increment or sum in addition to their regular salary in return for the teacher choosing an early retirement option. 63 Atty. Gen. 16.

118.21 Annotation Even though a teacher was properly dismissed for an admitted violation of school rules, the teacher was entitled to a due process hearing on other charges affecting the teacher’s reputation as a teacher. Carpenter v. City of Greenfield School District No. 6, 358 F. Supp. 220 (1973).

118.22 118.22 Renewal of teacher contracts.

118.22(1) (1) In this section:

118.22(1)(a) (a) “Board” means a school board, technical college district board, board of control of a cooperative educational service agency or county children with disabilities education board, but does not include any board of school directors in a city of the 1st class.

118.22(1)(b) (b) “Teacher” means any person who holds a teacher’s certificate or license issued by the state superintendent or a classification status under the technical college system board and whose legal employment requires such certificate, license or classification status, but does not include part-time teachers or teachers employed by any board of school directors in a city of the 1st class.

118.22(2) (2) On or before May 15 of the school year during which a teacher holds a contract, the board by which the teacher is employed or an employee at the direction of the board shall give the teacher written notice of renewal or refusal to renew the teacher’s contract for the ensuing school year. If no such notice is given on or before May 15, the contract then in force shall continue for the ensuing school year. A teacher who receives a notice of renewal of contract for the ensuing school year, or a teacher who does not receive a notice of renewal or refusal to renew the teacher’s contract for the ensuing school year on or before May 15, shall accept or reject in writing such contract not later than the following June 15. No teacher may be employed or dismissed except by a majority vote of the full membership of the board. Nothing in this section prevents the modification or termination of a contract by mutual agreement of the teacher and the board. No such board may enter into a contract of employment with a teacher for any period of time as to which the teacher is then under a contract of employment with another board.

118.22(3) (3) At least 15 days prior to giving written notice of refusal to renew a teacher’s contract for the ensuing school year, the employing board shall inform the teacher by preliminary notice in writing that the board is considering nonrenewal of the teacher’s contract and that, if the teacher files a request therefor with the board within 5 days after receiving the preliminary notice, the teacher has the right to a private conference with the board prior to being given written notice of refusal to renew the teacher’s contract.

118.22 History History: 1971 c. 154; 1981 c. 223; 1983 a. 189; 1993 a. 399, 492; 1995 a. 27 s. 9145 (1); 1997 a. 27, 164; 2011 a. 10, 114.

118.22 Annotation Notice of intent not to renew that part of a contract providing extra pay for extra work as a coach is not necessary. Richards v. Board of Education, 58 Wis. 2d 444, 206 N.W.2d 597 (1973).

118.22 Annotation Under the facts of this case, the failure to timely provide notice of the right to a private conference under sub. (3) did not provide sufficient grounds to issue a writ of mandamus. Rawhouser v. Cooperative Educational Service Agency No. 4, 75 Wis. 2d 52, 248 N.W.2d 442 (1977).

118.22 Annotation In the absence of evidence of a school board’s bias, the trial court had no jurisdiction to hold a de novo hearing regarding the competence of a teacher facing nonrenewal under sub. (3). Naus v. Joint School District No. 1, 76 Wis. 2d 104, 250 N.W.2d 725 (1977).

118.22 Annotation Arbitration was proper under a “discharge and nonrenewal” clause in a collective bargaining agreement when the school board did not offer a teacher a second contract after rejecting a contract that was signed and returned by the teacher with the title “probationary contract” crossed out. Joint School District No. 10 v. Jefferson Education Ass’n, 78 Wis. 2d 94, 253 N.W.2d 536 (1977).

118.22 Annotation Under sub. (2), a board has the exclusive right to hire and fire a teacher. Due process does not require that the board be an impartial decisionmaker. Hortonville Education Ass’n v. Hortonville Joint School District No. 1, 87 Wis. 2d 347, 274 N.W.2d 697 (1979).

118.22 Annotation An employment contract that recites that a teacher’s employment will not be renewed cannot be construed as a waiver of rights granted by this section. There is a presumption of good faith applicable to a board’s decisions. Faust v. Ladysmith-Hawkins School Systems, 88 Wis. 2d 525, 277 N.W.2d 303 (1979).