Judge throws out teacher contract forms

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - A judge has ruled that a standard teacher contract form that would have allowed Indiana school districts to change the hours or days that teachers work without adjusting their pay is illegal.

Marion County Judge Patrick McCarty permanently barred the Indiana Department of Education from using the forms, which all school districts in the state would have been required to use.

McCarty ruled last week that the agency doesn't have the authority to unilaterally contradict existing contract law. He called the requirements the contract forms would have imposed "unconscionable."

The ruling says the standard contracts would have allowed school districts to increase the hours teachers work without paying them any additional salary.

McCarty also says they would have allowed districts to fire teachers at will, which violates Indiana law.