07 LC 33 1766
House
Bill 711
By:
Representative Jordan of the
77th
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Chapter 2 of Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating
to elementary and secondary education, so as to enact a bill of rights for
Georgia teachers; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws;
and for other purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
Chapter
2 of Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to elementary
and secondary education, is amended by inserting in Subpart 2 of Part 6 of
Article 6, relating to conditions of employment for the purposes of the "Quality
Basic Education Act," a new Code section to read as follows:
"20-2-221.
Notwithstanding
any other provision of law to the contrary, each certificated teacher serving in
the public schools of Georgia shall have the following rights as a condition of
employment:
(1)
Constructive criticism offered in a professional manner is an appropriate way to
seek improvement of the educational system. School board members and
administrators shall respect the right of a teacher to exercise independent
thought and to express constructive criticism in an appropriate and professional
manner;
(2)
Each teacher in Georgia shall have the right to associate with an educational
organization, association, or union. This freedom of association shall not be
abridged and a teacher shall not suffer reprisal for exercising this
right;
(3)
A teacher shall not be coerced, threatened, or intimidated to change a
student´s grade if, in the opinion of the teacher, the student truly earned
that grade;
(4)
If, in the professional judgment of a teacher, a student needs to be removed
from the regular classroom environment because the student´s misconduct is
materially and substantially disrupting the learning processes of the other
students, the administrator shall respect the teacher´s professional
judgment. At the minimum, the student shall not be returned to the classroom on
that particular day. The administrator shall not undermine the teacher´s
authority in the classroom by questioning the teacher´s account of what
happened in front of one or more students;
(5)
A teacher has a right to file a grievance about an evaluation if, in the opinion
of the teacher, the evaluation was unfair, false, or retaliatory for the
exercise of a right granted by this Code section;
(6)
Each teacher shall be afforded the opportunity to participate in an annual
evaluation of each administrator at his or her school. These evaluations shall
be conducted in a way that assures each teacher complete confidentiality and
anonymity. These evaluations shall be forwarded to the superintendent who in
turn shall send copies of all the evaluations to each school board
member;
(7)
No teacher shall be discriminated against on the basis of the teacher´s
race, gender, age, religion, nationality, disability, or exercise of the freedom
of association;
(8)
No teacher shall be the object of capricious or arbitrary
treatment;
(9)
Upon transfer to a different school system, a teacher´s service in any
public school of the state shall receive full credit for purposes of calculating
the teacher´s eligibility for any local supplement to salary;
and
(10)
The teacher of the year at each school shall be nominated and selected solely by
the anonymous votes of the teachers at the school."
SECTION
2.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.