How NCTE Resolutions Are Submitted and Processed

 

At the Annual Business Meeting of the Board of Directors and Other Members of the Council, attendees vote on resolutions that represent Council views on important educational issues. This page addresses the origins of resolutions, including member involvement; the function of the Committee on Resolutions; the adoption and implementation of resolutions; and the purposes of sense-of-the house motions. The NCTE Executive Committee recently approved changes regarding resolutions, including their content; those changes are reflected in the text below. Additional changes in the process for resolutions will likely be considered in the late summer and fall of 2023.

 

Source of Resolutions
A call for resolutions with submission instructions appears in Section journals, in The Council Chronicle, and on the NCTE website. Any member or member group (e.g., committee, affiliate) may submit a resolution to the Committee on Resolutions. A resolution sent to the chair must be drafted by at least one NCTE member (two authors preferred) and accompanied by the signatures of five voting NCTE members and must be received before October 15 to be considered at the Annual Convention.

Function of the Committee on Resolutions
The Committee reviews all resolutions presented by members and member groups and may prepare resolutions of its own. The Committee can combine resolutions on the same or similar topics in cases of duplication or redundancy. The Committee can edit resolutions for consistency of form and quality of writing.

The Committee on Resolutions makes the final decisions about which resolutions will be considered by members at the Annual Business Meeting. Criteria for those decisions include the resolution’s consistency with the NCTE Constitution and NCTE’s stated purposes and goals, the likelihood of its receiving support from a substantial number of Council members, the existence of previous resolutions on the topic, and the appropriateness of the content to a business meeting. A resolution that takes up a topic that the Constitution clearly assigns as a responsibility to the Executive Committee would not be presented as a resolution. The point of view of the proposers would, however, be forwarded appropriately.

Revisions of First Drafts of Resolutions
The Committee on Resolutions hears commentary and suggestions about the drafts of resolutions in its Open Hearing on Resolutions, to be conducted this year on Friday, November 17, 2023, from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. ET. Drafts of the resolutions are available at the Open Hearing. The Committee on Resolutions is especially interested in hearing from the individuals or groups who proposed the original resolutions. No new resolutions may be submitted at this time. However, members may present other concerns as sense-of-the-house motions at the Annual Business Meeting (see below). As a result of commentary during the open meeting, the Committee on Resolutions may change resolutions, both substantively and editorially, before final preparation of the resolutions.

Reading and Discussion of Resolutions
Final drafts of resolutions are available at the start of the Annual Business Meeting, to be held this year on Friday, November 17, 2023, from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. ET. At the meeting, after each resolution is read aloud, a Committee on Resolutions member moves for its adoption. Resolutions are considered in the order in which they are presented by the Committee on Resolutions. Resolutions may be amended during discussion.

Disposition of Resolutions
By early January, resolutions passed at the Annual Business Meeting are submitted to the NCTE membership for a vote. Items approved by a majority of those voting (those voting must constitute at least 10% of the membership) then go forward to the NCTE Executive Committee for appropriate implementation. All resolutions are reported to the membership in The Council Chronicle and on the NCTE website.

Sense-of-the-House Motions
Sense-of-the-house motions reflect the opinion of a member or members attending the Annual Business Meeting. Sense-of-the-house motions are not required to be submitted before the Annual Business Meeting. In order to be considered, however, three written copies of the motions must be presented to the NCTE President or Parliamentarian before the adoption of the agenda. Sense-of-the-house motions should be no longer than fifty words, not including background statements. After discussion, motions are voted on. Motions passed by the majority of members at the Annual Business Meeting are advisory to the Executive Committee or other appropriate Council bodies. They do not constitute official Council policy.

Revised July 5, 2023