Under present law, it is unlawful for a board of education or its designated representative to refuse to permit a professional employees' organization to have access at reasonable times to areas in which professional employees work, use institutional bulletin boards, mail boxes or other communication media or use institutional facilities at reasonable times for the purpose of holding a meeting concerned with the exercise of the rights guaranteed by the Education Professional Negotiations Act; provided, that, if a representative has been selected or designated, a board of education may deny such access or usage to any professional employees' organization other than the representative until such time as a lawful challenge to the majority status of the representative is sustained pursuant to the Act.
This bill deletes the above-described provisions and:
(1) Prohibits an LEA, employees of an LEA and employee organizations from denying by any means, including a collective bargaining agreement, a domestic professional employees' organization that offers membership to all certificated personnel equal access to employees of the LEA, to the same extent that access is granted to other educators' organizations; and
(2) Requires any association that utilizes LEA facilities or services for meetings or any school printing services to reimburse the LEA for any costs incurred by the LEA at reasonable rates.
"Access" includes equal access to employees of the LEA to the same extent that access is granted to other educators' associations and also includes, but is not limited to: distributing information, setting up displays, or speaking at in-service or other teachers' meetings; distributing information and communications through the use of school mailboxes, school mail, or by electronic means; using LEA facilities for meetings during non-instructional time; representing association members in employment or other legal issues when requested to do so; posting information on LEA bulletin boards; and utilizing LEA printing services.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 66-21-105(a)(1), 66-21-105