Section 16-60-7 - Department of elementary and secondary education - Personnel board(a) The board of regents shall maintain a department of elementary and secondary education which shall perform the research, administrative, and instructional functions and duties, including technical assistance and statewide educational information services for local school districts, required of the regents by the provisions of this chapter. Within that department the appointment, promotion, salaries, term of service, and dismissal of all professional employees, including instructional and research employees, administrative employees, and secretaries shall be at the pleasure of the commissioner of elementary and secondary education except that the regents shall approve all assistant commissioners; all professional employees, including instructional and research employees, and administrative employees may be initially engaged under contract for not more than two (2) years. All professional employees, including instructional and research employees, and administrative employees shall not be in the classified service of the state nor be subject in any manner of control by the personnel administrator or by any officer or board other than the commissioner of elementary and secondary education; provided, that all permanent appointments of the commissioner to vacant, reestablish or newly established positions shall be subject to approval by the Emergency Hiring Council established by Executive Order 95-2. All appointments to positions at state operated schools shall be exempt from the preceding requirement provided that total full time equivalent positions are within the authorized cap and all these personnel are assigned exclusively to the schools. The hiring of individuals on a contract basis shall be subject to state purchasing requirements. All non-classified employees of the board of regents who shall have twenty (20) years, not necessarily consecutive, of service credit, these credits having been earned in either the classified, non-classified, or unclassified service or any combination of these, shall be deemed to have acquired full status in their positions as the status is defined by § 36-4-59; provided, that this provision shall not apply to those employees whose base entry date is after August 7, 1996; and provided that this provision shall not apply to faculty employed by the board of regents nor shall it apply to non-classified employees who have acquired tenure as faculty. Employees who had permanent status prior to May 7, 1981, shall continue to retain their status. Persons employed by the department on February 1, 1974 in either the classified or unclassified service and who were receiving longevity payments on or before February 1, 1974 shall continue to be eligible for longevity benefits upon transfer to the non-classified service within the department.(b) The table of organization, as submitted by the commissioner of elementary and secondary education, together with the pay ranges, shall be subject to approval by the board of regents.P.L. 1981, ch. 32, § 3; P.L. 1981, ch. 291, art. 13, § 2; P.L. 1988, ch. 316, §1; P.L. 1988, ch. 336, § 2; P.L. 1989, ch. 530 §1; P.L. 1996 , ch. 100, art. 22, §4; P.L. 1996 , ch. 326, § 2.