Delivered via email: April 14

Oppose SB2914: Notice to Remedy

IASB is URGENTLY asking you to oppose SB2914 (Sen. Meg Loughran Cappel) by calling your Senator or filing a witness slip. This bill is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Education Committee on April 14 at 3 p.m. The bill fundamentally changes how school districts manage teacher discipline, creating significant challenges for school districts managing teacher misconduct.

A “Notice to Remedy” warns a tenured teacher of conduct that must be corrected to avoid dismissal and provides a chance to remediate before charges in support of dismissal are brought. Currently, school boards have the authority to decide if a Notice to Remedy is warranted.

SB2914 shifts that authority away from local school boards by allowing a teacher to appeal the issuance of a Notice to Remedy to an outside arbitrator. While this may appear procedural, it introduces significant new costs, delays, and limitations on a district’s ability to address ongoing performance concerns.

File a Witness Slip in Opposition

Key Points to Share with your Senator

A Notice to Remedy provides a teacher with a clear opportunity to correct their conduct before dismissal is considered. By the time this notice is issued, the teacher has typically gone through earlier steps in the progressive discipline process. This proposal would introduce a formal arbitration process at that early stage, which raises several concerns:

• Shifts decision-making away from locally elected school boards to outside arbitrators 
• Adds significant costs, including legal and arbitration expenses
• Creates additional delays in addressing ongoing performance concerns
• Duplicates due process protections that already exist if dismissal is pursued, including a full evidentiary hearing and judicial review
• Lacks a specific standard for an arbitrator to use as a basis for reviewing the local school board’s decision.
   

Instructions to fill out a witness slip are available online.