Distributed via Email: October 25, 2007

Though rumors abound about the General Assembly, at least the House of Representatives, returning to Springfield next week for a legislative session, no session date has been scheduled as yet. Many observers believed that the House would return in early November to take up matters yet unresolved, most notably the issue of funding for the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and the suburban Chicago Regional Transit Authority (RTA). House Speaker Michael Madigan told Representatives that he would give them seven days notice before scheduling a legislative session in the House.

Of course upon return to the Capitol, House members will be pushed hard by the Alliance and others to approve a budget implementation bill (BIMP). Passage of such a bill is necessary to ensure that school districts will receive the $400 per pupil increase in the state aid formula's foundation level that was included in the recently enacted Fiscal Year 2008 budget. The last several Alliance Legislative Reports have explained the BIMP process.

Please continue to talk to your legislators about the importance of quickly approving the BIMP bill. Many school boards are approving resolutions that call for passage of an implementation bill and are sharing the resolution with media outlets and legislators. Still other school districts are joining together to send letters to legislators signed by all school districts in a specific region of the state. For more information on these ideas, or for samples of these documents, please e-mail: bschwarm@iasb.com

Discussions between legislative leaders and the governor continue on the transportation issue, a capital projects/infrastructure bill (including school construction), and a possible expansion of gaming in Illinois. It is assumed that once agreement is reached on one or all of these issues, lawmakers will return to the Capitol for an extended legislative session.

At the October board meeting of the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), the ISBE staff proposed promulgating a new rule that would require every school building in the state to have a library/media center complete with a certified librarian and an assistant for that librarian.

The Alliance is in strong opposition to this proposal.

Comments on the proposal should be sent to the ISBE staff and board members. If the board follows through with the plan, the proposal will have to be submitted to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) for approval.

Libraries are, of course, very important to the learning process and are available in most (if not all) school buildings in the state. In providing such services, school districts are currently doing the best that they can with the financial resources that they have available. However, this proposed unfunded mandate would require that every school has: a library media center; an organized collection of resources for check out; infrastructure (a space specifically devoted for a library media center); a library information specialist; and staff support for the library information specialist.

Specifically, the proposal states: "a library information specialist shall be assigned to each attendance center" and that "clerical or paraprofessional staff shall be assigned to assist with the library media program by implementing routine, non-professional library operations and providing technical support".

Requiring each school to maintain a library and to hire a certified librarian and an assistant will be grossly expensive and another unfunded mandate upon our local school districts. As much as each local district would enjoy the luxury of having such a center in every school – complete with a certified librarian and an assistant – this is many times not possible for financial reasons. School districts with sufficient financial resources are already offering such services; those districts with financial constraints, many times, cannot afford such a program and extensive staff. Like most unfunded mandates – this proposal would most hurt those school districts with the most financial difficulties.

AUTHORITY IS ABSENT

Further, the ISBE has no statutory authority to prescribe such a mandate through its administrative rules. Nowhere in the School Code does it require a school district to hire librarians or non-certified personnel to work in a library or media center. The ISBE cannot make such a binding requirement when it does not have the legislative authority to do so. If the ISBE wishes to forward such a proposal, it should be done by introducing legislation in the General Assembly. If legislation to require libraries, librarians, and library aides was approved and signed into law, then the ISBE would have authority to propose such a rule. Like we have seen in the past (i.e., food service/junk food rules), this is an attempt to skirt the legislative process by imposing a new requirement administratively.

ACTION REQUIRED

The ISBE's rationale for the proposal and the text of the proposed rulemaking can be found on the ISBE Web site at: www.isbe.net/board/meetings/oct07/rules.pdf

Please also notice the other rulemakings proposed by the ISBE and respond accordingly. Rules are proposed on the mandate waiver process, waiver of school fees for children in poverty, and history instruction revisions for elementary schools and high schools. In this proposal, the ISBE states that "There is no state-prescribed 'Constitution Test', and (elementary) districts may or may not administer tests addressing only the U.S. and/or Illinois Constitutions."

General Assembly Bill Text/Status

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