Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 5.

This bill revises various provisions of the Professional Educators Collaborative Conferencing Act of 2011, as follows:<br /> <br /> (1) Under present law, upon the submission by 15 percent or more of the professional employees in an LEA of a written request to conduct collaborative conferencing with a board of education between October 1 and November 1 of any year, the board of education must appoint an equal number of its professional employees and board members to serve on a special question committee for the purpose of conducting a confidential poll of all eligible professional employees regarding collaborative conferencing. This bill adds that the board of education must appoint the professional employees from a list of names provided by the professional employee organization submitting the majority of signatures on the written request to conduct collaborative conferencing;<br /> <br /> (2) Present law provides that a board of education does not have a duty or obligation to engage in collaborative conferencing with its professional employees unless a majority of those eligible to vote in the poll) respond “YES” to the question: "shall the professional employees of this LEA undertake collaborative conferencing with the board of education?". This bill specifies that the applicable vote count is a "majority of those voting" instead of a "majority of those eligible to vote";<br /> <br /> (3) Present law provides that those persons or organizations initiating the poll are to be assessed the reasonable costs necessitated in conducting the poll by the chair of the special question committee. This bill revises this provision to instead provide that all persons or organizations that appoint representatives to serve on the conferencing panel are jointly responsible for the reasonable costs necessary to conduct the confidential poll. The chair of the special question committee shall assess the costs;<br /> <br /> (4) Present law provides that the term of the members of the panel constituted as the result of a poll in which the majority of those eligible to vote respond “YES” to the question referenced above is three years. This bill specifies that the applicable term is "three years from the date a memorandum of understanding is approved";<br /> <br /> (5) Under present law, it is unlawful for a board of education or its management personnel to refuse or fail to participate in collaborative conferencing. This bill specifies that the unlawful act is the refusal or failure to participate "in good faith";<br /> <br /> (6) Present law provides that a memorandum of understanding is binding on the parties from the date of its approval by the board of education as an item on the agenda of a regular or special called board meeting or at a later effective date that is explicitly stated in the memorandum of understanding. This bill adds that the board must act to approve or disapprove the memorandum of understanding within 60 days after the conferencing panel submits the memorandum to the board. If the board votes to disapprove the memorandum of understanding, then the conferencing panel must continue to confer to try to reach an agreement; <br /> <br /> (7) Present law provides that the Act does not require collaborative conferencing, agreement on any terms and conditions of employment, or, if agreement has not been reached between the board of education and the representatives of the professional employees, a memorandum of understanding. This bill revises this provision to instead provide that the Act does not require agreement on any terms and conditions of employment, or, if agreement has not been reached between the board of education and the representatives of the professional employees, a memorandum of understanding.<br />