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School Board News Bulletin
March 2001

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Governor’s education budget supports funding plan

Teacher wins educator of year award

Illinois Virtual High School program gets test run

Nominations sought for Those Who Excel Awards

Business Roundtable seeks to expand Baldrige Initiative

New board member workshops planned

Special education court ruling reaching an end

Governor appoints new state board member

Internet filter law enacted

Governor details ISBE reorganization proposal

Three Illinois districts win coveted Lincoln Awards

Deadline nears for non-renewal of teachers

WORKSHOPS & MEETINGS

Leadership development event offered for downstate board members

IASA conference set May 2-4

TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS

ISBE school finance book coming soon to board presidents

Kit could help schools with professional development

NSBA provides voucher information online

RESEARCH REPORTS

Special education discipline lacking

NEWS FROM IASB

Individual board member election training offered

IASB Board votes to eliminate Director-at-Large posts

Multicultural job fair "extremely successful"

School Code Supplement, CDs available soon

REFERENDUM RESULTS

Voters approve four of six tax questions, lone bond issue

CLASSIFIED ADS

RECENT MAILINGS FROM IASB

Governor George Ryan made education a top priority in his fiscal year 2002 budget, which he unveiled February 21 before a joint session of the legislature. The governor again vowed to dedicate 51 percent of all new state revenue to education. Specifically, Governor Ryan proposed:

• to support the Education Funding Advisory Board's recommendation to add $135 per student to the funding formula, raising the foundation level to $4,560 per pupil;
• to fully fund the categorical programs, which requires $60 million in new money;
• to provide continued support for classroom technology improvements, alternative education programs, intensified reading courses, summer bridge programs--and early childhood education; and
• to provide $500 million in new funding for construction projects at elementary and high schools.

Roughly $300 million in additional funds will be dedicated to elementary and secondary education," Governor Ryan said. The majority of the new dollars "will go directly to local school districts to improve instruction and services in our classrooms," he said. Ryan also proposed "annual student testing as a means of ensuring greater accountability" and said he plans to create a task force to rewrite the Illinois School Code.

"Right now the School Code occupies 600 pages of our statutes. Many times, these 600 pages mire districts in red tape and confound them with unnecessary procedures. This new group will focus on writing laws and regulations that will help create 21st Century schools for the next generation of Illinois leaders," Governor Ryan said.

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Linda Smentek, a teacher and technology director at Hayt Elementary School in Chicago, has been selected to receive the 2001 Technology Educator of the Year Award from AT&T and Illinois Computing Educators (ICE).

The awards presentation followed the 10th annual Tech 2000/AT&T Students for the Information Age demonstration at the state capitol building in Springfield March 20. Some 140 public schools participated in Tech 2000, representing districts from throughout the state. IASB was instrumental in the development of this annual event. For more information, contact Chris Ruys at 312/337-7746. Source: Chris Ruys Communications.

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Equity of opportunity. Those words are the driving force behind the Illinois Virtual High School pilot program -- now at mid-term of its inaugural semester -- and will be the thrust for any significant expansion of e-learning initiatives.

From its inception in 1999, the IVHS was intended to expand access to "high-quality secondary learning experiences" in order to help students meet the Illinois Learning Standards and prepare for college and/or employment. The IVHS was designed to supplement each local district's curriculum as needed, rather than act as an independent or competing resource.

The pilot program, which has an enrollment of 88 students from 32 schools statewide, offers a variety of courses -- from information technology and technical certification to advanced placement courses in science and government. The largest class has 22 students. The smallest class has just two students.

Ultimately, the IVHS steering committee hopes to expand curriculum to a broad spectrum of courses able to serve thousands of students who would not otherwise have access to college-level or special-interest courses in their home districts. The state plans to offer up to 66 courses in 10 subject areas by Fall 2001.

Another vital partner is the student's home district, and school boards should be aware of their role. According to David W. Turner, executive director of the Illinois Principals Association, all schools wanting to participate will have to develop procedures on qualification, registration, attendance, transfers, credits, GPA and class rank, costs and other issues.

More importantly, Turner said key to the success of the IVHS lies with local academic counselors. "If they buy into the merit and worth of IVHS, then their students will be directed there. If they do not, they won't."he said.

Unlike some other states with e-learning programs, Illinois officials believe these decisions belong at the local level. That authority also carries responsibility for local districts, which must provide technical support and instructional guidance throughout the virtual course.

The IVHS is not intended to serve as a resource for independent study or updated correspondence courses, according to Dr. Bradley Woodruff, administrator for the state board's secondary education division.

At this time, there is no sample policy available to local boards. But Anna Lover, an IASB policy services director, said the organization would probably develop such policies as ISBE further refines its regulations for the IVHS.

In the meantime, the IVHS will undergo extensive evaluation, with expectations for more funding, development of course content, and other matters being scrutinized.

"A long-range goal of IVHS is to serve as a model for quality teaching and course content," Turner continued. "It will become a visible example that will serve to raise the bar for ... the way teaching and learning will take place in Illinois."

For more information on the Illinois Virtual High School, access their web page at www.ivhs.org.

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Want to recognize the people in your school district who have made outstanding contributions to education? Don't miss this opportunity. Nomination forms for the ISBE's annual Those Who Excel Awards are to be mailed soon to all school districts in Illinois. The deadline for submission of nominations is July 13. In past years only a handful of school board members have been nominated for the awards. This year, why not nominate the member of your board who has made an outstanding contribution? For more information call ISBE's communications and external relations office at 217/524-7618.

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Individuals attending the IASB leadership conference in February were told that Illinois business groups are encouraging schools to use Malcolm Baldrige criteria for continuous improvement of student learning. This effort, the Lincoln Foundation for Business Excellence/Baldrige in Education Initiative (L/BiE IN), is the Illinois element of a national project.

Illinois is one of six states piloting this project--with Indiana, Maryland, New Mexico, Ohio and Texas--along with 26 major business and education organizations. L/BiE IN wants schools to use the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Criteria for Performance Excellence as a framework for restructuring education and improving student performance. Although school board involvement is entirely voluntary, organizers say the goal of L/BiE IN is to get all school boards in Illinois qualified to use the Baldrige criteria within the next four years.

One leading business organization behind the L/BiE IN effort is the Illinois Business Roundtable. This voluntary association of 53 chief executive officers of leading businesses was organized to take action on significant public policy issues.

For more information about L/BiE IN, contact Richard Laine, Illinois Business Roundtable, telephone 312/707-9730 or e-mail rlaine@wwa.com. Source: Cynthia Woods, assistant director for advocacy, IASB; and Jacob Broncato, superintendent, Elmwood Park C.U. District 401.

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Incumbent board members and district superintendents are encouraged to alert their new board members to the news of a workshop designed just for them. IASB soon will be sending district superintendents a supply of brochures for distribution to new board members announcing the "Basics of School District Governance," a workshop scheduled for various locations this spring. It is designed for recently seated board members as well as for those who must wait until November to be seated on the local school board.

This introductory workshop--covering board governance principles, policies and practices--will run from Friday evening through mid-afternoon Saturday on the following schedule:

April 20 and 21 - Holiday Inn Brandywine, Peoria

April 27 and 28 - Seasons at Rend Lake, Whittington

April 27 and 28 - Conference Center/Best Western, Rochelle

May 4 and 5 - Holiday Inn and Conference Center, Tinley Park

May 4 and 5 - Ramada Inn South Plaza, Springfield

May 11 and 12 - Hilton Lisle/Naperville, Lisle

The workshop will include a new board member development video, produced by IASB staff, which explores principles of effective governance by realistically depicting eight situations that might challenge a school board. Details and registration information are being mailed to district superintendents and also will be available on the IASB Web site, http://www.iasb.com.

In addition, the basics of school law and finance will be the featured topic of an intermediate-level workshop to be held at six locations around the state on three days next fall. These daylong workshops for new board members are scheduled at two separate locations each day on the following schedule:

September 8 - Conference Center/Best Western, Rochelle

September 8 - Ramada Inn South Plaza, Springfield

September 15 - Holiday Inn Brandywine, Peoria Conference

September 15 - Holiday Inn & Conference Center, Tinley Park

September 29 - Seasons at Rend Lake, Whittington

September 29 - Four Points Hotel Chicago/O'Hare, Schiller Park

Interested parties can register for both workshops now and save 10 percent off the tuition fee. In addition, participants can bring their superintendent along at no cost. That is, IASB will waive the tuition fee for any superintendent who attends either or both work-shops in the company of one or more board members from the same district. Advance registration is required. For more information, phone the nearest IASB office at extension 1118 or extension 1220.

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The long road for the Corey H. case, a class action lawsuit that demanded that children with disabilities be educated with children who are not disabled, is closing in on an end, if not a dead end.

A federal court on February 27 ordered the Illinois State Board of Education to immediately implement the "content area standards," despite objections from the General Assembly's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, which has fought proposed changes in the way the ISBE certifies special education teachers.

The ISBE has proposed that current endorsements for various categories of disabilities would be replaced by cross-categorical credentials known as LBS (Learning Behavior Specialist) I and LBS II. These designations would allow such teachers to serve all children with disabilities, except visual, hearing, and speech/language impairment.

The court ruled in 1998 that the existing state certification system was largely responsible for segregating students by disability. The lawsuit, representing eight special ed students in Chicago Public School District 299, charged that the students were not given access to "Least Restrictive Environment" opportunities as mandated by federal law (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997).

The Chicago Board of Education eventually settled its portion of the nine-year-old case. But the ruling from U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, now applies to all public schools.

"The current status of the rules and the applicability of the federal court's ruling ... are still in doubt," said S. Jeff Funk, of Miller, Tracy, Braun, Funk and Paisley, a Monticello-based firm that represents roughly 200 school districts in Illinois.

"I'm not convinced that the sky is falling, especially in schools outside of Chicago," Funk said at a recent IASB spring division meeting in Galesburg. "(Teachers) in these districts work across the categories anyway. If you were a special ed teacher, however, I'd be somewhat concerned."

The latter outlook is shared by the Illinois Education Association, which has lobbied hard against certification changes.

"This dumping of students with all different levels of disabilities into one general classroom setting will not only hurt the children, but make the job of teaching them next to impossible," said IEA President Ann Davis. The teachers' union also asserts that the unique requirements for renewal of special ed teachers is in direct conflict with new certification law.

The legislature's JCAR unit attempted to suspend the ISBE's plan for 180 days. But Judge Robert Gettleman ruled Feb. 27 that the state could proceed with peremptory rules for core and content area standards for special ed credentials.

The state board, meanwhile, is proceeding with a series of public hearings on the draft of its new rules. Those hearings, which will be held at six different locations, began March 6 in Elgin and will conclude March 28 in Rend Lake. In addition, the board is taking comments by mail and email, rules@isbe.net.

According to state superintendent Glenn W. (Max) McGee, will submit its final certification proposal to a court monitor sometime in April.

"We consider the standards and other provisions those rules contain to be in effect and will proceed to the transition phase," he said.

James Russell is IASB's director of publications.

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Bev Turkal, of Robinson, has been appointed to the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to replace Bill Hill, of Charleston. Turkal, a former district superintendent at Robinson C.U. District 2, has served as a teacher, building principal, special education coordinator and director of buildings and grounds.

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A provision enacted with the federal education budget this year requires schools and libraries that receive federal money for technology to install Internet filtering devices.

When completing the new e-rate forms, school districts can self-certify that they already have a policy on Internet safety and/or that they have filtering software in place. If these measures are not in place, districts can certify that they are undertaking them. Such districts then would have until the next program year--July 2002--to comply with the requirement. Source: Illinois Statewide School Management Alliance.

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As expected, Governor Ryan included in his state budget speech some of the details of a reorganization plan for the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). By the end of next year, Ryan said the ISBE would transfer some programs to other state agencies, including:

• the licensing of private business and vocational schools, to be moved to the Department of Professional Regulation;
• several child nutrition specialists, to be transferred to the Department of Public Health;
• oversight of the Illinois Century Network, to be switched to the Board of Higher Education;
• some staff responsible for post-high school student programs, to be transferred to the Community College Board; and
• some audits now done by the ISBE, to be outsourced to private firms.

The reorganization would affect 120 positions at the ISBE, either through transfers within state government, annual attrition or downsizing, according to the governor.

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Three of nine awards went to school districts in the annual Lincoln Foundation for Business Excellence recognition ceremony March 7. The awards to schools were particularly noteworthy because the education sector only recently received broad encouragement to apply. These awards are part of the Illinois initiative based on the Baldrige criteria for continuous improvement of organizations.

Winning the Level I award was Taylorville Community Unit District 3. The Level I award is granted for Commitment to Excellence and is the entry-level achievement award. It is presented to organizations recognized for their earnest efforts to adopt and apply continuous improvement principles.

Winning the Level II award were Community Unit District 300, Carpentersville and Freeport District 145. The Level II award is granted for Progress Towards Excellence and is the middle-level award. It is presented to organizations recognized for demonstrating sound, notable and continuous improvement processes. Source: Cynthia Woods, IASB advocacy staff.

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Under state law, a school district must serve written notice 45 days before the end of the school term upon any probationary teacher not being reemployed for the following school term. Notice is require 60 days before the end of the school term for any tenured teacher being honorably discharged because of a reduction in force (RIF) or the discontinuation of a program.

Notice must be mailed to and also given to the teacher either by certified mail, return receipt requested, or personal delivery with receipt, along with a statement of honorable dismissal and the reason for the dismissal. Under some circumstances these provisions also apply to the dismissal of an administrator. Any employee not properly notified is deemed reemployed for the following year.

Note: Often collective bargaining agreements, policies or evaluation plans have different notice requirements from that required by statute. School district employers must be careful to meet all relevant notice requirements.

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NEWS FROM IASB

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With the April 3 consolidated election just around the corner, boards of education need to be particularly aware of their election duties. The IASB Web site, http://www.iasb.com, contains a wealth of information on this important topic. To locate what you need, look under the heading "2001 School Board Election" on the IASB Home Page, and click on the link "Board of Education Duties." Clicking this will bring up a list of resource descriptions, linked to everything from legal dates and deadlines for the board to information about working with board members elected but not yet seated. You'll find links, as well, to a sample board resolution on training for unseated board members, available in various formats, and a model orientation program for new board members. Source: IASB Web site.

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The IASB Board of Directors voted February 24 to recommend the elimination of four Director-at-Large positions on the Board and to elect the Treasurer from the Board membership rather than from outside. Meeting in Chicago after the IASB Leadership Conference, the Board voted to recommend making the changes through proposed constitutional by-law revisions. The IASB Delegate Assembly would have to vote in favor of these changes in order for them to be enacted.

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The sixth annual IASB multicultural job fair, held March 3 in Oak Lawn, was a great success, as evidenced by the number of people participating and their reaction."We almost doubled the number of job seekers and added 14 more school district participants," said job fair coordinator Sanetta George-Jackson, IASB director of field services. A total of 668 individual job seekers came to the fair this year, compared to 361 last year, and the number of school districts recruiting candidates increased from 71 to 85.

"The organization, hospitality and results of the job fair this weekend were tremendous," said John Ahlgrim, assistant principal at Mundelein High School District 120.

"It was extremely well organized," said another recruiter, Superintendent Judith M. Jackson, of Steger District 164."[We] plan to make it a part of our personnel recruitment plan in the future," added Jackson.

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The 2001 Supplement to The School Code of Illinois will be available from IASB soon, published by Lexis Law Publishing in the same style and format as the 2000 edition of this volume. According to Lexis, the supplement will be backed with an adhesive tab (and trimmed slightly smaller) so that those who have the 2000 edition can affix the supplement onto the inside back cover. The contents will include all statutes that have been affected by legislation since the 2000 edition, along with a supplement index to guide users through the new material. To remain up-to-date, users of the 2000 edition will need to consult the supplement index first when looking up school-related laws.

The 2001 supplement will include a CD-ROM, offered in the same style and format as its predecessor. Lexis will package the 2001 CD in a standard CD jewel case for its storage and protection. The CD will contain the complete content of the 2001 Illinois School Code and Related Acts, updated with all the new material from the paper supplement. In addition to the statutes, the new CD will include additional editorial enhancements, including case annotations, cross-references, and other notes. Those who own the 2000 edition of the School Code published by IASB will likely want to use this CD to replace the one that accompanied the 2000 edition.

Through special arrangement between IASB and Lexis Law the 2001 supplement will be priced at $15 for IASB members, and a discounted pricing can be arranged for bulk purchases. The cost to obtain a license to use the 2001 CD on a local area network is just $5 (new licenses are required, however, for those who purchased a 2000 network license). Promotional announcements will be mailed out by IASB once both of these items become available. For more information, call IASB at extension 1108.

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RESEARCH REPORTS

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There were 15 incidents of serious misconduct at school for every 1,000 regular education students and 50 such incidents for every 1,000 special education students during the 1999-2000 school year. That finding comes from a survey of secondary school principals, conducted by the U.S. General Accounting Office.

Roughly 27 principals said having a separate discipline policy for special education students, as required by federal law, is unfair to the regular school population. The report is available online at http://www.gao.gov. Source: NSBA, School Board News, February 20, 2001.

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WORKSHOPS & MEETINGS

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Southern Illinois board members may wish to attend the "School Board Institute: Leadership for the 21st Century," sessions to be held April 17--18 at the Holiday Inn, Mt. Vernon. For further information on this event--presented by Motorola and IASB--or to register, please contact Cynthia Woods or Bridget Trojan at IASB, extension 1228 or 1236. Early registration is encouraged.

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Champions for Change Through Renewed Leadership is the theme of the 2001 Annual Conference of the Illinois Association of School Administrators (IASA), scheduled for May 2-4 at the Springfield Hilton and Springfield Renaissance Hotels. A brief summary of the conference program is available online at http://www.iasaedu.org/conferences/AnnualConference/acprogram.htm.

For information about the conference contact the IASA office by phone at 217/787-9306 or by e-mail at iasa@mail.isbe.accessus.net.

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REFERENDUM RESULTS

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Voters in Decatur District 61 and three other school districts approved tax questions in the February 27 consolidated primary election, rejecting just two tax propositions (a 66-percent approval rate). Voters said yes to the only bond question on the primary ballot, an $88.8 million building bond proposal in Indian Prairie C.U. District 204, Naperville, where voters also passed a companion tax increase.

Decatur won the biggest tax increase in the February election, raising the general education fund rate by 73 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The vote does not enable District 61 to rescind any of the $7 million in cuts already targeted. It does mean the Decatur district will not have to cut another $3 million from the budget and may be in the black by 2003 or 2004.

Decatur's tax increase was only slightly larger than the one voters approved in Indian Prairie District 204, Naperville. Naperville's education fund rate increase is 70 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, while Decatur's is 73 cents per $100.

Other tax questions gained approval in Libertyville Community High School District 128; and Warren Township High School District 121, Gurnee. Libertyville's rate increase--totaling 36 cents per $100 of assessed valuation--is three times larger than Gurnee's increase.

Voters rejected tax increases, however, totaling $1 per $100 of assessed valuation in Waukegan C.U. District 60, and 40 cents per $100 of assessed valuation in Harlem District 122, Rockford. All tax questions on the ballot involved education fund increases.

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TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS

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IASB soon will be sending each school board a CD-ROM edition of the 1999-2000 edition of State, Local and Federal Financing for Illinois Public Schools. This annual publication is issued by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and the state education agency mails one copy to each district superintendent in the state.

Traditionally, ISBE provides IASB with printed copies for mailing to school board presidents. This is the first year that ISBE has opted to provide this publication on a CD rather than print hard copies.

The CD will run on PC or Macintosh computer using the Adobe Acrobat Reader. This format allows users to read the text on their computer screen or print it. If you plan to print it, however, be warned that the full text runs more than 200 pages.

The book deals with school laws and appropriations as enacted for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2000. This is the latest edition available and was just recently completed. In spite of the timing, however, the book remains the most current and thorough resource available for financial facts and school fiscal requirements. It is the first place to look for information about laws affecting school finances and business management.

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The U.S. Education Department is distributing a professional development toolkit to school districts in response to a perceived need. The toolkit states, "Top-notch professional development can have a significant impact on teaching quality."

The toolkit, Does Professional Development Change Teaching Practice, is available online at http://www.ncrel.org/pd.toolkit.htm. Source: U.S. Education Department.

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The National School Boards Association (NSBA) recently unveiled a new Web site devoted exclusively to the issue of school vouchers: http://www.nsba.org/novouchers. The site, developed in collaboration with IASB and other state school boards associations, includes information on existing voucher programs, research findings and reports, current and past voucher legislation across the nation, court decisions, talking points and public school reform efforts. Source: NSBA, School Board News, January 25, 2001.

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RECENT MAILINGS FROM IASB

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IASB regularly sends informational materials to all member districts. Here is a list of such items mailed to representatives in your district in the past month. For more information about any item, contact your board president or district superintendent or get in touch with IASB.

Policy Reference Education Subscription Service (PRESS) update, 2/15 to subscribers (fee charged for subscription).

State, Local & Federal Financing for Illinois Public Schools, a publication of ISBE provided on CD ROM, 3/13 to board presidents.

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CLASSIFIED ADS

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WANTED: School bus, late model, equipped with handicapped lift, 15/25 +2 passenger school bus with gasoline engine and automatic transmission. Call 217/357-3922 or e-mail jrich1@roe26.k12.il.us (Jim Rich, Superintendent, Carthage C.U. District 338).

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IASB ARCHIVES HOME

Illinois Association of School Boards

2921 Baker Drive
Springfield, Illinois 62703