Distributed via Email: April 15, 2010

GOVERNOR SIGNS PENSION REFORM BILL

Governor Pat Quinn Wednesday signed into law the bill that establishes a “two-tier” platform for the various state pension systems, including the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS). SB 1946 (Cullerton, D-Chicago) now becomes Public Act 96-0889 with some sections becoming effective immediately and others becoming effective January 1, 2011.

No changes apply to anyone who already is a member of TRS, but the new provisions and benefit changes will apply to anyone who becomes a participant in TRS on January 1, 2011 or thereafter. A summary of the bill can be found in Alliance Legislative Report (96-52).

The controversial bill was pushed through the legislature in one day. On March 24, the bill was approved by the House Personnel and Pensions Committee, the full House of Representatives, the Senate Executive Committee, and the full Senate. Another bill is expected to follow yet this spring (a “trailer bill”) to make some clarifications and technical changes to the new pension provisions. Though there will be a push to reduce the scope of some of the new reforms (for instance, reducing the retirement age for teachers to less than 67 years), the governor, speaker of the House, and Senate president have reportedly said that they have no intentions of undoing any of the substantive provisions of the new law.

BUDGET WORK CONTINUES IN CAPITOL

As the scheduled legislative adjournment date is now just three weeks away, lawmakers have been focusing more on the Fiscal Year 2011 state budget. The appropriations committees in both chambers have been convening to discuss the budget and to accept testimony from the various state agencies, universities, and the education community.

On Tuesday, the House Appropriations – Elementary and Secondary Education Committee opened up the floor to K-12 education advocates. The Alliance, along with several other education organizations, provided testimony before the panel. Illinois Association of School Business Officials Executive Director Michael Jacoby represented the Alliance before the committee.

The devastating prospects of the governor’s proposed budget, which would cut over $1 billion from K-12 public education, became even more ominous after an Alliance data-gathering exercise was made public. A survey of school districts by the Illinois Association of School Administrators revealed that the woeful FY ’11 budget proposal could result in 20,000 teacher and school job cuts statewide. The Job Losses Update can be found on the IASA website.

In an effort to avoid such drastic cuts, Governor Quinn has proposed a 1% income tax surcharge earmarked for public education. No legislation has been drafted thus far, but the governor has been contacting legislators to drum up support for the proposal.

ACTION ON “HOT BILLS” THIS WEEK

SB 2537 (Maloney, D-Chicago) an Alliance initiative, 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. The bill was approved unanimously by the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee and was sent to the House floor for consideration.

SB 3515 (Garrett, D-Lake Forest) , an Alliance initiative, makes technical “clean-up” changes to the School Code. The bill was approved unanimously by the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee and was sent to the House floor for consideration.

SB 3635 (Noland, D-Elgin) requires that at least 60% of bilingual funding must be used for instructional costs. The bill was approved by the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee and was sent to the House floor for consideration.

HB 4674 (Eddy, R-Hutsonville) , an Alliance initiative, 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”. The bill was approved unanimously by the Senate Education Committee and was sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

HB 4797 (Mautino, D-Spring Valley) extends the special property valuation procedures for wind energy devices through assessment year 2016 (instead of 2011). The bill was approved by the Senate Revenue Committee and was sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

HB 5120 (Rose, R-Mahomet) , supported by the Alliance, 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 Senate Executive Committee and was sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

HB 5515 (Hoffman, D-Collinsville) , supported by the Alliance, 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 bill was approved by the Senate Education Committee and was sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

HB 5838 (Burke, D-Chicago) , supported by the Alliance, 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 bill was approved by the Senate Public Health Committee and was sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

OTHER BILL ACTION THIS WEEK

SB 2547 (Demuzio, D-Carlinville) allows a participant of TRS to establish earnings credit for moneys that would have otherwise been received for being a National Board Certified Teacher had appropriations been available on or after January 1, 2010 and ending on or before June 30, 2010. In no case shall the earnings credit be greater than $3,500. The bill was approved by the Senate and will be sent to the House of Representatives for consideration.

SB 2594 (Lightford, D-Maywood) removes the “sunset date” for preschool educational program grants. The bill was approved by the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee and was sent to the House floor for consideration.

SB 2622 (Hunter, D-Chicago) amends the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act to provide that the Department of Children and Family Services shall maintain all unfounded reports, with some exceptions, for 12 months following the date of a final finding. The bill was approved by the House Human Services Committee and was sent to the House floor for consideration.

SB 3183 (Haine, D-Alton) amends the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act to authorize each county clerk to institute a mandatory Internet-based system for the filing of statements of economic interests and the reporting by units of local government of the names of persons required to file statements with that county clerk. The bill was approved by the House State Government Administration Committee and was sent to the House floor for consideration.

SB 3057 (Harmon, D-Oak Park) amends the Swimming Facilities Act to add many new violations and civil penalties for entities that have swimming pools. The bill was approved by the House Health Care Licenses Committee and was sent to the House floor for consideration.

SB 3483 (Luechtefeld, R-Okawville) expands the debt limitations for the West Washington County Community Unit School District under certain conditions. The bill was approved by the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee and was sent to the House floor for consideration.

SB 3513 (Jones, E., D-Chicago) provides that if a minor is a victim of aggravated battery, battery, attempted first degree murder, or other non-sexual violent offense, the identity of the victim may be disclosed to appropriate school officials, for the purpose of preventing foreseeable future violence involving minors, by a local law enforcement agency pursuant to an agreement established between the school district and a local law enforcement agency subject to the approval by the presiding judge of the juvenile court. The bill was approved by the Senate and will be sent to the House of Representatives.

SB 3609 (Demuzio) provides that the Illinois State Board of Education (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. The bill was approved by the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee and was sent to the House floor for consideration.

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. The bill was approved by the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee and was sent to the House floor for consideration.

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. The bill was defeated in the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee.

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 was approved by the Senate Education Committee and was sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

HB 4723 (Brady, R-Bloomington) extends the sunset to 2013 allowing any taxing district to abate the property taxes for the property owned by a historical society. The bill was approved by the Senate Revenue Committee and was sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

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. The bill was approved by the Senate Education Committee and was sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

HB 4820 (Davis, W., D-Hazel Crest) provides that in addition to existing requirements, applicants for a school bus driver permit must not have been convicted of aggravated reckless driving or driving while under the influence of alcohol, other drug or drugs, intoxicating compound or compounds or any combination thereof (rather than driving while intoxicated). The bill was approved by the Senate Transportation Committee and was sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

HB 4873 (Davis, W.) makes changes to the offenses that disqualify a person for a school bus driver permit or a commercial driver's license. The bill was approved by the Senate Criminal Law Committee and was sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

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 Senate Local Government Committee and was sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

HB 5144 (Connelly, R-Lisle) renders null and void any property taxes owed or pending for property acquired by school districts and park districts. Counties and municipalities are already covered under the Act. The bill was approved by the Senate Revenue Committee and was sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

HB 5232 (Bradley, D-Marion) amends the Notice By Publication Act and the Newspaper Legal Notice Act to provide that if there is no newspaper published in the county where a unit of local government or school district is located, notice by publication shall be given in a secular newspaper located in an adjoining county having general circulation within the unit of local government or school district. The bill was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee and was sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

HB 5340 (Chapa La Via, D-Aurora) , 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 bill was approved by the Senate Education Committee and was sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

HB 5813 (Currie, D-Chicago) , under the Senior Citizen Real Estate Tax Deferral Act, increases the eligible income level from $50,000 to $55,000, and further defines “qualified property” as that not held in a trust and places a cap on the amount that can be deferred by a taxpayer in each tax year. The bill was approved by the Senate Revenue Committee and was sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

HB 5836 (Golar, D-Chicago) makes changes regarding the self-administration of an asthma inhaler or epinephrine auto-injector in school. The bill was approved by the Senate Education Committee and was sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

PREVAILING WAGE BILL COMING UP FOR VOTE

A bill that will significantly increase costs for public works projects/school construction projects by expanding the scope of the Prevailing Wage Act will be called for a committee vote next week. HB 6112 (Flider, D-Mt. Zion) ends the Prevailing Wage Act exemption for a certain class of truckers. Specifically, truckers who transport aggregate or excavated materials – defined as “rock, gravel, sand, pebbles, dirt, soil, clay, bitumen, cultured polymer, cement, concrete, asphalt, slag, grindings, and recycled materials” – to or from a public works project would now receive the same wages and benefits paid to a trucker directly employed on a public works project. The bill, sponsored by Senator Bill Haine (D-Alton) in the Senate, is scheduled for hearing in the Senate Labor Committee next Thursday.

Please contact your state senator and express your opposition to this legislation, especially if your senator serves on the Senate Labor Committee. Committee members are: Forby (D-Benton), Holmes (D-Aurora), Crotty (D-Oak Forest), Hutchinson (D-Olympia Fields), Jones (D-Chicago), Lightford (D-Maywood), Maloney (D-Chicago), Pankau (R-Roselle), Althoff (R-Crystal Lake), Cronin (R-Elmhurst), and Hultgren (R-Winfield).

The Illinois Prevailing Wage Act requires that workers directly employed in construction work on a “public works” site – a school, road or other construction project funded with public money – be paid prevailing wages and benefits. This law also provides that workers who transport to the construction site, materials and equipment required to build a public work (lumber, steel, glass, electrical wiring, aggregates, etc.) – are not paid the same wages and benefits as those truckers employed on the site. The Illinois statutory exemption for workers transporting construction materials and equipment is reflected in all other state prevailing wage acts as well as in the federal prevailing wage statute (Davis-Bacon Act). The material delivery exclusion from the Prevailing Wage Act has been litigated and affirmed by Illinois courts.

For a fact sheet on the legislation, please contact bschwarm@iasb.com.

OTHER BILLS SCHEDULED FOR COMMITTEE NEXT WEEK

SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

Tuesday, April 20, 2:30 p.m., Room 400, State Capitol

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.

HB 5234 (Bellock, R-Hinsdale) amends provisions of the Illinois Human Rights Act prohibiting sexual harassment in higher education so that they also apply to sexual harassment in elementary and secondary schools.

SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE

Tuesday, April 20, 4 p.m., Room 409, State Capitol

HB 16 (Flowers. D-Chicago) allows children who, for a full year, have attended a pre-kindergarten program through an ISBE early childhood education block grant or other federal funds distributed by the ISBE for pre-kindergarten purposes or a pre-kindergarten program accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and who will attain the age of 5 years on or before December 31 of the year of the 2009-2010 school term and each school term thereafter to attend school upon commencement of such term.

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

HB 4886 (Black, R-Danville) allows a school district to adopt an alternative school calendar for a 4-day school week, under certain circumstances.

HB 5322 (Currie) removes the "sunset date" for preschool educational program grants.

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.

HB 5633 (Mitchell, R-Rock Falls) provides that for school districts that have consolidated or approved a cooperative high school within a prior fiscal year, the grant index for the School Construction Grant Program shall be calculated for each of those school districts that form the new school district or cooperative high school and the average grant index of those school districts shall be used as the grant index.

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

HB 6079 (Black) provides for the establishment of cooperative high schools or elementary schools.

HOUSE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION COMMITTEE

Wednesday, April 21, 9 a.m., Room 114, State Capitol

SB 2507 (Wilhemi, D-Joliet) increases the debt limit for Wilmington 209U under certain circumstances. SB 2980 (Maloney) 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. Exceptions to the bill include curricula for physical education, drivers’ education, and courses required for high school graduation.

SB 3266 (Lightford) originally required a new comprehensive policy and additional mandatory requirements in every school district regarding bullying. The Alliance was successful in removing all of the mandates and now the bill only contains provisions to define bullying and to establish a task force to study the bullying issue.

SB 3544 (Crotty) makes changes regarding a school district’s use of the working cash fund.

SB 3547 (Clayborne, D-E. St. Louis) allows for various sources of school funding to be used for the purchase of electronic textbooks.

SB 3608 (Demuzio) removes the provision requiring a consumer education proficiency test.

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

SB 3706 (Holmes) 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.

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

Alliance Legislative Reports are Cosponsored by IASB and:
[ IPA ] [ IASA ] [ IASBO ]

Return to ALR Menu