118.21 Teacher contracts.
(1) The school board shall contract in writing with qualified teachers. The contract, with a copy of the teacher's authority to teach attached, shall be filed with the school district clerk. Such contract, in addition to fixing the teacher's wage, may provide for compensating the teacher for necessary travel expense. A teaching contract with any person not legally authorized to teach the named subject or at the named school shall be void. All teaching contracts shall terminate if, and when, the authority to teach terminates.
(2) Any person who contracts to teach in any public school shall file in the office of the school district administrator, within 10 days after entering into such contract, a statement showing the date of expiration, if any, and the grade and character of certificate or license held. In any school district not having a school district administrator, the statement shall be filed with the school district clerk. Teachers employed by a cooperative educational service agency shall file the statement in the office of the agency coordinator. No order or warrant may be issued by the school district clerk in payment of the salary of any teacher, unless the teacher has complied with this subsection.
(3) School boards may provide in the contracts of teachers of agricultural and homemaking courses for payment out of school district funds for services performed outside the school district and connected with the performance of their regular teaching duties, and for travel expenses connected with such services.
(4) School boards may give to any teacher, without deduction from the teacher's wages, the whole or part of any time spent by the teacher in attending a teachers' educational convention, upon the teacher's filing with the school district clerk a certificate of attendance at the convention, signed by the person or secretary of the association conducting the convention.
History: 1979 c. 301; 1993 a. 492; 2017 a. 59.
Cross-reference: See s. 118.22 (2) for requirement that majority vote of full board membership is required for employment of a teacher.
A collective bargaining provision that releases only teacher members of a majority union from in-service days to attend, with pay, a state convention of the union is discriminatory, but the school board can deny compensation to minority union members who attend a regional convention of their union if they do so in good faith. Board of Education v. WERC, 52 Wis. 2d 625, 191 N.W.2d 242 (1971).
A teacher's lack of legal authority to teach assigned courses, although known to the school board at time of hiring and subsequent assignments, was sufficient ground for dismissal despite the fact that school superintendent repeatedly assured the teacher that the certification problem was an administrative omission that would be cured by the board. Grams v. Melrose-Mindoro Jt. School Dist. No. 1, 78 Wis. 2d 569, 254 N.W.2d 730 (1977).
An individual teacher's contract under this section and s. 118.22 is subservient to a collective bargaining contract under s. 111.70. 60 Atty. Gen. 342.
School boards have authority to contract with teachers to provide for an increment or sum in addition to their regular salary in return for the teacher choosing an early retirement option. 63 Atty. Gen. 16.
Even though a teacher was properly dismissed for an admitted violation of school rules, she was entitled to a due process hearing on other charges affecting her reputation as a teacher. Carpenter v. Greenfield School Dist. No. 6, 358 F Supp. 220 (1973).
Structure Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 118 - General school operations.
118.001 - Duties and powers of school boards; construction of statutes.
118.01 - Educational goals and expectations.
118.015 - Reading instruction.
118.016 - Assessments of reading readiness.
118.017 - Foreign language instruction.
118.019 - Human growth and development instruction.
118.02 - Special observance days.
118.025 - Arbor day observance.
118.045 - Commencement of school term.
118.05 - School conservation camps.
118.06 - Flag, pledge of allegiance, and national anthem.
118.07 - Health and safety requirements.
118.075 - Indoor environmental quality in schools.
118.076 - Lifesaving skills instruction.
118.08 - School zones; crossings.
118.10 - School safety patrols.
118.105 - Control of traffic on school premises.
118.12 - Sale of goods and services at schools.
118.123 - Reports and records; forfeitures.
118.126 - Privileged communications.
118.127 - Law enforcement agency information.
118.13 - Pupil discrimination prohibited.
118.133 - Participation in interscholastic athletics and extracurricular activities.
118.134 - Race-based nicknames, logos, mascots, and team names.
118.135 - Eye examinations and evaluations.
118.14 - Age of pupils; phase in of 4-year-old kindergarten.
118.145 - Admission to high school.
118.15 - Compulsory school attendance.
118.153 - Children at risk of not graduating from high school.
118.155 - Released time for religious instruction.
118.16 - School attendance enforcement.
118.162 - Truancy committee and plan.
118.163 - Municipal truancy and school dropout ordinances.
118.164 - Removal of pupils from the class.
118.167 - Private school determination by state superintendent.
118.169 - Pupil identification.
118.175 - Pupils without parents or guardians; report required.
118.19 - Teacher certificates and licenses; administrator and pupil services professional licenses.
118.191 - Experience-based licensure for technical and vocational education subjects.
118.1915 - Licensure for Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps instructors.
118.192 - Professional teaching permits.
118.193 - Licenses based on reciprocity.
118.194 - Initial license to teach; Montessori.
118.195 - Discrimination against handicapped teachers prohibited.
118.196 - Teacher development program.
118.197 - Initial license to teach; alternative preparation programs.
118.20 - Teacher discrimination prohibited.
118.22 - Renewal of teacher contracts.
118.223 - Collective bargaining.
118.225 - Teacher evaluations.
118.23 - Populous counties; teacher tenure.
118.235 - Lunch period for teachers.
118.24 - School district administrator.
118.245 - Referendum; increase in employee wages.
118.257 - Liability for referral to police.
118.258 - Electronic communication devices prohibited.
118.26 - Claim against school district.
118.28 - Community action agencies.
118.29 - Administration of drugs and emergency care.
118.291 - Asthmatic pupils; possession and use of inhalers.
118.292 - Possession and use of epinephrine.
118.2925 - Life-threatening allergies in schools; use of epinephrine.
118.293 - Concussion and head injury.
118.2935 - Sudden cardiac arrest; youth athletic activities.
118.295 - Suicide intervention; civil liability exemption.
118.301 - Alternative pupil assessments.
118.305 - Use of seclusion and physical restraint.
118.32 - Strip search by school employee.
118.33 - High school graduation standards; criteria for promotion.
118.34 - Technical preparation programs.
118.35 - Programs for gifted and talented pupils.
118.38 - Waivers of laws and rules.
118.42 - Low-performing school districts and schools; state superintendent interventions.
118.43 - Achievement guarantee contracts; state aid.
118.44 - Achievement gap reduction; state aid.
118.45 - Tests for alcohol use.
118.51 - Full-time open enrollment.
118.52 - Part-time open enrollment.
118.53 - Attendance by pupils enrolled in a home-based private educational program.
118.55 - Early college credit program.
118.56 - Work based learning programs.
118.60 - Parental choice program for eligible school districts and other school districts.