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School Board News Bulletin
June, 2005

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This publication is also available as a PDF file

ARTICLES

Districts to get $200 increase in foundation level

Task force studies governor’s high school standards proposal

Dissertation shows what boards want in superintendent

Subgroup changes may ease NCLB requirements, pressure

Teachers federation says 'fix, don't abandon yearly progress'

Public schools outperform private schools in math

Study: benefits many in smaller classes

Board adopts IASB budget; Roy Midgett remembered; staff changes announced

Long-time member dies

New names, new places

Changes in early retirement will impact schools

State board denies, shortens waivers for nine school districts

Support for ed funding reform withdrawn without GOP votes

Ed tech conference in Denver Oct. 26-28

NEWS FROM IASB

Online learning offers four courses for board members

Court decision explains incompatibility of offices

ILLINOIS DISTRICTS

District threatens to sue city if TIF funds used incorrectly

Board may opt out of Title I in order to avoid sanctions

NEWS HEADLINES

NEWS FROM ISBE

Public forums seek input on draft of strategic plan

ISBE likely to enhance oversight of NCLB tutoring

Districts to get $200 increase in foundation level

State 'sweeps' funds,cuts pension payments to add $326 million

Lawmakers adopted the state's 2006 budget on May 31 following a plan brokered by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) and Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago).

The budget provides nearly $326 million in new elementary and secondary education spending, including higher per-pupil funding and a guarantee that no school district will receive less money than last year. The foundation level would be increased by $200 to $5,164 per pupil.

"Who could be opposed to a $200 increase in the foundation level (in per pupil funding for schools)?" announced Rep. Gary Hannig (D-Litchfield) the House majority party's top budget authority. The foundation level is the minimum amount the state guarantees to spend per pupil.

Many Republicans were not happy with the way the budget was crafted, charging that it contained wasteful "pork barrel" projects and was heavily weighted to benefit the Chicago area. "A majority of the things that are benefiting are in Chicago, and downstate gets very little at all," said Rep. Mike Bost (R-Murphysboro).

Critics also complained that the Democrats had closed a $1.2 billion budget gap primarily by withholding nearly $2.3 billion in contributions into five state employee and teacher pension systems over the next two years. "We just have mortgaged state government for a lot of years to our kids, and to the next governor and to the next legislature," said state Sen. Dave Luechtefeld (R-Okawville).

The budget also was crafted by diverting revenue from earmarked state funds to help pay for unrelated costs. More than 250 dedicated state funds essentially were swept of $159 million, ignoring recent court rulings that have found such sweeps illegal.

Lawmakers, however, rejected the governor's proposal for raising more money for schools through expanded casino gambling. They did vote to roll back the top tax rate on casinos from 70 percent to 50 percent. But under the plan casinos must pay out the same amount of revenue to the state for the next two years, regardless of actual tax collections.

"Once you get past where the money will come from, you'd have to say Illinois schools got their fair share, with $326 million in new funding," said Ben Schwarm, Illinois Statewide School Management Alliance lobbyist. "And the allocations of the new funding were pretty fair" he added.

The final budget will:

• fund the poverty grant at 100%
  by delaying a phase-in enacted in FY '04
• increase the funding level for mandated categorical grants by $2.5 million over FY '05 for a total of $25.4 million. Pro-rating will be maintained at about the same level (roughly 97%) as last year. Free lunch and breakfast will increase by $500,000 (2%); regular education orphanage tuition will decrease by $1.4 million (-8%); special education extraordinary services will increase by $13.7 million (6%); special education orphanage tuition will decrease by $14.1 million (-13%); special education personnel reimbursement will increase by $3 million (1%); special education private tuition will increase by $22.2 million (33%); special education summer school will increase by $1.3 million (20%); special education transportation will receive no increase from last year's level; regular education transportation will receive no increase
• increase early childhood education funding by $30 million
• provide $11.8 million for transitional assistance, for parents who transport children when transportation is not offered for free by public schools.
• increase by $4.1 million (for a total of $7.7 million) the funding for school consolidation costs
• increase funding for the "grow your own teachers" program by $1.5 million

The final budget agreement did not include any new capital project spending; therefore, no school construction funding was appropriated.

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Task force studies governor's high school standards proposal

The Illinois State Board of Education recently formed an eight-member task force to help implement the tougher new high school graduation requirement initiated by Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The first task of the Illinois Education Task Force will be to provide details about tougher requirements imposed by a new law concerning added courses on writing, math and science.

The governor recently signed S.B. 575, his proposal to strengthen high school graduation requirements. The new requirements are a part of his "Higher Standards, Better Schools" plan – a comprehensive proposal designed "to better prepare students to compete and succeed."

Essentially, the plan requires all students to take a third year of math, with two of the math credits required in algebra and geometry.

"The standards for a high school diploma in Illinois are near the bottom in the nation," added Gery Chico, chairman of the new task force, and former board president for Chicago schools. "We will be ombudsmen. We will listen to what local school districts, taxpayers and educators want to see and we will communicate what the governor has set out to do."

In addition to the graduation requirements included in S.B. 575, the governor has proposed providing resources targeted toward other courses. His plan includes financial incentives for schools to offer more foreign language, arts, music and agriculture education courses.

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Dissertation shows what boards want in superintendent

It should be commonly understood that school boards expect their superintendents to demonstrate personal integrity, honesty, fairness and good communications skills. Beyond that, what do most boards look for when hiring a new superintendent?

According to a recent survey associated with one recent doctoral dissertation, Illinois school board presidents consistently put a high priority on the kind of previous experience accumulated, especially the size of the budget involved.

The only consistent variation was the heavy emphasis on leadership characteristics expressed by board presidents in larger districts and in northern Illinois. Smaller districts and those in central and southern Illinois emphasized the financial and budgetary aspects of the superintendency.

Presidents also expect the candidate to be properly licensed.

The dissertation research was conducted by Mark Collins, at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and supported in part by IASB. Collins is the superintendent at Herrin CUSD 4 in Williamson County.

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Subgroup changes may ease NCLB requirements, pressure

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has asked the U.S. Education Department to ease No Child Left Behind Act-related state regulations on analyzing test scores of student subgroups, and on how many students constitute a subgroup.

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings recently announced a decision to allow greater flexibility in NCLB regulations. Illinois is one of at least 37 states currently applying for greater leeway as a result of that announcement.

While the student bodies in most districts do meet the standards, one or more student sub-groups typically falls short. Unfortunately, when any subgroup falls short, the school is automatically listed among academically troubled schools.

What's more, the achievement targets will get tougher every year until 2014, when 100 percent of children will be expected to pass the state exams.

"We certainly realize that No Child Left Behind is not going to go away, so we've felt for some time now that we need to be looking for positive changes within the structure of the legislation," said Edwardsville District 7 Superintendent Ed Hightower.

Illinois school districts perhaps would benefit most from a state proposal to increase from 40 students to 50—or 15 percent of the total test-taking population, whichever is greater—the number of students needed to constitute a sub-group. Other districts might benefit more from a proposal to require students to be enrolled in the district for four additional months before their test scores counted on the district's NCLB tally.

ISBE is also asking to redefine "highly-qualified teacher" under NCLB, with specific rules for special education. But the changes may take a while. Even if the federal Education Department approves the state proposals – possibly as early as next month – the changes would need to be enacted by the legislature.

Experts say it is highly unlikely the changes would be instituted before the 2006 testing year.

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Teachers federation says 'fix, don't abandon yearly progress'

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) recently initiated a major lobbying effort to improve the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. The campaign will rely on extensive AFT member lobbying involvement, along with a print and radio advertising blitz.

"The problems with NCLB go far beyond its deplorable under-funding, and we are serious about getting NCLB right," said AFT President Edward J. McElroy.

The teacher organization devoted the spring issue of its American Educator magazine to standards-based reform, accountability and NCLB. The journal suggested specific ideas for correcting flaws within the law.

The AFT campaign follows a poll taken last year that found a majority of its members would rather see NCLB fixed than abandoned. Members were most frustrated with the law's Adequate Yearly Progress requirements.

"What we object to is the misnamed adequate yearly progress, NCLB's accountability formula, because it is an invalid measure of progress that serves to punish many schools that are, in fact, making solid academic progress. The entire standards movement is in jeopardy if the shortcomings of NCLB are left unaddressed," said the AFT's Executive Vice President Antonia Cortese.

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Public schools outperform private schools in math

A new study of math scores in more than 1,300 public and private schools indicates that students do better in public schools than in private schools, according to two University of Illinois researchers.

When controlling for student social and economic background variables, researchers discovered "that mathematics achievement in public schools actually appeared higher than that in private schools," said an article appearing in the May issue of Phi Delta Kappan, an influential education journal.

The authors, Sarah and Christopher Lubienski, education professors at the U of I, presented their research findings at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in April.

The results "call into question common assumptions about public and private school effects, and highlight the importance of carefully considering socioeconomic differences in comparisons of school achievement," according to the Lubienskis.

The study data is derived from the 2000 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the most recent annual assessment for which raw data were available to researchers. The NAEP is considered the only nationally representative ongoing assessment of U.S. academic achievement.

The authors are careful to point out that their research does not follow individual students over time, or through any transitions between public and private schools. It cannot show, therefore, how individual students are affected in specific situations. The research, they said, should be seen as a snapshot in time that compares math achievement levels in a sampling of public and private schools, taking into account the background of their students.

"We can't make claims about the effects of schools on individual students," Chris Lubienski said, "but there's reason here to question the overall assumptions behind a lot of the private-market choice proposals being promoted right now."

For more information, go to the Phi Delta Kappan May 2005 issue, online at: http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k_v86/k0505lub.htm or read the full study posted by the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at: http://www.ncspe.org/publications_files/OP102.pdf .

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Study: benefits many in smaller classes

Research over the past 25 years has consistently shown that lower class sizes (15 to 18 students) are associated with increased student achievement in specific situations, according to the National Center for Public Education. This is particularly true in the primary grades and when students participate in small classes for more than a year.

Findings from research studies:

• Smaller classes in grades K-3 improve student achievement in reading
  and math.
• A class size of 15-18 is the upper limit for capturing benefits in the early grades.
• Young students benefit more when reduced class size programs span grades K-3.
• The benefits of small classes in the primary grades continue more than five years later.
• Minority students often experience even greater gains than white students when placed in small classes in the primary school years.
• More instructional options for teachers might explain the benefits of small classes.
• Teachers with small classes give more individual attention to students.

For more information visit the Web site of the National Center for Public Education: http://www.nsba.org/site/index_peac.asp .

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Board adopts IASB budget; Roy Midgett remembered;
staff changes announced

IASB's Board of Directors met May 14 in Springfield and reviewed and approved a budget for 2005-06 that contains total revenue of $7.69 million and total expenses of $7.66 million. Included is a surplus of $32,129 in a budget that will ensure that the financial health of the Association remains strong.

Revenue projections are based on the expected proceeds from dues, annual conference, sponsorship fees and other services. Expenses are based on the continued development of a governance model for school districts, continuing costs on the Web site project, development of video training materials, marketing of print materials, and board member workshops for the April school board elections.

Expenses are also based on printed materials and a LeaderShop workshop, continued maintenance and improvement to technology, allocating staff time and resources to explore the role of IASB in assisting member districts as they struggle with diversity and NCLB issues, and the possible exploration of virtual workshops.

In other action, the Board appointed Joe Alesandrini, president of the Pekin CHSD 303 school board and Director of the Central Illinois Valley Division of IASB, to serve as interim treasurer until the next board election in November. At that time the Board will elect a treasurer to serve a two-year term.

The Board also:

• Received monitoring reports on ends, executive limitations and governance policies;
• Received and approved an amended annual board planning cycle monitoring report; and
• Received the NSBA delegate report, the IHSA report, the legislative update, the Service Associates report and a staffing update.

The Board's next meeting is set for Aug. 26-27 in Oak Brook.

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Long-time member dies

IASB received word from Robinson CUSD 2 on May 18 that Roy Midgett had passed away that morning. Midgett, a lifelong farmer from Flat Rock, served for 33 years as a board member in the Robinson school district, missing only two regularly scheduled board meetings until his tenure ended in 2001.

One absence was caused by an attack of a kidney stone ailment and the other by a heart attack. Midgett had appeared at the Robinson district's open house in January even though he was in a wheelchair at the time.

And he was just as devoted in his service to IASB. He chaired the Wabash Valley Division for 12 years, and later served for 16 years on IASB's board of directors.

Michael D. Johnson, IASB's Executive Director, recalled how much he respected Roy as a board member "willing to make the tough decisions for the good of his school district and our Association. He will be missed."

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New names, new places

IASB has recently hired two new staff members. Larry J. Dirks has been hired as a Field Services Director to replace Sandy Gundlach, working out of the Springfield office, in serving member school districts in the Abe Lincoln, Kaskaskia, Southwestern, and Two Rivers Divisions. Dirks comes from a corporate field services background.

Meanwhile, Laurel DiPrima is a new part-time policy consultant working out of the Lombard office. Laurel is a former board member in Mount Prospect SD 57. Prior to her board service, Laurel served as a member of the board of directors of the education foundation, District 57. And, before her work for the foundation, Laurel was very active as a parent and PTA President.

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Changes in early retirement will impact schools

The governor has signed a costly bill that extends the Early Retirement Option for Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) members, and increases the contribution rate schools must pay for employees who take the ERO. The legislation, S.B. 27, took effect on June 1.

"The new law contains provisions regarding contractual salary increases and sick leave allowances that could result in school boards owing hundreds of thousands of dollars to TRS," according to IASB Executive Director Michael Johnson.

The law also will allow the state to skip payments to the state's pension systems this year and next year, thus freeing up hundreds of millions of dollars for the legislature to spend in other budget areas. This provision is labeled a "pension holiday" by opponents of the legislation, while proponents hailed it as a "pension debt restructuring."

S.B. 27 is the result of an agreement among Gov. Rod Blagojevich, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President Emil Jones.

Though many legislators expressed concerns about adding new unfunded liability to the pension systems because of the holiday/restructuring language, the ERO provision is reportedly popular with lawmakers. For TRS, the bill contains the following components:

• On June 30, 2012, and every five years after that time, officials will perform an actuarial investigation to ensure that the contribution rates cover ERO costs. If necessary, officials will recommend rate adjustments.
• There are no changes regarding the accumulation of sick leave. For sick days granted in excess of the member's normal annual sick leave allotment, however, the employer is required to pay the normal cost of benefits based upon such service credit. This does not apply to sick leave already granted.
• If a TRS member's salary used to determine his or her pension amount is increased by more than 6% with the same employer, the school board must pay TRS the increased cost to the pension system that resulted from the portion of the salary increase that is in excess of 6%. The board must pay this as a lump sum within 30 days of receipt of the bill from TRS.
• For future benefit increases for TRS members, any legislation that creates the enhancement must identify a funding stream to pay for it and must provide payment to TRS sufficient to cover the annual cost increase. If a new benefit increase does not include the additional funding, the legislation will be considered null and void.

"Though S.B. 27 sprang from a last-minute agreement at session's end, there was little or no opportunity for the Alliance to lobby to make further changes in the provisions in the bill," explained Ben Schwarm, IASB associate executive director of governmental relations.

"However, through previous negotiations the Alliance was able to garner some protections for both school boards and school employees as the law pertains to current contracts," Schwarm said.

State board denies, shortens waivers for nine school districts

Just before its final adjournment on May 30 the legislature voted to deny several mandate waiver requests by individual school districts. SJR 45 (Lightford) disapproves the following four mandate waiver requests:

• Somonauk CUSD 432 (DeKalb County) regarding instructional time;
• South Beloit CUSD 320 (Winnebago) regarding instructional time;
• Thornton Fractional THSD 215 (Cook) regarding physical education; and
• South Beloit CUSD 320 (Winnebago) regarding physical education.

Meanwhile, five waiver requests were approved for just one year (rather than five years like most waivers), namely:

• Gavin District 37 (Lake) regarding course requirements;
• Hollis District 328 (Peoria) regarding non-resident tuition;
• Gavin District 37 (Lake) regarding physical education;
• Cook County District 130, Blue Island (Cook) regarding substitute teachers; and
• Freeport District 145 (Stephenson) regarding substitute teachers.

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Support for ed funding reform withdrawn without GOP votes

After leading a Statehouse rally to revamp school funding the day before, state Sen. James Meeks decided May 19 to postpone a vote on his funding reform bill, H.B. 755, effectively killing it for the spring session.

"I took a tally and realized I don't have the votes on the Republican side," explained the independent lawmaker from Chicago.

HB 755, the school funding reform bill, would have raised the individual income tax from 3 percent to 5 percent, primarily in order to more equitably fund education. The bill also would have provided substantial property tax relief. It has passed the House, and a Senate committee approved it in May.

Meeks said he had votes lined up from the Democrats, but Senator Rick Winkel (R-Champaign), a co-sponsor of the bill, was the only Republican who had committed to vote for it.

On May 18, hundreds of public education advocates held a rally in the Capitol dubbed "A Day for Illinois Children" in support of the funding plan (see story, Page 1).

They say change is needed because the state currently ranks 49th out of 50 states in school funding. Public schools in Illinois receive 36 percent of their funding from the state, while the national average is 51 percent.

Schools here get about 60 percent of their funding from local property taxes. The reliance on local property taxes means the funding they receive varies immensely depending on the district's property values and tax rates.

To address that disparity, a tax swap has long been sought by school advocates.

"The conversation between educators and legislators needs to continue," said Ben Schwarm, Illinois Statewide School Management Alliance lobbyist.

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Ed tech conference in Denver Oct. 26-28

Organizers say the best place to begin to boost your district's technology performance is NSBA's T+L2 Conference, the nation's only K-12 education technology conference designed for district leadership teams. The conference is set for October 26-28 in Denver.

For more information or to register call NSBA at 800/950-6722; or register online at http://www.nsba.org/t+l/registration/index.cfm .

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NEWS FROM IASB

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Online learning offers four courses for board members

Did you know that IASB offers courses online, covering:

• Robert's Rules of Order for School Board Members
• Lighthouse Learning: The Board's Role in Increasing Student Learning
• Constructive Superintendent Evaluations
• School District Labor Relations: What Illinois Law Requires

Registration is $75 to $125 per course. Participants earn both Master Board Member and LeaderShop elective credit for each course passed.

To learn more, visit: http://www.nsba.org/olc/olc.cfm?assn=12 .

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Court decision explains incompatibility of offices

Check out the IASB Web site for a summary of a recent Illinois decision on simultaneous office holding.

One court recently found that holding offices as a county board member and school board member at the same time violates the Public Officer Prohibited Activities Act. While the decision only applies under a narrow set of circumstances, other prohibitions exist under law:

"The broader doctrine of incompatible offices is rooted in the principle of separation of offices as provided in the Illinois Constitution...Under the doctrine of incompatible offices, the acceptance of an incompatible office is regarded by operation of law as a resignation from the first office," the Web site states.

Other recent decisions involved a tenured teacher dismissal, the denial of a property tax exemption to a school district for leased property, the adequacy of a motion to enter closed session, and the stay-put provision in IDEA.

Visit the IASB Web site at: http://www.iasb.com/courts/ .

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ILLINOIS DISTRICTS

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District threatens to sue city if TIF funds used incorrectly

Pontiac-William Holliday District 105, in Fairview Heights, recently warned it would sue city hall if the municipal government continued to try to lure commercial development through a proposed TIF without reimbursing schools.

The district is concerned about tax incentive plans that would hand a shopping center developer $5 million for infrastructure costs. These Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds would be derived from potential new property tax revenue earmarked for local taxing districts, including District 105.

"Such a diversion of tax dollars will have a severe financial impact on the school district, which is already in a distressed financial condition," the school district wrote in a letter to city leaders.

The district is pushing to retain its portion of the TIF revenue, estimated at $78,000 a year for 23 years, for a total of $1.79 million.

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Board may opt out of Title I in order to avoid sanctions

Board members in Wheeling Township District 21 are weighing a plan to reject federal Title I funds, and the decision must be made before July 1.

Title I funds are key to financing the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). NCLB imposes sanctions on schools that accept Title I funds and fall short of adequate yearly progress goals for two or more consecutive years. Such schools must offer students the option to transfer to a qualifying school and pay for their transportation.

The district obtained nearly $300,000 in federal Title I funds for the 2004-05 school year.

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NEWS HEADLINES

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Addison — (May 20, Arlington Heights Daily Herald) When denied enrollment for her parochial-schooled children in summer school, a woman accuses Addison District 4 of religious discrimination against her.

Barrington — (May 20, Arlington Heights Daily Herald) The Barrington District 220 Educational Foundation passes the $1 million mark in donations.

Burlington — (May 10, Arlington Heights Daily Herald) Referendum heads for recount: D-301 referendum awaits fate.

Elgin — (May 11, Arlington Heights Daily Herald) The League of Women Voters in Elgin will study the effects of District U-46 boundaries to see whether bilingual Latino students get as good an education as white students.

Gavin — (May 10, Arlington Heights Daily Herald) Gavin officials are looking to rent the same building they sold to Lake Villa Township almost two years ago.

Glen Ellyn — (May 21, Arlington Heights Daily Herald) A taxpayer demands a $9.7 million tax refund from Glen Ellyn District 41.

Gurnee — (May 11, Arlington Heights Daily Herald) Board members vote to allow student Marines to wear their uniforms to graduation in Warren Township High School District 211.

Libertyville-Vernon Hills — (May 20, Arlington Heights Daily Herald) Libertyville-Vernon Hills District 128 Superintendent David Clough is named Lake County's superintendent of the year by a countywide school administrators' group.

Naperville —(May 13, Naperville Sun) The board approves student fee increases to raise $1.5 million in Indian Prairie District 204.

Peoria — (May 19, Journal Star) The board agrees to appraise the district's buildings.

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NEWS FROM ISBE

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Public forums seek input on draft of strategic plan

ISBE plans a series of public forums seeking input on a Preliminary Strategic Plan for the agency. Remaining events are:

June 28, 1 to 3 p.m., Paris-Union District 95, Carolyn Wenz Elementary, 437 West Washington, Paris, All Purpose Room

July 7, 4 to 6 p.m., Wilmette District 39, Mikaelian Education Center, 615 Locust Road, Wilmette

July 18, 1 to 3 p.m., Mount Vernon THSD 201, High School, 320 South Seventh Street, Mount Vernon, Auditorium

July 21, 1 to 3 p.m., Moline Unit District 40, 1619 11th Avenue, Moline, Allendale, Board Conference Room

July 27, 1 to 3 p.m., ISBE, 100 North First St., Springfield, Fourth Floor Board Room

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ISBE likely to enhance oversight of NCLB tutoring

Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) staff presented the state board with a comprehensive plan to increase the agency's role in regulating tutoring services provided under No Child Left Behind at its June 16 meeting. States have been asked to assume more regulatory responsibility for tutoring providers.

Under NCLB, low-income students at schools that do not make adequate yearly progress for three consecutive years are eligible for tutoring, known as Supplemental Educational Services (SES). There are currently 75 providers on the approved list.

Illinois' regulations may soon be among the most comprehensive in the country. "With these changes, Illinois will be taking a leadership role in regulating tutoring services," said ISBE chairman Jesse Ruiz.

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