Every teacher should know several things about continuing contract and seniority rights. If you receive a notice of nonrenewal or unrequested leave of absence:

• Do not voluntarily resign! This is important for probationary as well as continuing contract teachers. Resigning could jeopardize your eligibility for unemployment compensation benefits. Resigning permanently severs your relationship with the school district. By resigning, you are forfeiting any right you might have to be recalled to an open position.
• Do not voluntarily reduce your work time (e.g., full-time to half-time). This could jeopardize your recall right to a full-time position.
• Don’t assume that the information you receive from the district is accurate or complete. If you received notification about nonrenewal or ULA, don’t wait and don’t resign. Protect your rights under your contract and state statute by contacting your local president or member rights advocate for assistance.

Are you a probationary teacher?
Under Minnesota statutes, the first three consecutive years of your first teaching experience in a single Minnesota school district is a probationary period of employment. During your probationary period, your school district can nonrenew your contract for the following school year by notifying you in writing before July 1 of that school year.

You can request the reason for nonrenewal, and the school board must respond in writing within 10 days. The district can nonrenew a probationary teacher for any reason, as long as it is not an illegal reason.

Are you a continuing contract or tenured teacher?
If you are a K-12 teacher in a Minnesota school district, your rights are governed by Minnesota law, as well as by any modifications to that law in your local collective bargaining agreement.

Under Minnesota law, school districts may place continuing contract/tenured teachers on “unrequested leave of absence” (ULA), but generally, they must first nonrenew any probationary teachers who are employed in positions that could be filled by the continuing contract teachers.

Districts must place continuing contract/tenured teachers on ULA in the fields in which they are licensed in the inverse order in which they were employed. This means, for example, that the least senior English teacher should be placed on ULA before more senior colleagues, with some exceptions, depending on your local contract language and the particular facts in your district. Teachers proposed for placement on ULA have the right to a hearing, and if there are any legal challenges to the layoff, Education Minnesota will provide representation to its members.