Distributed via Email: April 15, 2016
SCHOOL FUNDING BILL MEETS FIRST CHALLENGE
Senator Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) presented his new school funding reform bill, Senate Amendment #1 to Senate Bill 231, to the Senate Executive Committee Wednesday afternoon. The bill was approved on a vote of 10-1-6, largely on partisan lines, and is now on Third Reading, final passage stage, in the Senate. If approved, the bill will be sent to the House of Representatives for consideration in that chamber. The House Speaker established a task force on school funding this spring to study the issue and it is unclear how the Senate bill will be handled in the House. For more details on SB 231, click here.
COMMITTEE ACTION FROM THIS WEEK
HB 822 (Mayfield, D-Waukegan) had an amendment filed that would require schools to post at student eye-level, 11x17 posters with child abuse DCFS hotline information and directions for accessing the website. The amendment failed to receive the requisite number of votes in the House Elementary and Secondary: School Curriculum & Policies Committee and was held in committee.
HB 4232 (Reis, R-Olney) makes re-appropriations from the School Construction Fund and the Capital Development Fund for ongoing school construction and improvements for fiscal year 2016. The bill was approved by the House Executive Committee and was sent to the House floor.
HB 4240 (Flowers, D-Chicago) , as amended, may require parents of truant students who knowingly and willfully persist in allowing their child to be absent from school, to complete a parent education course and family counseling. The bill was approved by the House Elementary and Secondary: School Curriculum & Policies Committee and was sent to the House floor for further consideration.
HB 4715 (Bryant, R-Mt. Vernon) increases the civil penalty ceiling from $5,000 to $10,000 for a public body that willfully and intentionally fails to comply with the Freedom of Information Act. The bill was approved by the House Judiciary – Civil Committee and was sent to the House floor.
HB 6044 (Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora) ,as amended,changes the school years in which the Vision 20/20 Balanced Accountability Committee will implement balanced accountability measures to 2021-22 and delays the abolishment of the committee to June 1, 2023. The bill was approved by the House Elementary and Secondary: School Curriculum & Policies Committee and was sent to the House floor.
HB 6098 (Demmer, R-Rochelle) allows a school district to publish any notice, agenda, record, or other information required by law electronically instead of in a newspaper. The bill was approved by the House Executive Committee and was sent to the House floor for further consideration.
HB 6142 (Wheeler, R-Crystal Lake) removes the cap of 120 regarding the total number of charter schools operating in the state at any one time. The bill was approved by the House Executive Committee and was sent to the House floor for further consideration.
HB 6181 (Willis, D-Northlake) provides that the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) shall allow educators to earn professional development hours during the final three months of the school year and enter those professional development hours into the Educator Licensure Information System. The bill was approved by the House Elementary and Secondary Education: Licensing Oversight Committee and was sent to the House floor for further consideration.
SB 230 (Manar) , regarding placing the normal cost of the pension amount paid by the state on the school district report card, was further amended to require that the information would include the total district pension cost and the per pupil pension cost. The amendment was approved by the Senate Education Committee.
SB 238 (Lightford) , as amended, changes the allocation percentages to reach 20 percent for ages 0-3 for the Early Childhood Education Block Grant. The amendment was approved by the Senate Education Committee.
SB 565 (Lightford), as amended, requires students to present proof of having obtained a social and emotional screening in conjunction with the required health examinations to enter school. The bill was approved by the Senate Executive Committee and was sent to the Senate floor.
SB 2270(Stadelman, D- Rockford) requires units of local government and school districts to limit contracts with auditors to five years and to competitively bid auditor contracts. The bill was approved by the Senate Local Government Committee and was sent to the Senate floor for further consideration.
SJR 49 (Delgado, D-Chicago) is the Spring Resolution on the Report on Waivers of School Code Mandates. The resolution was approved by the Senate Education Committee and was sent to the Senate floor for further consideration.
OTHER BILL ACTION THIS WEEK
The following bills were approved by the House of Representatives and will be sent to the Senate for further consideration:
HB 4036 (Lilly, D-Chicago) extends the Family Medical Leave Act to all employers for employee leave related to domestic violence.
HB 4330 (Wheeler) requires state colleges and universities to accept the “State Seal of Biliteracy” as equivalent to two years of foreign language coursework taken during high school and establishes a process for creation of course content for students seeking the designation.
HB 4343 (Chapa LaVia) extends the date for the first report of the Illinois Attendance Commission to March 15, 2016.
HB 4352 (Bellock, R-Westmont) creates a definition of dyslexia in the School Code.
HB 4360 (Cassidy, D-Chicago) provides that no one may be licensed to teach or supervise in the public schools of this state who has been convicted of certain drug offenses until seven years following the end of the sentence for the offense.
HB 4365 (Welch, D-Westchester) mandates IHSA to require all high schools that have certified athletic trainers to complete a monthly report on student-athletes who have sustained a concussion.
HB 4379 (McSweeney, R-Cary) requires school districts to regulate travel, meal, and lodging expenses of officers and employees including: the types of official business for which the expenses are allowable, maximum allowable reimbursements, and a standardized form for submission of expenses.
HB 4397 (Costello, D-Red Bud) , an Alliance initiative, extends the deadline for school energy efficiency grants awarded in 2014 to four years from the date the funds were distributed.
HB 4606 (Davis, W., D-East Hazel Crest ) makes changes to the requirements and processes for establishing residency of pupils for access to school.
HB 4630 (Ives, R-Wheaton) requires that all available minutes and verbatim recordings of meetings closed to the public prior to a newly elected official's term in a public body shall be available to that official for review, regardless of whether those minutes or verbatim recordings are confidential.
HB 5522 (Ives) requires a unit of local government or school district with an operating budget of $1 million or more to maintain an Internet website and post specific information to that website. The required posted information includes: contact information for school board members, agendas and board packets, procedures for requesting information from the unit of local government, the annual budget, financial reports and audits, information concerning employee compensation, contracts with lobbying firms, taxes and fees imposed by the unit of local government or school district, and information about the awarding/bidding contracts.
HB 5529 (Crespo, D-Streamwood) ,an Alliance initiative, extends the sunset for a school district to utilize interfund transfers to June 30, 2019.
HB 5901 (Guzzardi, D-Chicago) requires the principal of each public school to report to ISBE certain information concerning the administration of assessments to students.
HB 5902 (Guzzardi) provides that a student journalist has the right to exercise freedom of speech and of the press in school-sponsored media, regardless of whether the media is supported financially by the school district or by use of school facilities or produced in conjunction with a class in which the student is enrolled.
HB 6131 (Hurley, D-Chicago) requires driver education courses to include instruction concerning law enforcement procedures for traffic stops.
HB 6299 (Andrade, D-Chicago) would grant recall rights to education support personnel.
HB 6333 (Gabel, D-Chicago) requires ISBE to create a model asthma episode emergency response protocol to be adopted by school districts.
The following bills were approved by the Senate and were sent to the House of Representatives for further consideration:
SB 2137 (Morrison, D-Deerfield) requires teacher training, at least once every two years, on the federal Americans with Disabilities Act during teacher institutes.
SB 2990(Bush, D-Grayslake) makes changes concerning school district boundary changes for dissolutions, detachments, and annexations.
This legislative report was 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 Statewide School Management Alliance.
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