The Teacher Nonrenewal Process

Unlike the administrator nonrenewal statute which allows school boards to enter into two-year contracts with principals, and even have extensions to those contracts, the teacher nonrenewal statute only allows schools boards to enter into one-year contracts with teachers. Therefore, by law, the renewal/refusal to renew teacher contracts is an annual undertaking for administrators and it is vitally important for principals to have a solid understanding of the statutory teacher nonrenewal process.

In large part, principals are primarily responsible for gathering data to support recommendations for renewal or refusal to renew individual teacher contracts. They also frequently must act as “prosecutors” by presenting evidence to school boards to support recommendations to nonrenew individual teacher contracts. This Update Article is designed to provide foundational information for principals as they make their way through the annual teacher nonrenewal process.

Teacher Contracts. Wisconsin law requires school boards to enter into individual written contracts with full time teachers. On the other hand, the law does not require that school boards enter into individual contracts with part-time teachers.

In accordance with Wisconsin statute §118.21, no teacher may be employed or dismissed except by a majority vote of the full membership of the school board.  Once a teacher accepts a contract, within 10 days after entering into such contract, s/he is required to file with their employing school district a statement showing the date of expiration and the grade and character of her/his license.

A teacher’s contract becomes null and void if the person is not legally authorized to teach the named subject or at the named school, i.e., elementary, middle or high school. For this reason, it is important for principals to stay abreast of staff licensure changes. Keep in mind that it is not necessary to use the statutory nonrenewal procedure to terminate the individual contract of a teacher who is not properly licensed for the position s/he holds. In fact, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has upheld this notion even when a school district hired and later reassigned a teacher knowing that she did not have proper licensure for the position to which she was assigned. The Supreme Court held that the teacher’s contract “was void because she contracted to teach subjects she was not legally authorized to teach.” 

Mandatory Nonrenewal Process.The teacher contract renewal/nonrenewal statute, Wisconsin Statute §118.22, sets forth the minimum and mandatory procedural requirements for nonrenewal of a full time teacher’s individual contract. (Remember, boards are not required to enter into contracts with part-time teachers. Principals will want to check to ensure that the board has not entered into a contract with a part-time teacher so that they don’t inadvertently miss statutory requirements which have been extended to the part-time teacher by contract.) Moreover, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has held that these procedural requirements cannot be waived in an individual contract.  

     The statute states as follows:

Making the Decision to Move Forward with Nonrenewal. A large part of a principal’s role is to review and evaluate teachers’ performance. Principals have a particular knack for identifying high and low performers. Decisions to move forward with the nonrenewal of a low performing teacher must be data-driven or based on concrete evidence of teacher performance deficiencies and/or competency in the classroom. DPI cautions (at page 30) that a teacher’s score in any Education Effectiveness (EE) category, or in total, should not be used to non-renew a teacher. Rather, if a teacher fails to improve across time within the EE System, principals should utilize locally determined and transparently communicated formal improvement efforts outside of EE. DPI suggests that such efforts might include additional observations and requirements for participation in coaching and professional development. If a teacher fails to improve after participating in formal improvement processes, it may be appropriate to move to non-renewal.

In short, prior to deciding to move forward with a nonrenewal recommendation, a principal should have provided the teacher with clear information about deficiencies, including but not limited to EE data; provided the teacher with support for improvement; and given the teacher adequate time to demonstrate needed improvement. This process usually transcends one school year.

Preliminary Notice of Nonrenewal. Decisions on renewing or non-renewing teacher contracts must be made by April. April is an important month because the statutory nonrenewal timelines, at the latest, commence in April. A teacher must be informed by written notice that his/her contract may not be renewed. This preliminary notice of nonrenewal must be given at least 15 days prior to May 15, or April 30. Unlike the administrator contract statute, there is no specified manner by which written preliminary notice must be delivered to the teacher; hand delivery, mail or even email will suffice provided that it is delivered in a timely fashion. While the nonrenewal process may begin sooner than April 30, if a school board does not issue written preliminary notice of nonrenewal to a teacher by April 30, it may not nonrenew the teacher’s contract.

The statute requires that the preliminary notice inform the teacher that the board is considering nonrenewal of the teacher's contract and that, if the teacher files a request with the board within five days after receiving the preliminary notice, the teacher has the right to a private conference with the board prior to being given final written notice of nonrenewal.

Private Conference with the Board. Principals are often charged with presenting the reasons for the recommendation not to renew a teacher’s contract when a teacher requests a private conference with the board. Typically the evidence in support of a recommendation not to renew includes evaluations, plans of improvement and an inability to overcome identified performance deficiencies with the support of the principal or another administrator (such as the director of special education for a special education teacher). Thus, private conference participants should include the teacher being considered for nonrenewal, the teacher representative (if desired), the district administrator(s) who will present the reasons for the nonrenewal, and the full membership of the board if possible, since the statutes requires the decision to be made by a majority vote of the full membership of the board.

While the teacher can request that the private conference be held in open session, the board is only required to grant this request if the private conference would be considered an evidentiary hearing under the Open Meetings Law. An evidentiary hearing is where there are formal charges against the teacher and an examination of those charges through witness testimony, and other evidence in support of or against the charges. According to an Attorney General Opinion, formal charges are those that may damage the good name, reputation, honor, or integrity of the teacher, or where the nonrenewal might impose substantial stigma or other disability. 

Final Notice of Nonrenewal. A school board has until May 15 to give the teacher written notice of renewal or refusal to renew a teacher's contract for the ensuing school year. The written notice may be given by the board, or by an employee at the direction of the board, i.e., the superintendent or a principal, and frequently this task falls on the shoulders of the principal. Again, in contrast to the administrator contract statute, there is no specified manner by which written preliminary notice must be delivered to the teacher.

Failure to provide written notice by May 15 is a fatal flaw in the process. In one case, the court of appeals overturned a teacher nonrenewal because the board failed to give the teacher written notice of nonrenewal by the statutory deadline, even though the teacher attended the private conference with the board, and heard the board decision to nonrenew her contract.

Renewal By Operation of Law. Similar to the administrator contract statute, if written notice of renewal or refusal to renew is not given on or before May 15, the teacher’s contract rolls over for another year by operation of the statute.  

Contract Acceptance. Finally, a teacher who receives a notice of renewal of contract for the ensuing school year, or a teacher who does not receive a notice of renewal or refusal to renew the teacher's contract for the ensuing school year on or before May 15, must accept or reject the contract in writing no later than June 15. It is therefore advisable to remind teachers of their obligations to provide timely written acceptance or rejection of their contracts by June 15 so that staffing arrangements can be made for the upcoming school year as soon as possible.

Conclusion. Since procedural missteps may doom a nonrenewal, it is necessary to comply with the exact letter of the law. That means that the following steps must be taken prior to the April 30 deadline for issuing preliminary notice of nonrenewal:

Between April 30 and May 15, take the following steps:

Keep in mind that nothing in the law prevents the modification or termination of a contract by mutual agreement of the teacher and the board, even if preliminary notice has already been issued. Therefore, it is also best practice to ensure there is time built into the schedule to provide the parties with the opportunity to explore options other than nonrenewal, such as resignation or retirement.