Distributed via Email: January 14, 2010

GOVERNOR DELIVERS STATE ADDRESS

Governor Pat Quinn Wednesday delivered his "State of the State" address before a joint session of the Illinois House of Representatives and Illinois State Senate. In a speech that lasted over an hour, the governor went through a list of his legislative accomplishments from 2009. From his press release, here are the governor's comments regarding education: "Illinois' strong investment in education has been highlighted by President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan this year. Already, Illinois has received more than $2.5 billion in education funding through federal stimulus efforts, and the administration is competing for more money available through the federal "Race to the Top" funding program. Governor Quinn also won the battle to restore the Illinois Monetary Award Program (MAP) after approximately 138,000 MAP grant recipients were to receive only 50 percent of their award, covering only the fall 2009 school term."

The governor did not explicitly spell out his budget plans for the state's next fiscal year. However, he did state the clear need for more state revenues as the government has already cut costs, increased borrowing, and accessed every federal dollar available. Governor Quinn called on legislators to "reform the tax system" to raise revenue and to base taxes on the citizens' ability to pay.

The governor will supply additional fiscal information in his budget address later this session.

The Illinois General Assembly this week approved a bill initiated by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and Governor Quinn that is intended to strengthen the state's "Race to the Top" application. The bill, addressing performance evaluations for teachers and principals, was highlighted in the last Alliance Legislative Report.

SB 315 (Lightford, D-Maywood) was approved by the House of Representatives Tuesday and the Senate on Wednesday. It will now be sent to the governor who will, in all likelihood, quickly sign the bill into law. The goal for the governor is to enact the law before the "Race to the Top" application is submitted to the federal Department of Education on January 19.

The bill had been negotiated over the past several months with the governor's office, the ISBE, the Alliance, the teachers' unions, and many other interested organizations. The last sticking point focused on the availability of school employee evaluations for public review. Many believe the new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) statute allows for public employee evaluations to be disclosed upon request. Since the proposal in SB 315 is predicated on the tenet of strengthening teacher and principal evaluations, it was imperative that the FOIA issue be addressed and that the disclosure of school employee evaluations be prohibited.

Though it seemed that all parties had agreed last week on a legislative provision that would have exempted all public agency employees from the release of employee evaluations, that was not the version of the amendment that was prepared for filing in the General Assembly on Monday. One hour before the scheduled committee hearing, the language had been narrowed to only list school teacher evaluations as those that would be prohibited from disclosure.

The Alliance fought and won a battle to add school principals to the bill before the committee hearing. In the hearing, the Alliance opposed the bill and in testimony requested that superintendents' evaluations also be added to the "prohibited" list. On Tuesday, on the floor of the House, an amendment was added that added the superintendents to the bill. The final language, added as a new provision in the School Code to Section 24A-7.1, now reads: "Except as otherwise provided under this Act, disclosure of public school teacher, principal, and superintendent performance evaluations is prohibited."

The Alliance would like to thank Representative Linda Chapa La Via, the House sponsor, for her diligence in getting the amendment added.

Alliance legislative and legal staff members are still studying the legislation to see exactly how other certificated school district employees performance evaluations will be handled. Specifically, staff is exploring the provisions that are currently included in Article 24A of the School Code and the addition of legislative intent stated on the House floor to determine whether other certificated school personnel such as assistant principals and assistant superintendents may also be protected from having their performance evaluations disclosed to the public.

An analysis of SB 315 can be found on the IASB webpage here.

The text of the bill can be found here.

Another ISBE "Race to the Top" proposal that was sent to the governor this week was SB 616 (Meeks, D-Chicago). The bill, also sponsored by Representative Chapa La Via in the House, expands the types of entities that may provide alternative teacher certification programs.

The Illinois State Board of Education appears poised to recommend a Fiscal Year 2011 education budget that seeks no increase in State General Revenue Funds over current year levels. The State Superintendent of Education is recommending such action to the full board at today's monthly board meeting. A vote is expected Thursday on the recommendation.

Due to the dire nature of the current economy and the multi-billion dollar state budget deficit, the ISBE was looking at three budget options: 1) a $1 billion reduction in elementary and secondary education funding to offset the $922 million in federal funds that were used in the current FY 2010 budget; 2) level funding, which assumes the legislature would identify state funding to replace the federal dollars; and 3) full needs funding which would fund public education at the level recommended by the Education Funding Advisory Board.

According to the ISBE, given the "no increase" option:

• the per pupil foundation level would remain at $6,119 (a cost of $43.4 million)
• the phase-out of the "hold harmless" provision would continue and school districts that receive "hold harmless" funds would receive one-half of the amount they received in FY 2010 (a statewide cut from FY 2010's $15.7 million to an FY 2011 level of $7.8 million). The ISBE would also seek legislation this spring to prohibit any new school districts from becoming eligible to receive "hold harmless" funds.
• a phase-out of the Poverty Grant "hold harmless" would continue (it has been on hold since 2003). Poverty Grant payments in FY 2010 were equal to 66% of the grant the district received in FY 2003; payments in FY 2011 would be based on 33% of the payment made to the district in FY 2003. Poverty Grant "hold harmless" payments would cease after FY 2011.
• Mandated categorical grants would be fully funded (cost of an additional $14 million over FY 2010 levels).

Again, the substantial "backfill" of state dollars would be necessary to make up for the federal dollars that will not be appropriated for FY 2011.

The IASB Governmental Relations Department has completed the Alliance's 2010 "New School Laws Digest" which is now available on the IASB website here.

A hard copy is also being printed and will be mailed to each school district in the coming weeks. The publication is a little late this year as there has been a delay in having some bills certified by the governor's office. Those bills in which the legislature accepted the governor's amendatory veto provisions are sent back to the governor's office for certification and are assigned a Public Act number. Though the Veto Session was held in October, the governor has still not certified all of the bills.

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.

Alliance Legislative Reports are Cosponsored by IASB and:
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