Safety And Accountability In School Contracts

Beginning October 1, 2019, before entering into a professional services contract with personnel costs of $200,000 or more, school districts are required to:

• Conduct a cost-benefit analysis of contracting for the services rather than using district personnel to perform the services, to be completed prior to making a recommendation to contract for services;
• Hold at least one public hearing conducted by the school district prior to soliciting bids to provide professional services and before entering into a contract for professional services;
• Allow competitive bidding for the contract;
• Review of all bids in a regularly scheduled school board meeting, unless a special meeting is authorized; and
• Provide an opportunity for affected employees to counter the competitive bid.

The bill defines the types of professional services to which the contract requirements apply and excludes educational services and professional services procured in the normal course of business for school construction. The contract requirements do not apply to a small rural school district, board of cooperative services, time-limited contract that the school district enters into because of an emergency, or the renewal of an existing contract entered into before October 1, 2019.

The bill also requires a contractor for a contract in any dollar amount to provide proof of liability insurance equivalent in amount and scope with that provided by the school district for the contracting activity. Further, a school district shall not enter into a contract for professional services with a contractor that has committed unfair labor practices within the 5 years preceding the date that bids are solicited. In addition, the school district shall not enter into a contract that takes effect prior to the expiration of an existing collective bargaining agreement concerning the employees impacted by the new contract. The contractor may offer available employee positions to the existing employees.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)