§ 28-9.3-12. Appeal from decision. While the parties are engaged in negotiations and/or utilizing the dispute resolution process as required in § 28-9.3-9, all terms and conditions in the collective bargaining agreement shall remain in effect. The decision of the arbitrators shall be made public and shall be binding on the certified public school teachers and their representative and the school committee on all matters not involving the expenditure of money. Should either party reject the nonbinding matters in the decision of the arbitrators, the binding matters shall be implemented. Following the conclusion of the dispute resolution process as required in § 28-9.3-9, should the parties still be unable to reach agreement, all contractual provisions related to wages and benefits contained in the collective bargaining agreement, except for any contractual provisions that limit layoffs, shall continue as agreed to in the expired collective bargaining agreement until such time as a successor agreement has been reached between the parties. Nothing contained in this section shall prevent the representative of the certified public school teachers and the school committee from mutually agreeing to submit all unresolved issues to binding arbitration pursuant to the procedures set forth in §§ 28-9.3-10 - 28-9.3-12. In that case the decision of the arbitrators shall be final and binding on all matters so submitted, including those involving the expenditure of money, and cannot be appealed except on the ground that the decision was procured by fraud or that it violates the law, in which case appeals shall be to the superior court. The school committee shall within three (3) days after it receives the decision send a true copy of the decision by certified or registered mail postage prepaid to the department or agency that appropriates money for the operation of the schools in the city, town, or regional school district involved, if the decision involves the expenditure of money.

History of Section. (P.L. 1966, ch. 146, § 1; P.L. 1986, ch. 379, § 1; P.L. 2019, ch. 15, § 1; P.L. 2019, ch. 16, § 1.)