Distributed via Email: May 13, 2009

CALL TO ACTION: IMPORTANT PENDING LEGISLATION

Below are some of the bills that are pending before the House and Senate that require additional action on the part of the members of school management to either facilitate their passage or defeat. You can find the phone numbers of your legislators on the General Assembly Website at: www.ilga.gov. Click on "Members," scroll down and click on your legislator's name.

PLEASE CALL NOW to let your legislators know your positions on these bills. The bills will be called for a vote in the next week:

HB 242 (Nekritz, D-Northbrook) sponsored in the Senate by Senator Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, provides that the debt service extension base be increased each year by the Consumer Price Index percentage increase for the previous calendar year, not to exceed 5%. For schools this debt includes the following funds, health/life safety, working cash, funding and tort bonds.

Below are talking points you may want to emphasize with your senator. If you have information specific to your school district regarding what this legislation would mean for your district that should also be shared.

• With the passage of PTELL in the early 1990's property tax revenues for schools became limited. Generally, levies other than those for debt service on bonds are now limited to an annual increase no greater than the increase in the CPI or 5%, whichever is less. Debt service levies, on the other hand are locked at a debt service extension base amount equal to that portion of the extension that existed for a taxing district in 1994.
• A school district's ability to maintain its capital and infrastructure has been eroded over time.
• School districts in PTELL counties have seen a 41% decrease in the buying power of their debt extension base because of inflation. The result: an unworkable erosion of buying power.
• This legislation would amend PTELL to provide for an annual increase in the debt service extension base no greater than CPI.
• Passage would provide the additional benefit of stimulating local economies by providing local capital dollars for projects, capital development and jobs.
• It is especially important that school districts find some way to meet mandatory repair requirements for health and life safety findings. This measure would allow a little flexibility to meet these mandated repair needs.

Please contact your Senator and ask for a YES vote.

ADDITIONAL BILLS TO DISCUSS WITH LEGISLATORS

Other Revenue Bills

SB 1995 (Wilhelmi, D-Joliet) extends the allowable life of some school district bonds to 25 years.

SB 2051 (Crotty, D-Oak Forest), an Alliance initiative that changes the GSA calculation for school districts that have successfully passed a limiting rate increase such that, for each year after 2010 school year, if voters in a PTELL county approve an increase in the limiting rate for a school district the increase in local resources will not result in a decrease in General State Aid for the approved duration of the limiting rate increase.

HB 493 (Pritchard, R-Sycamore) is an Alliance initiative that allows a taxing district to add an explanation of the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law to the Truth in Taxation Notice.

School District Management

SB 43 (Clayborne, D-E. St. Louis) expands the scope of the Prevailing Wage Act to cover all public works projects located in an enterprise zone.

SB 1559 (Koehler, D-Peoria) requires all cars owned or leased by school districts that are used for high school driver's education to be made in America.

HB 1345 (Joyce, D-Chicago) and SB 1265 (Harmon) provide that "public records" under the Freedom of Information Act includes all settlement agreements.

HB 3672 (Jakobssen, D-Urbana) provides that if an IMRF employee was in the service of more than one school district, then the sick leave days from all such employers shall be credited for pension service (currently only sick leave days from last employer).

Unfunded Mandates

SB 932 (DeLeo, D-Chicago) would require all school buses to be equipped with a Global Positioning System that allows the location of the school bus to be tracked and would require all school bus drivers to carry a cell phone or two-way radio at all times. It also would require the district to adopt, as part of its post-trip inspection policy, a provision that requires the bus driver to walk to the rear of the bus and check for children after each route, shift, or workday.

HB 380 (Nekritz) requires each school board employing an employee who is an elected trustee of the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund to make available to the elected trustee at least 20 days of paid leave of absence per year for the purpose of attending IMRF meetings.

HB 1035 (Flider, D-Mt. Zion) requires school districts to provide instruction on disability history, people with disabilities, and the disability rights movement.

HOUSE PANEL DISCUSSES PENSION CHANGES

An amendment was discussed Tuesday regarding comprehensive changes to the five state pension systems, including the Teachers' Retirement System. Top lawmakers and the governor have been advocating for significant changes to the pension systems as a cost containment measure for state government. The amendment to SB 1292 was offered by Representative Kevin McCarthy (D-Orland Park) and was presented to the House Personnel and Pensions Committee. Staff for Governor Pat Quinn testified in support of the legislation and House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton have indicated that they support it as well. No vote was taken in committee Tuesday, but a vote will likely be taken before the end of the week.

The amendment has undergone several revisions in the past week and the official draft of the amendment was just made available late this afternoon. Additional revisions to the legislation are still very possible. Alliance lobbyists will provide a thorough summary of the amendment once it is finalized, but the following components were discussed in committee today:

• The teachers' pension system will still be a "defined benefit" plan (as opposed to switching to a "defined contribution" plan as contained in earlier amendment drafts)
• No current TRS members will be impacted (it is only for future TRS members)
• It will allow a TRS member to retire with full pension benefits and no penalty at the age of 62 with 35 years of creditable service (earlier drafts would have required a TRS member to work until age 67 before being eligible for full pension benefits)
• New TRS members will contribute 7% towards their pension (instead of the current contribution rate of 9.4%)
• A member may not convert unused sick leave or vacation into creditable service
• Pension benefits will be calculated at a rate of 2% per year (instead of the current 2.2%)
• The basis for retirement benefits will be a salary average of the highest 8 years out of the last 10 years (instead of the average of the highest 4 years out of the last 10 years).
• The cost of living adjustment will be the lesser of 3% or ½ of the Consumer Price Index

Here is the link to access the amendment.

The changes to the Teachers' Retirement System begin on line 19 of page 29.

This legislative report is written and edited by the lobbyists of the Illinois Association of School Boards to provide information to the members of the organizations that comprise the Illinois Statewide School Management Alliance.

General Assembly Bill Text/Status

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