Distributed via Email: March 30, 2010

Legislators are home for “spring break” this week and next. They return to the Capitol on April 13. With the House bills now in the Senate and Senate bills now in the House, it, generally, is the half-way point for legislation. Of course, by parliamentary maneuvering or by amendment, issues that are seemingly “dead” can resurface again later in the session.

This makes it a good time to review the Alliance legislative workload and note the progress of legislation. The following is an update of some of the legislation followed by the Alliance.

BILLS THAT HAVE NOT ADVANCED

The following bills were opposed by the Alliance and were not approved before the legislative deadlines and are therefore, considered “dead”:

Proposed School Code Mandates

SB 2515 (Silverstein, D-Chicago) would have required seat belts on all new school buses.

SB 2929 (Kotowski, D-Park Ridge) would have required school districts to establish a medical management plan for every student in need of such a plan.

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

HB 990 (Ford, D-Chicago) would have required the ISBE to adopt rules eliminating trans fats in foods served in public school cafeterias beginning July 1, 2010.

HB 5029 (Flowers, D-Chicago) would have required schools to provide instruction on riding ATVs.

HB 5034 (Flowers) would have require school boards to make all students undergo an EKG test.

HB 5344 (Chapa La Via, D-Aurora) would have required schools to provide recordings for its blind and dyslexic students.

HB 5400 (Howard, D-Chicago) would have required 3 weeks of instruction on violence prevention and conflict resolution.

HB 5472 (Flowers) would have required schools to publish their lunch menu and the nutrition content.

HB 5910 (Flowers) would have required the Comprehensive Health Education Program to include instruction in clinical depression and suicide prevention.

HB 6205 (Currie, D-Chicago) would have required all public schools to offer medically accurate, age appropriate, comprehensive sex education as part of the health curriculum in the Critical Health Problems and Comprehensive Health Education Act.

HB 6223 (Ford) would have required 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.  

Proposed Requirements on Employers

HB 3665 (Hernandez, D-Cicero) would have required an employer (including school districts) to provide employees (even part-time) up to 7 sick days with pay during each 12-month period.

HB 4620 (Ford) would have made it a civil rights violation for an employer (including a school district) to inquire into or to use the fact of a prior criminal conviction, or an arrest or criminal history record information as a basis to refuse to hire the person.

HB 4855 (Franks, D-Woodstock) would have made it a civil rights violation for any employer (including school districts) to inquire into or to use a prospective employee's or employee's credit history as a basis to refuse to hire the person.

HB 5390 (Howard) would have made it a civil rights violation for employers (including a school district) to use a prior felony conviction as a basis to refuse to hire the person.

HB 5425 (Jefferson, D-Rockford) would have required employers (including school districts) to allow an employee to take unpaid leave to attend a criminal proceeding if the employee was a victim of certain crimes.  

Bills Regarding Finance

SB 3241 (Sandoval, D-Chicago) would have increased both the minimum length of the school term and the minimum number of days of actual pupil attendance by 24 days without appropriating additional funding to schools.

HB 4992 (Ford) would have changed the distribution of State Lottery proceeds. Instead of transferring Lottery receipts into the Common School Fund for distribution through the General State Aid formula (about $650 million annually), the bill establishes a new fund that distributes the money to school districts based on the district's percentage of statewide lottery sales.

HB 5188 (Hannig, D-Litchfield) would have provided that if a school district compensates its administrators, faculty, teachers, or other personnel at a salary more than the State Superintendent of Education ($190,000), the district is prohibited from receiving General State Aid.

HB 6182 (Joyce, D-Chicago) changes the Cook County assessment system to an acquisition-based assessed value process.

Other Bills

SB 2496 (Meeks, D-Chicago) would have allowed for a public school choice program where any Illinois student could attend any school without regard to residency, and without being charged tuition.

SB 3062 (Meeks) would have re-defined high school juniors to mean the student's third school year after successfully completing grade 8, without taking into consideration academic standing, accumulated credits, etc, as it pertained to taking the Prairie State Achievement Examination.

HB 5136 (Black, R-Danville) would have removed the Illinois General Assembly from the mandate waiver provisions of the School Code and left the authority for all waiver approvals and appeals to the ISBE.

BILLS THAT WERE AMENDED

The following bills were amended to address Alliance concerns:

SB 2489 (Lightford, D-Maywood) originally would have required school districts to allow a suspended student to attend an alternative school program for the duration of the suspension or expulsion. The provision was deleted from the bill via an amendment to address Alliance concerns and a task force was established to study the issue further.

SB 3266 (Lightford) originally contained a slew of new requirements for school districts regarding comprehensive policies on bullying. The bill was amended to address Alliance concerns and all unfunded mandates were removed from the bill. It now defines bullying and establishes a task force to study the issue further.

SB 3663 (Noland, D-Elgin) originally would have allowed for establishment of creditable service for unused sick leave with school districts and other specified educational entities even if an IMRF employee was not in service with the employer within 60 days of the effective date of his or her retirement annuity. This provision was deleted via an amendment to address Alliance concerns.

SB 3681 (Lightford) adds a “trigger” as to what could cause intervention into a local school district that is certified to be in financial difficulty. Specifically, the ISBE would look at a district that is likely to fail to fully meet any regularly scheduled payroll obligations or debt service payments. Originally a bill regarding school districts heading towards a School Finance Authority or Financial Oversight Panel, the bill was amended due to Alliance concerns of the initial sweeping language.

HB 4672 (Harris, D-Chicago) requires school social workers to attend the same in-service workshops as teachers regarding the instruction of the identification of the warning signs of suicidal behavior in teenagers. The bill originally required principals to attend the workshops, but this provision was removed via an Alliance amendment.

HB 5126 (Pihos, R- Glen Ellyn) prohibits specified information from becoming part of the pupil's record without the written consent of the pupil who disclosed the confidential information to the school counselor and provides that a school counselor may not disclose certain information deemed to be confidential. The Alliance is still in negotiations on the bill.

HB 5838 (Burke, D-Chicago) , regarding the requirement for automated external defibrillators (AED) at outdoor physical fitness facilities, deletes the provision which requires that if there is no building available near the outdoor facility, the person responsible for supervising the activity must ensure the availability of an AED. The Alliance was involved in negotiations on the bill and now supports it.

HB 6065 (Cross, R-Oswego) and SB 3822 (Steans, D-Chicago) require a parent to submit a diabetes care plan for a student with diabetes who seeks assistance with diabetes care in the school setting and provides that a delegated care aide shall perform the activities and tasks necessary to assist a student with diabetes in accordance with that plan. Dozens of hours of work by the Alliance lobbyists have already been invested in the bill, but discussions continue.

ALLIANCE LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVES

The following bills are initiatives of the School Management Alliance. These bills have been approved in a timely fashion and are still pending in the legislature:

SB 2537 (Maloney, D-Chicago) provides that an endorsement for a chief school business official endorsement must include the requirement that the certificate holder has 6 semester hours of internship in school business management.

SB 3014 (Demuzio, D-Carlinville) provides for the employment of assistant principals and addresses their duties, contracts, reclassification, and development and submission of an evaluation plan.

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 3515 (Garrett, D-Lake Forest) makes technical “clean-up” changes to the School Code.

HB 4674 (Eddy, R-Hutsonville) provides an alternative method of accommodating transitional needs of students of military families as opposed to the State entering into a binding national “Military Compact”. Even after the introduction of the original bill, Alliance lobbyists spent dozens of hours in negotiations and crafting the bill into its present form.

HB 4780 (Chapa La Via) and SB 3117 (Garrett) extend the time period for allowing interfund transfers by three years (from June 30, 2010 to June 30, 2013). They allow a school district to transfer funds among the education fund, the operations and maintenance fund, and the transportation fund.

OTHER LEGISLATION OF INTEREST

The following bills are still viable and are pending further action in the Capitol:

SB 355 (Demuzio) changes the general primary election from the first Tuesday in February of even-numbered years to the third Tuesday in March of even-numbered years. The bill was already signed into law.

SB 1946 (Cullerton, D-Chicago) establishes a “two-tier” platform for the various State pension systems, including the Teachers’ Retirement System. The bill has already been sent to the Governor.

SB 2494 (Meeks) would establish a voucher system for parents of students in Chicago who attend the lowest performing public K-8 schools. The vouchers could be redeemed at a non-public school, creating a flow of public school funding to non-public schools. The Alliance opposes the bill.

SB 2980 (Maloney) allows a school board to waive, by resolution, any statutory 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. Exceptions to the bill include curricula for physical education, drivers’ education, and courses required for high school graduation. The Alliance supports the bill.

SB 2992 (Pankau, R-Roselle) expands the Senior Citizens Assessment Freeze Homestead Exemption to include disabled persons.

SB 3000 (Garrett) creates the Instructional Mandates Task Force charged to explore and examine all instructional mandates governing public schools and establishes a moratorium on the passage of legislation that imposes instructional mandates on the public schools until one year after the task force issues its report. The Alliance supports the bill.

SB 3106 (DeLeo) exempts extensions made by school districts for special education purposes from the definition of aggregate extension under the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law. The Alliance supports the bill.

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. The Alliance opposes the bill.

SB 3566 (Delgado, D-Chicago) creates the Abusive Work Environment Act that creates liberal new violations of unlawful employment practices. The Alliance opposes the bill.

SB 3635 (Noland) requires that at least 60% of bilingual funding must be used for instructional costs.

HB 4658 (Franks) creates the Employee Credit Privacy Act to prohibit employers (including school districts) from inquiring about or using an employee's or prospective employee's credit history as a basis for employment, recruitment, discharge, or compensation.

HB 4711 (Eddy) states that a school district is under no obligation to comply with any new mandated program enacted after the effective date of this law (if this bill would be signed into law) unless the State provides a specific appropriation for the implementation of the new mandate. Current mandates already on the books would still be in effect. Exempted from the legislation are bills that relate to the “Race to the Top” program, or any new funding requirement that falls under Chapter 820 of the Illinois Compiled Statutes relating to labor issues. This would include the Minimum Wage Law, the Prevailing Wage Act, Workers’ Compensation Act, or the Unemployment Insurance Act. The Alliance supports the bill.

HB 4797 (Mautino, D-Spring Valley) extends the special property valuation procedures for wind energy devices through assessment year 2016 (instead of 2011).

HB 4879 (Eddy) includes the number of pupils enrolled in early education programs in a school district’s transportation reimbursement. The Alliance supports the bill.

HB 4886 (Black) provides that a school district may adopt an alternative school calendar for a 4-day school week, under certain circumstances.

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 Alliance supports the bill.

HB 5154 (Chapa La Via) amends the Personnel Record Review Act to provide that disclosure of performance evaluations under the Freedom of Information Act shall be prohibited. The Alliance supports the bill.

HB 5340 (Chapa La Via) , in provisions concerning criminal history records checks, adds the Department of State Police or Statewide Sex Offender Database, or both (for clarification purposes) to the list of persons or entities to which the president of the school board or regional superintendent may transmit information concerning the record of convictions. The Alliance supports the bill.

HB 5483 (Kosel, R-New Lenox) amends the Open Meetings Act to require a public body to approve the minutes of its open meeting within 30 days after the meeting or at the second subsequent regular meeting. It also requires the minutes to be made available within 10 days (instead of 7 days) after their approval and to post the minutes on the website within 10 days (instead of 7days) after their approval. Finally, the bill states that any person shall be permitted an opportunity to address public officials at the meeting.

HB 5515 (Hoffman, D-Collinsville) provides that, through June 30, 2013, surplus life safety taxes and interest earnings thereon may be transferred to the Operations and Maintenance Fund for building repair work. The Alliance supports the bill.

HB 5863 (Eddy) makes many changes regarding the portability of criminal background checks and certification of substitute teachers. The Alliance supports the bill.

HB 6041 (Eddy) and SB 3544 (Crotty, D-Oak Forest) allow school districts to increase, abate, maintain, abolish, and re-create working cash funds and provides that moneys in the working cash fund may be used by the school board for any and all school purposes. The Alliance supports the bills.

HB 6112 (Flider, D-Mt. Zion) expands the Prevailing Wage Act to provide that labor used in the transportation of aggregate or excavated materials or the operation of equipment to haul aggregate or excavated materials to or from the site of the building or construction job is covered under the Act. The Alliance opposes the bill.

HB 6241 (Black) , for manufactured homes purchased and installed after the effective date of this new law, provides that a manufactured home installed on a private property that is not in a mobile home park must be installed in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions and assessed and taxed as real property. The Alliance supports the bill.

HB 6419 (Crespo, D-Hoffman Estates ) creates the School District Intergovernmental Cooperation Renewable Energy Act to allow for school districts to form an agency for the purpose of providing electrical energy from wind sources.

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.

Bill Text/Status: Illinois General Assembly

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