§ 20-29-1-1 — Intent

The general assembly declares the following:
(1) The citizens of Indiana have a fundamental interest in the
development of harmonious and cooperative relationships
between school corporations and their certificated employees.
(2) Recognition by school employers of the right of school
employees to organize and acceptance of the principle and
procedure of collective bargaining between school employers and
school employee organizations can alleviate various forms of
strife and unrest.
(3) The state has a basic obligation to protect the public by
attempting to prevent any material interference with the normal
public school educational process.
(4) The relationship between school corporation employers and
certificated school employees is not comparable to the
relationship between private employers and employees for the
following reasons:
(A) A public school corporation is not operated for profit but to
ensure the citizens of Indiana rights guaranteed them by the
Constitution of the State of Indiana.
(B) The obligation to educate children and the methods by
which the education is effected will change rapidly with:
(i) increasing technology;
(ii) the needs of an advancing civilization; and
(iii) requirements for substantial educational innovation.
(C) The general assembly has delegated the discretion to carry
out this changing and innovative educational function to the
governing bodies of school corporations, composed of citizens
elected or appointed under applicable law, a delegation that
these bodies may not and should not bargain away.
(D) Public school corporations have different obligations
concerning certificated school employees under constitutional
and statutory requirements than private employers have to their
employees.
[Pre-2005 Elementary and Secondary Education
Recodification Citation: 20-7.5-1-1.]

Legislative History

As added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.13.