Delivered via email: March 4, 2022
Madigan Indicted, House Passes Deadline
With the Senate not in session this week, all attention was focused on the Illinois House of Representatives as it passed a flurry of bills ahead of a self-imposed March 4 deadline. While the House was busy completing the work before it, the most notable development of the week came from the indictment of former House Speaker Michael Madigan.Madigan was charged with 22 counts of bribery, racketeering, wire fraud, and extortion.
Madigan was denied election as the Speaker of the House at the beginning of 102nd General Assembly and resigned from the Illinois Legislature in early 2021. While the case will take time to go to trial and be decided, the indictment will cast a shadow over Illinois state government for the rest of this legislative session and possibly longer.
With the House and Senate eclipsing their self-imposed bill passage deadlines, bills will now be taken up in the opposite chamber. When both chambers reconvene in Springfield, there will only be one month until the proposed adjournment date of April 8.
Bills Passed the House
HB 448 (Walker, D-Arlington Heights) provides that, for levy years 2021 and later, the taxing district's aggregate extension base is the greater of the district's last preceding aggregate extension limit or the district's last preceding aggregate extension.HB 1167 (Yang-Rorh, D-Naperville) provides paid administrative leave to vaccinated school employees who have taken sick days due to COVID-19. Sick days used due to COVID-19 would also be restored.
HB 3254 (Ford, D-Chicago) provides that a school district shall require that books that are included as a part of any course, instruction, reading assignment, or other school curricula related to literature must include books that are written by diverse authors, including, but not limited to, authors who are African American, women, Native American, LatinX, and Asian.
HB 3296 (Ness, D-Carpentersville) requires a school district that enrolls students in grades 6-12 to adopt and implement a postsecondary and career expectations framework.
HB 4089 (Nichols, D-Burbank) requires a school district to provide a plant-based school lunch option to those students who submit a prior request to the school district requesting a plant-based school lunch option.
HB 4203 (West, D-Rockford) provides that no public body, including school districts, may display any racially derogatory language, including racial slurs, within its building, on its property, or at a public meeting at any time.
HB 4243 (Mason, D-Gurnee) prohibits a school district from withholding a student's grades, transcripts, or diploma because of an unpaid balance on the student's school account.
HB 4265 (McCombie, R-Sterling) allows a school district to waive, for the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years only, the evaluation requirement of any teacher in contractual continued service whose performance during the last school year in which the teacher was evaluated was rated as either "excellent" or "proficient."
HB 4316 (Mussman, D-Schaumburg) expands the provisions requiring the governing body of each school district to implement procedures for notice concerning an alleged act of sexual misconduct between an employee, agent, or contractor of the school and a student.
HB 4365 (Didech, D-Buffalo Grove) allows a student's IEP team to determine whether the special education program of a school district is unable to meet the needs of a child with a disability.
HB 4690 (Mussman) with respect to the removal or dismissal of teachers and principals, removes a provision that specifies that if the governor has declared a disaster due to a public health emergency pursuant to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act, pre-hearing and hearing requirements are paused and do not begin to toll until the proclamation is no longer in effect.
HB 4716 (Halpin, D-Rock Island) requires the State Board of Education, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to adopt rigorous learning standards for the classroom and laboratory phases of driver education.
HB 4813 (Gordon-Booth, D-Peoria) exempts from contract bidding requirements contracts for goods, services, or management in the operation of a school's food service, including a school that participates in any of the United States Department of Agriculture's child nutrition programs.
HB 4994 (Crespo, D-Streamwood) provides that each year prior to the start of the school year, a school board shall file its threat assessment procedure and a list identifying the members of the school district's threat assessment team or regional behavior threat assessment and intervention team with a local law enforcement agency and the regional office of education. Amends the Freedom of Information Act. Exempts from disclosure any threat assessment procedure under the School Safety Drill Act and any information contained in the procedure from inspection and copying.
HB 5127 (Halpin) provides that within 40 days (instead of 28) after the consolidated election, a school board shall organize by electing its officers and fixing a time and place for the regular meetings.
HB 5176 (Yednock, D-Ottawa) streamlines several reports required by the State Board of Education.
HB 5193 (Hirschauer, D-West Chicago) provides that the safety education that school boards may provide instruction in includes safe gun storage.
Senate Education Committee, Tuesday, March 8, 2:30 p.m., Virtual Room 1
SB 816 (Lightford, D-Hillside) makes changes to Evidence- Based Funding for re-enrolled students.SB 3663 (Rezin, R-Morris) streamlines several reports required by the State Board of Education.
SB 3709 (Holmes, D-Aurora) adds a special education cooperative that dissolves or reorganizes provisions concerning the continued employment of educational support personnel employees in a new, annexing, or receiving school district.
SR 834 (Pacione-Zayas, D-Chicago) urges high school educators and counselors to promote career and technical education by assisting each student to determine an appropriate post-secondary plan based upon their skills, strengths, and goals and by helping them implement the best practices that improve career or workforce readiness after high school.
House Elementary & Secondary Education: School Curriculum & Policies Committee, Wednesday, March 9, 9 a.m., Virtual Room 3
HB 82 (Flowers, D-Chicago) provides that the State Board of Education shall develop and maintain a program aimed at facilitating education in advanced manufacturing technical skills.HB 5096 (Mussman, D-Schaumburg) provides that the removal of a student with a disability for disciplinary reasons, violations of the student code of conduct, or other inappropriate behavior shall conform with the applicable provisions of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
HB 5110 (DeLuca, D-Chicago Heights) requires every public elementary school and high school to include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the events of Italian American history.
HR 681 (Ness, D-Carpentersville) urges all state education and workforce agencies to celebrate implementation of college and career readiness policies and strategies. Urges the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) to publish an annual report documenting and recognizing the leadership of districts in the state that are implementing locally adapted Postsecondary and Career Expectations (PaCE) frameworks on their website.