Teacher Due Process Act

Due process for Oklahoma teachers is governed by the Teacher Due Process Act of 1990, 70 O.S. § 6-101.20 et seq.

The State Board of Education promulgates standards of performance and conduct for teachers. 70 O.S.§  6-101.21. The Act provides:

A. Subject to the provisions of the Teacher Due Process Act of 1990, a career teacher may be dismissed or not reemployed for:

1. Willful neglect of duty;
2. Repeated negligence in performance of duty;
3. Mental or physical abuse to a child;
4. Incompetency;
5. Instructional ineffectiveness;
6. Unsatisfactory teaching performance;
7. Commission of an act of moral turpitude; or8. Abandonment of contract.

70 O.S.  §6-101.22(A). Teachers "who are employed on contracts shall be afforded all substantive and procedural rights set forth in the Teacher Due Process Act of 1990 including the dismissal, suspension, and nonreemployment provisions applicable to probationary or career teachers as defined in Section 6-101.3." 70 O.S. § 6-101.23.

The Act requires that an administrator identify in writing a teacher's poor performance or conduct and allow the teacher time to correct it. 70 O.S. § 6-101.24. Additionally, a recommendation to dismiss or not reemploy a teacher is to be in writing, submitted to the board of education, specifying the statutory grounds on which the recommendation is based. 70 O.S. § 6-101.25. The teacher is entitled to a hearing prior to his termination. 70 O.S.  §6-101.26. A career teacher is entitled to a trial de novo in the district court of the county in which the school district is located. 70  O.S. § 6-101.27.

The Act exempts certain teachers from its requirements:

A. The dismissal, suspension and nonreemployment provisions of the Teacher Due Process Act of 1990 shall not apply to:

1. Substitute teachers;

2. Adult education teachers; and

3. Teachers who are employed on temporary contracts.

B. The dismissal and suspension provisions of the Teacher Due Process Act of 1990 shall apply to teachers who are employed on temporary contracts for a complete school year and to teachers who are employed in positions fully funded by federal or private categorical grants, except that such teachers shall be employed only for the duration of the temporary contract or the grant.


C. The evaluation provisions in Sections 6-101.10 and 6-101.11 of this title and in the Teacher Due Process Act of 1990 shall apply to teachers who are employed on temporary contracts for a complete school year and to teachers who are employed in positions fully funded by federal or private categorical grants, except that such teachers shall be employed only for the duration of the temporary contract or the grant.


D. Teachers other than those specifically excepted in subsection A of this section who are employed on contracts shall be afforded all substantive and procedural rights set forth in the Teacher Due Process Act of 1990 including the dismissal, suspension, and nonreemployment provisions applicable to probationary or career teachers as defined in Section 6-101.3 of this title.


E. On and after the effective date of this act any teacher who has worked a complete school year under a temporary contract in a school district shall be granted a year of service credit toward career status in that district.

F. No teacher shall be hired on a temporary contract by a school district for more than three semesters, except for a:

1. Teacher hired to replace a teacher who is on an approved leave of absence and who is expected to return to employment with the school district; or

2. Teacher who is a retired member of the Teachers' Retirement System of Oklahoma.


G. No teacher shall be offered a temporary contract with a school district without a full written disclosure at the time a position is offered by the administration of the school district which sets forth the terms and conditions of the temporary contract. In the event the school district fails to provide such written disclosure, the teacher shall be considered as employed on a continuing contract basis.


H. On and after the effective date of this act no teacher who is employed on a continuing contract basis by a school district shall be reemployed on a temporary contract in that school district.

70 O.S. § 6-101.23.

Tenure provides special rights.  As noted in Weston v. Independent School Dist. No. 35 of Cherokee County, 170 P.3d 539 (Okla. 2007):

We have said that the teacher tenure law, 70 O.S. § 6-101, et seq., was intended to give job security to competent and qualified teachers and to protect them from dismissal or non-renewal for political, personal, arbitrary or discriminatory reasons. Babb v. Independent School District, 1992 OK 46, 829 P.2d 973, 975. Tenure status, which is statutorily conferred upon teachers who have been in employment of the school district the required number of years, demonstrates legislative intent to grant teachers substantive rights in their continued position, which are not possessed by those in a temporary or probationary status. Id. Under this regime, teacher contracts are automatically renewed on a continuing basis unless a school board or a teacher acts to prevent the employment's renewal. Once attained, tenure status cannot be lost except on the grounds sanctioned by law. 829 P.2d at 976.

This general discussion of the law may not contain all the legal principles applicable to your specific situation.  Therefore, it is important to obtain custom legal advice for yourself.