Rhode Island General Laws

R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-13-2 (2026)

Annual contract basis — Automatic continuation

✓ current as of July 2026
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(a) Teaching service shall be on the basis of an annual contract, except as hereinafter provided, and the contract shall be deemed to be continuous unless the governing body of the schools shall notify the teacher, in writing, on or before March 1, that the contract for the ensuing year will not be renewed. If the dismissal or nonrenewal is based on fiscal exigency or program reorganization, the governing body shall notify the teacher on or before June 1 of the school year immediately preceding the school year in which the dismissal or nonrenewal is to become effective. Provided, however, that a teacher, upon request, shall be furnished a statement of cause for dismissal or nonrenewal of his or her contract by the school committee; provided further, that whenever any contract is not renewed, or the teacher is dismissed, the teacher shall be entitled to a hearing and appeal pursuant to the procedure set forth in § 16-13-4.

(b) Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prohibit, or at any time to have prohibited, a school committee from agreeing, in a collective bargaining agreement, to the arbitration of disputes arising out of a dismissal or nonrenewal of a nontenured teacher pursuant to subsection (a) of this section.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 16 cases, 1965–2014 · leading case: Jacob v. Bd. of Regents for Educ., 365 A.2d 430 (R.I. 1976).
Jacob v. Bd. of Regents for Educ., 365 A.2d 430 (R.I. 1976). · cites it 8× “In its pertinent parts the amended version of §16-13-2 provides that teaching service in the pübli-c elementary and secondary schools o-f this state shall be on the basis of an -annual contract which shall be considered to be a continuous agreement unless the school authorities…”
Jacob v. Burke, 296 A.2d 456 (R.I. 1972). · cites it 4× “1956 (1969 Reenactment) §16-13-2, as amended, the General Assembly gave to n-ontenured teachers who were notified that their contract would not be renewed, the same right to demand a statement of cause for dismissal or nonrenewal of his contract by the school board, that it had…”
Hartman v. City of Providence, 636 F. Supp. 1395 (D.R.I. 1986). · cites it 2× “*1413 at § 16-13-2. And, if such a notice of nonrenewal is sent for whatever cause, the recipient is entitled to a statement of the reasons and to a hearing.”
Sch. Comm. of North Kingstown v. Crouch, 808 A.2d 1074 (R.I. 2002). “Section 16-13-4(b) states that: “Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prohibit or at any time to have prohibited a school committee from agreeing, in a collective bargaining agreement, to the arbitration of disputes arising out of the nonrenewal, dismissal,…”
Corrigan v. Donilon, 433 A.2d 198 (R.I. 1981). · cites it 3× “The probationary teacher, we said, because of § 16-13-2 was to be afforded the opportunity to appear before the committee and attempt to convince the committee that it had made a mistake in reaching the conclusion that it did.”
Edward A. Sherman Publ'g Co. v. Carpender, 659 A.2d 1117 (R.I. 1995). · cites it 3× “1956 (1988 Reenactment) § 16-13-2, that they had not been renewed for employment for the 1993-1994 school year.”
Ciccone v. Cranston Sch. Comm., 513 A.2d 32 (R.I. 1986). · cites it 21× “1956 (1981 Reenactment) § 16-13-2. The facts are as follows. The petitioner is a tenured teacher in the Cranston school department.”
Kachanis v. Bd. of Review, Dep't of Emp. & Training, 638 A.2d 553 (R.I. 1994). “1956 (1988 Reenactment) § 16-13-2. The method of notifying school-lunch workers to report to work following a summer recess in fact recognizes that a school year does not begin until it actually begins.”
Harvey v. Dir. of the Dep't of Emp. Sec., 385 A.2d 1057 (R.I. 1978). “1956 (1969 Reenactment) §16-13-2, which provides that teaching service shall be on a basis of an annual contract which is deemed to be “continuous.”
Providence Teachers Union v. Donilon, 492 F. Supp. 709 (D.R.I. 1980). · cites it 6× “R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-13-2. . See Guarino v.”
Sch. Com. of Providence v. Bd. of Reg. for Educ., 308 A.2d 788 (R.I. 1973). “1956 (1969 Reenactment) §16-13-2 which saj-s that “\t]eaching service shall be on the basis of an annual contract.”
Sch. Comm. of Town of Johnston v. JOHNSTON FED'N OF TCHRS., 652 A.2d 976 (R.I. 1995). “1956 (1988 Reenactment) § 16-13-2, which provides for a hearing according to the procedure set forth in § 16-13-4.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.