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School Board News Bulletin
April 2000

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North-central Illinois company provides cell phones for area schools

Illinois school attorney elected to national board

Experts explain how to obtain school construction funds

Referendum results

THE NATIONAL SCENE

Schaumburg District 54 recognized with national award

Teen smoking declines, but bad habit is still catching on

Parent involvement linked to success in school, teachers say

Most schools can’t measure effectiveness of computer support

Education leaders urge school governance reforms

Florida statewide voucher program ruled unconstitutional

NEWS FROM IASB

Alliance posts list of "hot bills"

Phone number correction

RESEARCH REPORTS

Study finds ending social promotion boosts exam scores, but another study links retention with dropping out

Support for public schools remains solid

High school students taking tougher courses

FEDERAL UPDATE

Supreme Court upholds required student fees at universities

TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS

AASA offers ADA notification kits

Census Bureau provides helpful Web site

Total Quality Management (TQM) proving effective in schools

DEVELOPMENTS IN SCHOOL LAW

RECENT MAILINGS FROM IASB

Through a growing national program called ClassLink more than 750 cellular phones have been donated for roughly 150 schools in eight counties in north-central Illinois. "When Illinois Valley Cellular found out that over 90 percent of the classrooms in the United States have no telephone to contact authorities in an emergency, we decided to make a difference," said Tom Walsh, General Manager of the cell phone company.

Recipient districts report no costs or problems associated with accepting the free phones. Most districts assign the cell phones to principals and administrators for use in urgent situations and real emergencies on playgrounds and at school events. Schools in the Illinois Valley Cellular service area that have not yet elected to join the ClassLink program may phone the company to find out how to participate at: 800/438-4824.

"We do not even come close to exceeding the limits of free air time," explained LaSalle District 122 Superintendent Al Humpage, Jr. Superintendent Humpage added that District 122 places limitations on cell phone use, requiring the district’s authorized users to sign the phones in and out, for example. The school district also has pre-programmed the free cell phones for one-button dialing to local 911 offices, the fire department, police (for non-emergency calls), and other important numbers.

The ClassLink program began in Chicago in September 1994, and has since become a wireless industry initiative to boost school safety, provided through the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association’s Foundation for Wireless Telecommunications. One high school in Texas found a ClassLink phone helpful after a bus carrying the junior varsity baseball team overturned. School personnel at the scene were able to phone 911, and call parents and the school about the accident.

Leaders interested in bringing ClassLink to their school may contact their local wireless service provider. To request information about the ClassLink program, contact the Wireless Foundation by e-mail at: Foundation@ctia.org .

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Nancy Fredman Krent, a member of the Illinois Council of School Attorneys, has been elected to the executive board of NSBA’s Council of School Attorneys. She will serve as Secretary of the Council for the 2000-2001 year, and then serve two years as a vice-chairman. In 2003-2004, she will be chairman of the Council, and in that position will also serve as an ex officio member of the NSBA Board of Directors. Krent is a partner in the Arlington Heights law firm of Hodges, Loizzi, Eisenhammer, Rodick and Kohn. She has served four years as a national Council director, and during that time has given numerous presentations on school law ethics.

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Note: the following tips on obtaining ISCP funds were provided by John Beckwith, associate professor, Northeastern Illinois University; Tammy Beckwith, associate, William Blair & Company; and Clyde Bradley, associate professor, Northeastern Illinois University.

With overcrowded and obsolete facilities now a major, growing problem in many districts, school boards should not overlook the availability of Illinois School Construction Program (ISCP) grants. These grant funds may be used to support necessary school construction costs. Local school leaders should carefully scrutinize grant program criteria to determine their district’s eligibility.

When adopted in 1997 under House Bill 452 (P.A. 90-548), the ISCP called for a five-year, $1.4 billion Illinois school construction matching grant to be administered by the state board of education and the state Capital Development Board. Total funding for the plan was increased last year to roughly $2.5 billion under Governor Ryan’s Illinois First program.

A required local funding match means the ISCP will channel as much as $5 billion towards school construction and building improvements through Fiscal Year 2003. Local matching funds may come from any or all of the following sources: referendum and non-referendum bonds, the district’s cash on hand, private donations, and 99-year lease agreements. Most state funding will come from issuance of state bonds.

ISCP grants may be used to abate debt service or to meet the costs of construction. The ISBE sends application packages to all school districts each year. Districts qualify for grants through a specific process. That is, eligibility hinges on three factors:

1. School district size: elementary and high school districts must have enrollments of at least 200 students, while unit districts must have at least 400 students
2. Local property wealth: based on a grant index determined by dividing a district’s equalized assessed valuation by the number of pupils, districts can receive 35 to 75 percent of eligible construction costs from the state. The greater the district’s property wealth, the smaller the grand index.
3. Project priorities: projects must fall into one of six priority categories. The projects must involve repairs or additions to buildings or new building construction necessary due to a number of factors. These factors include: man-made natural disasters, overcrowding due to population growth and/or building age, school district reorganization (consolidation or annexation), severe or continuing health/life-safety problems, providing accessibility for qualified individuals with disabilities, and other unique facility needs.

Districts must meet all of the above conditions before a written entitlement will be given by ISBE. This does not guarantee that entitled schools will receive a grant. That depends on the available funding for the fiscal year, the priority ranking given the project, and the district’s compliance with all other requirements of the ISCP law. Districts that receive an entitlement document but are turned down for funding must update their grant application annually to maintain the entitlement and remain on the priority ranking list.

CDB and ISBE conduct on-site inspections to verify that grant applications reflect eligible construction costs. Some costs may not be deemed eligible. Examples include school auditoriums, interscholastic facilities to be used exclusively for interscholastic activities, and facilities intended for district administration purposes.

If the funds requested by entitled districts exceed the sum available from CDB, ISBE will rank eligible districts by priority, based upon the number of inadequately housed students in the district’s schools. CDB will then determine the amount of the grants and use the ISBE rankings to determine which districts to fund and when. If referendum bonds are to be used for the local match, the bonds must be approved by voters before the district may receive an entitlement.

Thus for example, Downers Grove Community High School District 99 – a growing district serving roughly 5,200 students in DuPage County – opted to seek an ISCP grant to abate debt service in 1998. Taxpayers approved a $49.5 million referendum in November 1998. The state CDB recognized $27.2 million of these costs as eligible and provided the district with a $9.5 million entitlement, based upon a grant index of 35 percent.

During the district’s referendum campaign, potential support from a state construction grant was not mentioned. Taxpayers were told, however, that if the district were to receive a construction grant, at least $9.5 million in debt service would be abated to taxpayers, unless grant funds were needed for construction.

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The March 21 primary was an unusually rewarding one for school districts, with roughly 70 percent of referendums on the ballot winning approval from local voters.

Eighty-six school districts placed 93 bond or tax referendum questions on the primary ballot, and 65 of those 93 referendums (69.9%) were adopted. Eighteen of the 27 tax proposals (66.6%) won voter approval. Meanwhile local voters approved 47 of 66 bond proposals (71.2%).

Among the big winners were five districts currently on the Financial Watch List, districts certified by the state as being in financial difficulty or receiving financial oversight from the state.

Besides those approved, a few referendums suffered narrow defeats, including the only proposed transportation fund tax increase in the state, which failed by two votes in Greenview Unit District 200. Voters in that central Illinois district also approved two tax referenda, one to increase the district’s education fund, and another for an operations and maintenance fund increase.

An analysis of tax increase referenda results shows voters approved 16 of 23 education fund proposals, and two of three operations and maintenance fund proposals.

Voters gave the green light to tax increase proposals to support the education fund in: Greenview Unit District 200; Winnetka District 36; Sandridge District 172, Chicago Heights; Riverside-Brookfield Township High School District 208; Elmwood Park C.U. District 401; Villa Park District 45; Northwestern District 2, Palmyra; Panhandle C.U. District 2, Raymond; Oak Grove District 68, Libertyville; Bannockburn District 106; Round Lake Area District 116; Grant C.U. District 124, Fox Lake; Plainfield District 202; Valley View C.U. District 365, Romeoville; A-C Central C.U. District 262, Ashland; and Industry C.U. District 165.

Local voters approved operations and maintenance fund tax increase proposals in: Greenview Unit District 200, and Belleville District 118.

A list of successful bond referendums from the March 21 primary will be included in the next issue of the Newsbulletin.

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THE NATIONAL SCENE

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Schaumburg District 54 recognized with national award

Schaumburg Township District 54 has been recognized in the Magna Awards 2000, which recognize school districts across the country for outstanding programs that advance student learning. The Magna Awards are presented by NSBA’s American School Board Journal, a magazine for school leaders, and Sodexho Marriott School Services. The district was cited for the "Lincoln Prairie School: A School of Choice," which provides choice for parents and students in a large suburban school system.

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Teen smoking declines, but bad habit is still catching on

Smoking rates among high school students declined last year for the first time since federal statistics have been compiled on the subject. Studies indicate 28.4 percent of teens said they had smoked in the past month, according to the 1999 nationwide survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That’s down from 36.4 percent in 1997, the last time the CDC examined high school smoking. The fastest-growing group of new smokers, however, is young people in the 18-24 age bracket, according to the CDC.

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Parent involvement linked to success in school, teachers say

Parents’ lack of support or interest in their children’s education is the biggest problem facing America’s public schools, teachers say. Yet the American public rates this problem as only the sixth biggest dilemma facing schools. Teachers have ranked this problem number one in each of six Phi Delta Kappa polls conducted since 1984, including the latest poll conducted last October among 2,000 public school teachers nationwide.

The largest share of teachers also say more parent involvement would improve the public schools. Yet only three percent of the American public agrees with teachers on this point. For more information visit the Web site at http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/klan0004.htm .

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Most schools can’t measure effectiveness of computer support

The Consortium for School Networking and NSBA recently combined efforts to survey technologically advanced schools and districts about how they are supporting their computer users and maintaining networks. More than 120 schools or school districts participated in the non-scientific survey last fall. While 90 percent of respondents reported having strategies in place to control the costs of supporting computer networks, over 60 percent had no standards to measure the effectiveness of their computer support. In addition, 55 percent said they outsource at least some of their computer support. For more information on the survey, visit http://www.cosn.org/tco/survey_tech_support.html .

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Education leaders urge school governance reforms

A year-long study by leaders of the nation’s major school management organizations has produced a report, entitled Thinking Differently, which urges Americans to think in new ways about public schooling. "Raising student achievement in every community across America requires strong leadership and teamwork from the school board and superintendent of schools," the report states.

Addressing the vigorous efforts over the past few decades to reform education for America’s young people—from new state standards for student achievement to charter schools legislation—the report finds that something is missing. What’s been ignored, the authors say, is the vital dimension of school district leadership, governance and teamwork.

Thinking Differently stresses that strong, collaborative leadership is essential to forming a community vision for children, and for crafting long-range strategies for raising achievement by all students. Such leadership is needed, as well, to improve teacher development and status, and to provide the guidance, support and resources needed to ensure successful schooling, the report states.

Produced by leaders of NSBA and the American Association of School Administrators, the report outlines major recommendations for improving leadership for high student achievement.

Published by the Educational Research Service (ERS), the report is available for $7 plus $3.50 shipping and handling from ERS, 2000 Clarendon Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201. Fax: 800/791-9309. Phone: 800/791-9308. The study is available online at: http://www.ers.org.

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Florida statewide voucher program ruled unconstitutional

The first statewide, comprehensive voucher program in the nation has been ruled unconstitutional by a state judge in Florida. In a March 14 ruling, a state judge found that the program, enacted last May, "violated the mandate of the Florida Constitution" by using public money for private schools.

Circuit Judge L. Ralph Smith ruled that the Florida voucher program "supplants the system of free public schools mandated by the [state] constitution." The Florida vouchers, worth up to $4,000 per student, were a centerpiece of the education reform strategy of Governor Jeb Bush.

The ruling is the latest in a series of victories for voucher opponents. Voucher programs have been struck down in Ohio, Maine, Pennsylvania, and Vermont in recent months. The Wisconsin Supreme Court, in contrast, upheld a Milwaukee voucher program last year. Law experts say the U.S. Supreme Court may rule on the issue soon.

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NEWS FROM IASB

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Alliance posts list of "hot bills"

The Illinois Statewide School Management Alliance recently compiled a "Hot Bill" list of major pending legislation, which is available on the IASB Web site at http://www.iasb.com/files/hotbills0125.htm . At press time these bills were alive for this legislative session. At the end of the online list, is a separate list of bills already approved by both houses and on their way to the Governor. The latter bills are catalogued in numerical order. School leaders can use their Web browser’s "Find" button to search for a specific topic. The full text of current bills may be found at http://www.ilga.gov/legisnet/legisnet91/91gatoc.html .

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Phone number correction

A recent IASB Governmental Relations mailing regarding the Delegate Assembly resolutions process inadvertently provided the wrong phone number for IASB Vice President Dennis McConville. The correct phone number is 815/223-3085.

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RESEARCH REPORTS

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Study finds ending social promotion boosts exam scores,
but another study links retention with dropping out

A recent study by the Consortium on Chicago School Research favorably compared the progress of students in 1997 and 1998 on exams with that of students two years earlier, before Chicago District 299 put an end to social promotion. Under current board policy, students in grades 3, 6 and 8 must achieve minimum test scores in reading and math in order to advance to the next grade. Students who fail to meet the minimum criteria must attend summer school and retake the exam. Key findings:

• The ratio of sixth-grade students achieving the criteria for promotion rose 20 percent from 1995 to 1997.
• The ratio of students with the lowest skills qualifying for promotion increased from 12 percent to 49 percent among eighth graders, and from 4 percent to 34 percent among sixth graders from 1995 to 1997.
• Roughly 33 percent of retained third graders and sixth graders managed to qualify for promotion to the next grade level by the end of their second year in the same grade.
• The results of ending social promotion were better among sixth- and eighth-grade students than among third-grade students, particularly for those retained. According to the study, this indicates "that the policy might be more appropriate for older than younger grade levels."

Despite their gains on the reading and math exam required for promotion, students held back performed no better in the classroom than students who were promoted. That finding supports the mainstream of research about whether repeating a grade helps students: most studies have indicated that grade retention does not help. Most research on the subject indicates, in fact, that being retained substantially increases a student’s risk of dropping out.

According to a story in the March 15 Education Week, new "data on the risk of dropping out come from a soon-to-be-published study tracking 1,500 poor Chicago children from preschool to high school." That research indicates retained students are one-third more likely than their non-retained peers to drop out by age 18, according to Education Week.

For more information on the study by the Consortium on Chicago School Research visit their Web site at http://www.consortium-chicago.org/ . To learn more about dropout effects and what other research says about grade retention, read the March 15 Education Week article "Ending Social Promotion" By Debra Viadero. The news report is available online at http://www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=27social.h19&keywords=social%20promotion .

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Support for public schools remains solid

Sixty-three percent of respondents think that their public schools do either a good job or an excellent job, although the level of support varies from community to community, according to a new national survey. The survey conducted by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation shows most Americans give local public schools positive ratings. Americans hold their public schools in greater regard, for example, than their local governments (which receive only a 55 percent positive rating). The survey was conducted by the Knight newspaper foundation of Miami. The results are available online at http://www.knightfdn.org/indicators/indicators.html .

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High school students taking tougher courses

Students of America’s high schools are taking tougher courses than they did in the early 1980’s, according to an independent advocacy group for public education. In 1982, only 16 percent of whites, 12 percent of blacks, 21 percent of Asians, and 7 percent of Hispanic and Native American students completed curricula including four years of English and three years each of social studies, science and mathematics. By 1994 those figures had jumped to 54 percent of whites, 45 percent of blacks, 57 percent of Asians, and 44 percent of Hispanics and Native Americans. Source: The Center on Education Policy.

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TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS

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AASA offers ADA notification kits

The American Association of School Administrators is marketing notice kits designed to simplify compliance with federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) notification requirements. Information is included on school program accessibility, reasonable accommodation, effective communication, employment practices and resources required by ADA law. The kits are available to purchase (updates are provided free of charge) by telephone at AASA at 877/232-5487.

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Census Bureau provides helpful Web site

The nation’s ten-year census has a huge impact on programs in local schools because the level of federal funding to schools depends on census data, especially low-income student counts. In addition, poverty counts derived from the census are a key factor in the distribution of general state aid to schools. Fortunately, the U.S. Census Bureau provides tips for educators to support census efforts, and also posts initial response rates for states, counties and cities on the Web site at http://rates.census.gov/.

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Total Quality Management (TQM) proving effective in schools:
Baldrige Award criteria for education available online

School districts across the nation are gaining remarkable results using a new "total quality management" strategy designed to improve student achievement. The strategy rests on a belief in continuous improvement, a focus on customers, and a reliance on workforce creativity in achieving better academic results when clear goals are set.

That’s what the newly created Education Criteria for Performance Excellence is all about. The new education criteria were designed around the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. For more information, visit the federal Web site at: http://www.quality.nist.gov/bcpg.pdf.htm .

Source: American Association of School Administrators’ Web site, located at http://www.aasa.org/LN/Misc/03-20-00baldrige.htm .

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RECENT MAILINGS FROM IASB

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Not all IASB mailings are sent to all school board members. For speed or economy, some mailings are sent only to the board president or district superintendent. Here is a list of such items mailed recently. For more information about any item, contact your board president or district superintendent or get in touch with IASB.

April 3: IASB Delegate Assembly resolution submission form, to board president and district superintendents.

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FEDERAL UPDATE

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Supreme Court upholds required student fees at universities

The U.S. Supreme Court says students attending public universities may be required to pay fees supporting campus organizations whose views offend them. The unanimous ruling comes in response to a lawsuit filed by Christian and conservative students against the University of Wisconsin. Source: Richard Willing and Mary Beth Marklein, "Supreme Court unanimously upholds required student fees," USA Today, March 23, 2000.

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DEVELOPMENTS IN SCHOOL LAW
by Melinda Selbee

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The Illinois waiver law allows school districts to petition the State Board of Education for the waiver or modification of School Code mandates or of the State Board’s rules and regulations. A school district must demonstrate that it can address the rule or mandate’s intent in a more "effective, efficient, or economical manner" or that the waiver is necessary "to stimulate innovation or improve student performance." 105 ILCS 5/2-3.25g. School Code waiver requests are forwarded by the State Board to the General Assembly twice each year, on May 1 and October 1. If the General Assembly fails to disapprove the waiver request, the waiver is deemed granted.

The Chicago Board of Education applied for a waiver from the School Code mandate requiring students to have daily physical education (P.E.). The waiver request was limited to students in eleventh and twelfth grades. The rationale supporting the waiver request was, "to improve academic performance in the city’s high schools following the General Assembly’s determination that the public schools were suffering an ‘educational crisis.’" The General Assembly did not disapprove the request and, consequently, it was deemed granted.

The Chicago Teachers Union challenged the waiver law, arguing that it violated the principle of separation of powers and "encroached upon the power of the General Assembly and the Governor to enact and approve a mandatory legislation." The Union sought a declaratory judgment that the law was invalid and that the waiver obtained by the Chicago Board concerning P.E. was void. The trial court held for the Chicago Teachers Union and the Chicago Board appealed.

The Court of Appeals never got to the substantive issue of whether the Illinois waiver statute complies with the State Constitution. Instead, the Court reviewed the standing of the two categories of plaintiffs who were challenging the law. "Standing" is the right or capacity to initiate a lawsuit and requires the person to be in a position of possible gain or loss. In order to have standing to challenge a statute’s constitutionality, the challenger must illustrate a direct injury as a result of the statute’s enforcement.

The first group of plaintiffs, two P.E. teachers, alleged that the waiver law harms them because the waiver obtained pursuant to it diminishes the need for P.E. teachers and thus reduces their job security. The Court of Appeals pointed out, however, that the Chicago Board could accomplish the same objective, i.e., excusing eleventh and twelfth graders from P.E. classes, without securing a waiver. Even if the waiver might mean fewer P.E. classes, that change would not necessarily harm the teachers. Thus, the teachers lacked standing to challenge the waiver law.

The other category of plaintiffs were asserted standing as taxpayers. These individuals relied on a statute that provides, "any citizen and taxpayer of the State" may bring an action "to restrain and enjoin the disbursement of public funds by an officer or officers of the State government." The Court of Appeals, however, found this section inapplicable because the Chicago Board is not an officer of the state. Thus, this group also lacked standing to challenge the waiver law. Chicago Teachers’ Union v. Board of Education of Chicago, 1st District, Illinois Court of Appeals, January 2000, No. 87644.

The Illinois Constitution, Article I, Section 18, states: "the equal protection of the laws shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex by the State or its units of local government and school districts." Does this Constitutional provision grant a student a private cause of action to recover money damages against a school district for violating it?

Amy, a junior high school student, was alleging sexually assaulted at school when two fellow students grabbed her in a sexual manner. She alleged, and the Circuit Court agreed, that a school district’s alleged acquiesce to sexual harassment of female students by male students, resulting in an educational environment hostile to females, presented a viable basis on which a private cause for damages could be maintained under Article I, Section 18.

Before proceeding to trial to see if she could establish the facts supporting her claims, the school board sought an interlocutory appeal to determine whether a private right of action exists under Article I, Section 18.

The Court of Appeals reviewed the constitutional provision’s plain language as well as similar, relevant provisions. It noted that in Section 17, the Constitution’s drafters included a self-executing provision allowing employees to bring a private cause of action alleging discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed, national ancestry, and sex. Significantly, Section 18 did not contain a similar self-executing provision. Thus, the Court determined that the student could not bring a private action under Section 18 for alleged gender discrimination.

The Court acknowledged that, unlike employees, primary and secondary school students may not use the Illinois Human Rights Act as a vehicle for challenging misconduct. That Act does not expressly allow an action for damages concerning sexual harassment in primary and secondary schools. Nevertheless, the Court refused to imply a private cause of action for damages under the Constitution. Teverbaugh v. Moore, 1st District, Illinois Court of Appeals, January 2000, No. 1-98-1204.

In 1997, a Downs Syndrome disabled female student was sodomized by a male student on a school bus. She and her mother brought a negligence and willful and wanton misconduct action against the Chicago Board of Education for failing to prevent, or intercede in, the assault. The Circuit Court dismissed the plaintiff’s action finding that the Tort Immunity Act barred claims of negligence and willful and wanton misconduct. Furthermore, the grant of immunity under the in loco parentis provision of the School Code barred the plaintiff’s negligence claim.

Section 4-104 of the Tort Immunity Act provides: "neither a local public entity nor a local employee is liable for . . . failure to prevent commission of crimes, failure to detect or solve crimes, and failure to identify and apprehend criminals." This provision, according to the Court of Appeals, provides immunity not only to law enforcement officials, but also to all public entities. Consequently, the school district was immunized from liability for its failure to prevent the assault on the student.

The student’s willful and wanton misconduct claim was also barred by Section 4-102 of the Tort Immunity Act. The language of Section 4-102 includes no exception for willful and wanton misconduct. In the absence of an expressed exception, Section 4-102 provides unqualified immunity to local public entities for both negligence and willful and wanton misconduct.

The Court found that the immunity conferred by the School Code would have required the dismissal of the plaintiff’s complaint as well. The School Code confers upon educators the same immunity parents enjoy in relation to their children, so-called in loco parentis. Under in loco parentis, educators who stand in relation of parent to child cannot be subject to negligence liability where the conduct constitutes the exercise of authority and supervision over a child. Thus, the alleged disciplinary omission (failure to stop the assaulting student) clearly fell within the ambit of disciplinary conduct contemplated by the in loco parentis provision. A.R. v. Chicago Board of Education, 1st District, Illinois Court of Appeals, December 1999, No. 1-98-2087.

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IASB ARCHIVES HOME

Illinois Association of School Boards

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Springfield, Illinois 62703