Distributed via Email: February 26, 2010

GOVERNOR PLAN TO CUT K-12 BY $1 BILLION

A new law enacted a couple of weeks ago that gave Governor Pat Quinn three additional weeks to prepare his state budget address, also required him to post his budget numbers for public viewing. On Wednesday afternoon, the governor's office held a press conference and displayed budget information for Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011 on a website:
www.budget.illinois.gov

The budget outline for the FY '11 fiscal year would cut kindergarten-12 public education by nearly $1 billion compared to the FY '10 appropriations. The federal government provided that amount of money in FY '10 through stimulus funds. With the state being broke (an estimated $13 billion budget deficit), there are no sources for the revenue needed to make up the almost $1 billion in funding the federal government provided this year. Thus, the enormous cut.

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has not yet laid out its recommendations on how appropriations would be divvied up given one billion less dollars. It is likely, though, that General State Aid would be prioritized and other grant line items would be even harder hit than they were in FY '10. State Superintendent Chris Koch is scheduled to appear before the House appropriations committee for education in the coming weeks and will be addressing these issues.

There were also amendments filed in the Senate this week that would reduce appropriations for state agencies in the current fiscal year. None of these proposed cuts appear to affect local school districts, however SB 1235 (Trotter D-Chicago) has amendments filed that would reduce the appropriations in the current fiscal year for ISBE operations and administrative costs and the appropriation for regional superintendent salaries. The amendments have not yet been adopted.

MANDATES BILL WEAKENED

Though the bill to provide mandate relief to school districts is still a viable bill, the potential impact of the legislation continues to lessen. HB 4711 (Eddy, R-Hutsonville) provides that no school district is obligated to comply with any statutory or regulatory mandate or requirement unless a separate appropriation has been enacted into law providing funding for the school year during which such mandate is required. This bid to give flexibility to local school districts, and to potentially allow districts to save time and money during these difficult budget times, has lost much of its promise. The Alliance lauds Representative Eddy as he continues to be a vocal and passionate bill sponsor and staunch proponent of the concept contained in the bill as originally introduced.

Legislators and opponents of the bill, however, have continued to demand exceptions so that certain school district requirements do not fall under the scope of the bill. In the latest amendment drafted, the bill could not provide mandate relief in the following areas: "special education, transportation, lunch programs, coursework required for high school graduation, the health/life safety code, driver education, curricula associated with Illinois learning standards and state assessments (including longitudinal data systems), teacher certification requirements, programs impacted by federal requirements, laws related to teacher tenure, dismissal, or reduction in force, locally negotiated contracts, bilingual education, criminal history records checks, the Open Meetings Act, requirements for school districts certified to be in financial difficulty under Section 1A-8 of this Code, requirements for school districts under financial oversight panel or a school finance authority, and any laws related to employment under Chapter 820 of the Illinois Compiled Statutes."

The bill is pending consideration on the floor of the House of Representatives. If approved by the House, the legislation will move to the Senate where further "exceptions" will likely be added to the bill.

OTHER BILL ACTION THIS WEEK

SB 2494 (Meeks, D-Chicago), opposed by the Alliance, would establish a voucher system (in an amount up to the current per pupil foundation level in the General State Aid formula) for parents of students in Chicago who attend the lowest performing public schools. The vouchers could be redeemed at a non-public school, creating a flow of public school funding to non-public schools. The bill was discussed in the Senate Executive Sub-Committee on Education but no vote was taken.

SB 2496 (Meeks) would allow for a public school choice program where any Illinois student could attend any Illinois school without regard to residency, and without being charged tuition. The bill was discussed in the Senate Executive Sub-Committee on Education but no vote was taken. The Alliance testified in opposition to the bill

SB 2980 (Maloney, D-Chicago), supported by the Alliance, allows a school board to waive, by resolution, any statutory or regulatory curricular mandate for which the school district does not receive a separate state appropriation through the ISBE or reimbursement by the state to extend the school day or year. The bill was approved by the Senate Education Committee and was sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

SB 3000 (Garrett, D-Lake Forest) supported by the Alliance, creates the Instructional Mandates Task Force charged to explore and examine all instructional mandates governing public schools and to make recommendations concerning the propriety of all existing mandates, the imposition of future mandates, and waivers of instructional mandates. It also establishes a 4-year moratorium on the passage of legislation that imposes instructional mandates on the public schools unless the bill is unanimously approved in both the Senate and House of Representatives. The bill was approved by the Senate Education Committee and was sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

SB 3014 (Demuzio, D-Carlinville), an Alliance initiative, provides for the employment of assistant principals and addresses their duties, contracts, reclassification, and development and submission of an evaluation plan. The bill was approved by the Senate Education Committee and was sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

SB 3152 (Link, D-Vernon Hills) requires municipalities to submit to the state comptroller and all taxing districts overlapping a TIF, a list of all intergovernmental agreements in effect during the fiscal year and an accounting of any moneys transferred or received by the municipality pursuant to those intergovernmental agreements. The bill was approved by the Senate Revenue Committee and was sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

HB 4586 (Ford, D-Chicago) designates each March 25 as the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The bill was approved by the House State Government Administration Committee and was sent to the House floor for consideration.

HB 4886 (Black, R-Danville) allows a school district, by resolution of its board, to operate on a 4-day school week plan approved by the ISBE. The bill was discussed, but held, in the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee.

HB 4945 (Mathias, R-Buffalo Grove) permits governmental units to authorize the treasurer of the governmental unit to join with the treasurers of other governmental units for the purpose of jointly investing the funds of which the treasurer has custody. The bill was approved by the House Counties and Townships Committee and was sent to the House floor for consideration.

HB 5120 (Rose, R-Mahomet) clarifies that a school bus must contain an operating two-way radio or a cellular radio telecommunication device while the school bus driver is in possession of a school bus. The bill was approved by the House of Representatives and will be sent to the Senate for consideration.

HB 5136 (Black) removes the Illinois General Assembly from the mandate waiver provisions of the School Code and leaves the authority for all waiver approvals and appeals to the State Board of Education. The bill was tabled.

HB 5302 (Reis, D-Olney) phases out the "hold harmless" provision in the General State Aid formula after the 2012-13 school year and prohibits any new school districts from becoming eligible under the "hold harmless" provision in the next two years. The bill was approved by the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee and sent to the House floor for consideration.

HB 5322 (Currie, D-Chicago) deletes language providing that before July 1, 2006 and after June 30, 2010, the ISBE shall provide the primary source of funding through appropriations for the grants for preschool educational program and the funds shall be distributed for the benefit of children who because of their home and community environment are subject to such language, cultural, economic and like disadvantages that they have been determined as a result of screening procedures to be at risk of academic failure. The bill was approved by the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee and was sent to the House floor for consideration.

HB 5481 (Kosel, R-New Lenox) allows for the funding of local gifted education programs by ISBE, through a request for proposals process, if funds are available for that purpose. The bill was approved by the House of Representatives and will be sent to the Senate for consideration.

HB 5515 (Hoffman, D-Collinsville), an initiative from the Southwestern Division school districts, includes transfers from the school district's life/safety fund to the Operations and Maintenance Fund, up to the $0.05 levy for local property taxes, for building repair work. The bill was approved by the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee and was sent to the House floor for consideration.

HB 5506 (Kosel), for all five state pension systems, caps the salary, earnings, or compensation used in determining retirement annuities for persons who first enter the systems on or after July 1, 2010 at the governor's salary ($150,000). An amendment was adopted, of course, that removed this provision for members of the General Assembly Retirement System. The bill was discussed in the House Personnel and Pensions Committee, but no vote was taken.

HB 5948 (Mendoza, D-Chicago) creates the Mass Influenza Vaccination School Program Act to require that the Department of Public Health in consultation with the Director of Insurance and the State Board of Education to establish school-based influenza mass vaccination programs in elementary and secondary schools to vaccinate children against influenza. Participation in the programs by a school district or an individual would be voluntary. The bill was discussed, but held, in the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee.

HB 6079 (Black) provides for the establishment of cooperative high schools or elementary schools. The bill was approved by the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee and was sent to the House floor for consideration.

SR 560 (Lightford, D-Maywood) creates the Task Force on Eliminating Racial Bias in Suspensions and Expulsions to examine the causes of the racial gap in suspension and expulsion rates and submit a report to the General Assembly by May 1, 2010. The bill was approved by the Senate Education Committee and was sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

BILLS SCHEDULED FOR COMMITTEE NEXT WEEK

SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE
Tuesday, March 2, 6 p.m., Room 409, State Capitol

SB 2594 (Lightford) removes the "sunset date" for preschool educational program grants.

SB 2929 (Kotowski, D-Park Ridge) requires that when a student needs to receive any medication in school or during school activities, a medication management plan be established and requires that absent a full-time school nurse, the school principal must appoint, supervise, and coordinate the training of a designated health care aide to perform the tasks necessary to assist a student in accordance with the plan. The bill contains many other requirements, mandates, and procedures for schools.

SB 3086 (Raoul, D-Chicago) requires that every bill that creates a new program or service that will be provided by the ISBE, or which expands the class of persons eligible for, or the level of benefits provided by any existing program or service provided by the ISBE, shall have prepared for it a brief explanatory statement or note which shall include a reliable estimate of the probable impact that bill will have upon the ISBE's annual budget.

SB 3111 (DeLeo, D-Chicago) adds specific, new training requirements for special education teacher assistants.

SB 3117 (Garrett) extends the time period for allowing interfund transfers by three years (from June 30, 2010 to June 30, 2013).

SB 3241 (Sandoval, D-Chicago) increases both the minimum length of the school term and the minimum number of days of actual pupil attendance by 24 days.

SB 3266 (Lightford), an ISBE initiative, requires a new comprehensive policy and additional mandatory requirements in every school district regarding bullying. The bill requires new bullying reporting and investigation provisions for school districts and requires the district to maintain data that records each bullying complaint and the result of the district's investigation into the complaint. The school district would be required to submit the data to the ISBE. The bill also includes, if money is appropriated to the ISBE for this purpose, a "demonstration project" with 5-10 school districts that includes instruction to students and in-service training on bullying for school personnel (defined as all certificated and non-certificated employees of the district, those that contract with the district, and volunteers). The bill also includes provisions for "Gang Resistance Education and Training" in schools. Though it states that school districts "may make suitable provisions" for this instruction – if a district does offer such instruction – it "must collaborate with state and local law enforcement agencies". The last provision of the bill exempts the legislation from being covered under the State Mandates Act.

SB 3332 (Cronin, R-Elmhurst) provides that all sex education courses that discuss sexual intercourse shall teach pupils about the dangers associated with drug and alcohol consumption during pregnancy.

SB 3375 (Haine, D-Alton) provides that if a criminal background check reveals certain convictions, then the person is ineligible for employment and shall be dismissed.

SB 3376 (Haine) provides that the changes made by Public Act 96-431 to the ineligibility of a person to work in a school while serving first offender probation are declaratory of existing law.

SB 3460 (Harmon, D-Oak Park), for early childhood construction grants, allows a public school district to provide local matching funds in an amount equal to 10% of the grant (rather than the amount of the grant).

SB 3471 (Hutchinson, D-Olympia Fields) requires school districts to, if notified of a pupil's asthma diagnosis, request the pupil's current asthma action plan and make accommodations accordingly.

SB 3472 (Hutchinson) changes the conditions under which a pupil may self-administer his or her medication or epinephrine auto-injector.

SB 3483 (Luechtefeld, R-Okawville) expands the debt limitations for the West Washington County Community Unit School District under certain conditions.

SB 3489 (Steans, D-Chicago) removes a provision that provides that no one may be certified to teach or supervise in the public schools who is not of good health.

SB 3515 (Garrett) makes technical "clean-up" changes to the School Code.

SB 3544 (Crotty, D-Oak Forest) deletes a provision requiring that permanent interfund transfers not otherwise authorized by law must be made to the fund of the school district most in need of the funds being transferred and allows school districts to increase, abate, maintain, abolish, and re-create working cash funds.

SB 3547 (Clayborne, D-E. St. Louis) authorizes a school district to provide students with instructional materials in an electronic format.

SB 3556 (Lauzen, R-Aurora) provides that no district is obligated to comply with any statutory or regulatory mandate or requirement unless a separate appropriation has been enacted into law providing funding for the school year during which such mandate is required.

SB 3608 (Demuzio, D-Carlinville) removes the provision requiring a consumer education proficiency test.

SB 3609 (Demuzio) provides that the ISBE, in consultation with the state comptroller, may transfer line item appropriations for General State Aid between the Common School Fund and the Education Assistance Fund (instead of from the Common School Fund to the Education Assistance Fund) and removes the requirement that the salaries for regional superintendents and assistant regional superintendents of schools be payable from the Common School Fund.

SB 3610 (Demuzio) makes technical "clean-up" changes in the School Code.

SB 3635 (Noland, D-Elgin), in the provisions concerning the account of expenditures for programs in transitional bilingual education, provides that at least 60% of bilingual funding must be used for instructional costs.

SB 3653 (McCarter, R-Lebanon) extends the time period for allowing interfund transfers by three years (from June 30, 2010 to June 30, 2013).

SB 3681 (Lightford) makes changes in the provisions establishing School Finance Authorities and Financial Oversight Panels.

SB 3706 (Holmes, D-Aurora) provides that the ISBE shall develop and maintain a nutrition and physical activity best practices database and that the database shall contain the results of any wellness-related fitness testing done by local school districts, as well as information on successful programs and policies implemented by local school districts designed to improve nutrition and physical activity in the public and charter schools.

HOUSE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION COMMITTEE
Wednesday, March 3, 8 a.m., Room 114, State Capitol

HB 990 (Ford) requires the ISBE to adopt rules eliminating trans fats in foods served in public school cafeterias beginning July 1, 2010.

HB 4755 (Soto, D-Chicago) requires the ISBE to award 3 year grants to schools to facilitate the enrollment, attendance, and success of homeless children, subject to appropriation.

HB 5836 (Golar, D-Chicago) under the self administration of medications section of the School Code, where previously the Act required asthma inhaler's to be used with a written statement from physician, physician assistant or advanced practice RN, this bill would allow an asthma inhaler to be provided by parents, with the prescription label and a written statement with specified information.

HB 5910 (Flowers, D-Chicago) contains an unfunded mandate requiring the Comprehensive Health Education Program to include instruction in clinical depression and suicide prevention.

HB 6041 (Eddy) removes the provision requiring school districts to make permanent transfers to the fund that is most in need of the transferred funds. Also, the bill allows schools to increase, abate, maintain, abolish and re-create working cash funds and provides that the moneys in the working cash fund may be used by the school board for any and all school purposes.

HB 6223 (Ford) requires all public school districts with an average daily attendance not less than 15 to implement either a full or half day kindergarten and reduces the compulsory age for school attendance from 7 to 5 years old.

SUB-COMMITTEE ON MANDATES

Several bills this week were referred to a new sub-committee on mandates on school districts. The following bills are scheduled to be considered at next week's hearing:

HB 4672 (requires school principals to attend in-service workshops on suicide prevention)
HB 5029 (requires school districts to provide instruction on riding ATVs)
HB 5034 (requires school boards to make all students undergo an electrocardiogram (EKG) test)
HB 5344 (requires schools to provide recordings for its blind and dyslexic students)
HB 5400 (requires 3 weeks of instruction on violence prevention and conflict resolution)
HB 5472 (requires school boards to publish the school lunch menu and the nutrition content)
HB 5889 (provides mandate relief for public school districts)
HB 5981 (allows for an alternative program to the current Transitional Bilingual Education Article)
HB 6042 (removes the requirement for the writing test portion of the ISAT and PSAE exams)
HJR 74 (creates a Blue Ribbon Committee regarding state mandates on local school districts

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.

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