(a) The scope of a memorandum shall extend to those matters of mutual agreement between the board of education and the professional employees; provided, that its scope shall not include proposals contrary to:

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 49-5-609

  • Collaborative conferencing: means the process by which the chair of a board of education and the board's professional employees, or such representatives as either party or parties may designate, meet at reasonable times to confer, consult and discuss and to exchange information, opinions and proposals on matters relating to the terms and conditions of professional employee service, using the principles and techniques of interest-based collaborative problem-solving. See Tennessee Code 49-5-602
  • Management personnel: means those professional employees certified by the local board of education to represent the board in the collaborative conferencing process. See Tennessee Code 49-5-602
  • Memorandum of understanding: means the written document that memorializes and records the understanding reached by the board of education and its professional employees, or their respective representatives, if so designated, as to the terms and conditions of professional services set forth in this part. See Tennessee Code 49-5-602
  • Professional employee: means any person employed by any local board of education in a position that requires a license issued by the department of education for service in public elementary and secondary schools of this state, supported, in whole or in part, by local, state or federal funds, but shall not include any member of the management team, as defined in this part, or a retired teacher who is employed as a teacher in accordance with title 8, chapter 36, part 8. See Tennessee Code 49-5-602
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1) Federal or state law or applicable municipal charter;
(2) Professional employee rights defined in this part; or
(3) Board of education rights contained in this title.
(b) If agreement is reached by the management personnel of the board of education and the representatives of its professional employees, they shall jointly prepare a proposed memorandum of understanding. The board of education may enter into the memorandum for a period not to exceed three (3) years. Any items included within the memorandum that require funding shall not be considered effective until such time as the body empowered to appropriate the funds has approved a budget that includes sufficient funding. If the amount of funds appropriated is less than the amount required to address the matters of collaborative conferencing, then the parties may continue to confer to reach agreement within the amount of funds appropriated.
(c) A memorandum of understanding shall be 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.
(d) Nothing in this part shall be construed to 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. Absent an agreement and memorandum of understanding on terms and conditions specified for collaborative conferencing in this part, the board of education shall have the authority to address such terms and conditions through board policy.
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