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School Board News Bulletin
July, 2004

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Costly property tax relief bill signed into law

A+ Illinois forums seek support for school funding reform

Symposium for boards: build support, gain permission

School sexual misconduct said to be widespread

State Board works with districts to meet NCLB requirements

Congress OKs child nutrition bill & new school lunch law

Kids to learn and lose weight at planned California school

ILLINOIS SCHOOL DISTRICTS

Law chills superintendents from campaigning for funds

Lawsuits challenge use of tort funds to pay salaries

School attorneys' group provides Ethics Act guidance

NEWS FROM IASB

IASB resolutions aim to craft new IASB policies

IASB Board adopts 2004-2005 budget

Lombard office welcomes newest staff member

NEWS HEADLINES

LEGISLATIVE DEVELOPMENTS

Bill for TRIP, teacher certification approved

Costly property tax relief bill signed into law

Revenue losses for local school districts expected to vary greatly

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed legislation on July 12 to increase property tax relief statewide, thus limiting school districts' main source of revenue at a time when most districts face major deficits.

The legislation, S.B. 2112, caps assessments at 7 percent per year for some homeowners in Cook County and other counties that choose to adopt the new caps, with a homeowner's total exemption not to exceed $20,000.

Senior citizens statewide will see their homestead exemptions rise to $3,000 under the law, while the general homestead exemption for all homeowners would rise to $5,000. These exemptions had been set in most counties at $2,000 for seniors, and at $3,500 for all homeowners downstate, although they had been slightly higher in Cook County.

The new law also changes the income level for seniors to become eligible for an assessment freeze. The level will be raised to $45,000 from $40,000.

The exemption for home improvements, meanwhile, will be raised from $45,000 to $75,000. Thus high-income rapidly improving neighborhoods would gain greater tax relief than other areas.

Illinois Statewide School Management Alliance lobbyist Ben Schwarm says the bill will be costly for many school districts, "both through the homestead exemption and through the impact on state aid of the seven percent assessment cap."

A Revenue Department spokesman says it is unlikely, however, that local governments will be hurt as badly as school advocates predict.

"I'd be surprised if the taxing districts lose very much," said Revenue spokesman Mike Klemens.

Although assessment caps could shift some of the local tax burden from homeowners to commercial properties, critics of the caps said state law already limits the tax rates that schools can levy. That means that schools may have a hard time collecting more money from businesses and other taxpayers to make up the revenue lost from caps on residential assessment.

Districts may be most affected if their EAVs are reduced significantly be-cause of the law. Some of the gains districts made from recent tax hike referendums could be lost, officials said.

Bloomington Dist. 87 Assistant Superintendent of Operations Roger Kilpatrick said the increased exemptions would have an impact beginning in the 2005-06 school year. The increased exemptions will reduce the district's anticipated EAV by about $18 million from its current level of more than $700 million.

The potential loss in operating funds equals about $750,000, with most of that - about $560,000 - falling in the education fund, the district's largest fund, covering instructional costs such as teacher salaries. In contrast, the loss of funds in Springfield Dist. 186 will be roughly twice that high.

Statewide, public schools collected nearly $10 billion in property taxes in 2003 and property taxes made up about 53 percent of total revenue. There continues to be great controversy about whether the new property tax relief law will cost school districts a significant portion of this revenue.

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A+ Illinois forums seek support for school funding reform

A statewide campaign seeking to reform school funding and the quality of education in Illinois has attracted 300 participants to a series of public forums. And while legislators who attended were mostly supportive, they offered advice and caution to those seeking to change funding formulas.

"You can change government, but you have to have a plan that will work and you have to have the attention of the governor and the legislature," Rep. Gary Hannig (D-Litchfield) told participants at one forum in Jacksonville. "You can change. Keep up the drumbeat and keep enough people on board to get a bill passed."

He warned that asking for a special legislative session to address funding could backfire. "Think this all the way through. It could be counterproductive if nothing comes of it," he said.

Hannig joined Rep. Jim Watson (R-Jacksonville) and State Senators John Sullivan (D-Rushville) and Deanna Demuzio (D-Carlinville) on the Jacksonville dais as Fred Osborne, a retired administrator, moderated the forum that attracted 80 people.

A+ Illinois sponsored the June 17 forum in Jacksonville, as well as similar forums in Tinley Park on May 8 and Carterville on June 29. The group is pushing for a special legislative session this fall to address the state's funding system, improve educational quality and resolve revenue concerns.

State Senators Larry Walsh (D-Elwood), Christine Radogno (R-LaGrange) and Debbie Halvorson (D-Crete) and State Representative Renee Kosel (R-New Lenox) participated in the Tinley Park forum. Due to special sessions, staff representing Senators Gary Forby (D-Benton) and Dave Luechtefeld (R-Okawville) and Representatives John Bradley (D-Marion) and Mike Bost (R-Murphysboro) sat on the panel in Carterville.

The sponsoring organization, A+ Illinois, is organized on the belief that the present achievement gap between students from wealthy and poor areas is unacceptable and state government doesn't pay its fair share of school funding. Organizers say that means community schools must rely too heavily upon adopting local property tax increases, and thus the quality of a child's education is dependent on where he or she lives.

A similar forum scheduled for June in Aurora had to be postponed and likely will be rescheduled for September.

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Symposium for boards: build support, gain permission

They may have had little or nothing in common. Some came from distant districts. Many had significant experience, while others had less. But all 68 school leaders who attended the first-ever IASB LeaderShop Academy Symposium left with a greater sense of what their mission was and how to accomplish it.

The invitation-only event for Academy members who had attended at least three qualifying IASB workshops was held June 19 at Indian Lakes Resort in Bloomingdale. The event capped a two-year effort to acknowledge and increase participation in IASB's continuing professional development programs.

Public education advocate Jamie Vollmer treated attendees to a provocative presentation. A former hardliner typical of business owners who preach education reforms by insisting that, "public education is profoundly flawed; educators are obstacles to change; and schools should be run like a business, because we know," Vollmer entertained and motivated with his own story and observations.

His transformation to public education advocacy occurred when a teacher challenged him to question the differences between business and school. He learned that public education has little or no control over quality variables such as student abilities, funding, and special interests.

As for the obstacles to change, Vollmer said it's the public, not educators, who insist on sticking with a mental model of "real school" that no longer exists, and probably never did.

Another assumption - that business models could work for schools - denies the historic and existing structure of public education and standardized assessments, which he claimed resorts to selecting and sorting.

"The 'A' students leave and the 'C' and 'F' students stay; we export the moneymakers and keep those who can't afford to support the schools and aren't willing to, because they were selected to stay," he said.

Vollmer said labeling of students through mandated assessments isn't just the fault of the No Child Left Behind Act, but is rooted in the original framework for public education. "This is planned obsolescence for schools in rural America. And when they're gone, who will be blamed? Not Washington. You will be," he warned.

Vollmer asked that school leaders counter these trends by not making things worse. He suggested that many school board members succumb to the following: buying into public perceptions, being too defensive, poor communications, reliance on jargon, lack of local control, NCLB, and airing too much dirty laundry.

"We don't need more money to increase our share of the public's mind," he said. Increasing that level of support means concentrating on the 70 percent "middle" of the community. And by "mapping" the community, school officials can identify the events, locations and organizations that will be receptive to visitations or discussions.

When contact is made, Vollmer suggested that school leaders focus on four areas: good news, challenges, vision, and permission.

In addition to Vollmer, retiring superintendent Gary Smit showed how Lombard District 44 works continually at engaging the community.

Interaction among the participants indicated that the all-day Symposium was very successful. There are currently 196 full members of the LeaderShop Academy, with 401 additional school board members needing one more workshop to earn Academy status. Upon completion of seven core and five elective programs, Academy members can become LeaderShop Academy Fellows.

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School sexual misconduct said to be widespread

A thorough review of the scant existing research on the topic shows sexual misconduct by school employees - a category which combines sexual abuse with behaviors like questionable gestures or notes - is prevalent in America. The resulting new report, Educator Sexual Misconduct: A Synthesis of Existing Literature, cites statistics derived mainly from student opinion polling about everything from inappropriate comments to actual sex abuse.

Roughly one in 10 children faces some form of sexual misconduct from school employees by the time they reach the 12th grade. Or so says the report, authored by Charol Shakeshaft, a professor at Hofstra University's School of Education.

Shakeshaft, a veteran education researcher, has previously published studies on sexual abuse. She has alleged in other reports an "androcentric bias" exists in the practice of school administration, which she terms, "seeing the world and shaping reality through a male lens."

In releasing the new report the federal agency said: "it is important to note some of the Department's reservations about the findings in the literature review. Specifically, the author [Shakeshaft] focuses in large measure on a broad set of inappropriate behaviors designated as "sexual misconduct," rather than "sexual abuse," which is the term used in the [NCLB] statute.

Some educators immediately took issue with this approach, especially the combining of sexual abuse with behaviors such as questionable gestures or notes, into one broad "misconduct" category. And some wondered why Shakeshaft did not limit her review to the topic of sexual abuse as assigned. She said that would have excluded other unacceptable adult behaviors that can drive kids from school and harm them for years.

The Shakeshaft study is not based on direct new research. The primary estimate of misconduct in the study came from a survey conducted in 2000 of students in grades eight to 11, Shakeshaft said. The year 2000 report "Hostile Hallways II: Bullying, Teasing, and Sexual Harassment in School" was a follow-up to a controversial study commissioned by a liberal nationwide organization, the American Association of University Women (AAUW) in 1993.

While the 2000 study did not focus on sexual misconduct by school employees, it featured questions on sexual harassment that Shakeshaft was able to reanalyze for information on the prevalence of such behavior. She said the results could be applied fairly to the broader school population, and more than 4.5 million students may be affected by sexual misconduct.

The mandate for this new study, included in the NCLB Act with a laundry list of school safety provisions, is the first of three "studies of national significance" commissioned under NCLB. The other upcoming studies that were mandated are:

• a study of impacts of unhealthy public school buildings, and
• a study of kids' exposure to violent entertainment and educational achievement.

The full report may be accessed online at: http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/misconductreview/index.html

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State Board works with districts to meet NCLB requirements

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) is working with districts regarding requirements under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. ISBE has provided links for districts to access data about new special education mandates or to correct enrollment data.

In an effort to provide Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) participation calculations based on accurate first-day-of-testing enrollment data, ISBE is providing an electronic early data correction window from July 27-August 21, 2004. Within this period of time, districts and schools can verify and, if need be, correct AYP enrollment data that should have been entered by May 21, 2004. The official site for doing this is Pearson SchoolHouse Web site: www.pearsonedmeasurement.com/testing/schoolhouse.htm.

During the data collection process, the number of students enrolled on the first day of testing should have been entered for each school with one or more tested grades and then the district superintendent should have approved the enrollment data at both the school and district levels. By late June, about 175 schools in about 125 districts had not entered any enrollment data for their schools in the SchoolHouse system. In addition, a number of schools have entered enrollment data, but the district superintendent had never approved the data.

For ISBE to use the data in final AYP participation calculations, separate approvals are required on SchoolHouse for each school and for the district as a whole (all schools). Unless these data are entered and subsequently approved by the district superintendent, AYP participation cannot be calculated and the affected school(s) will be considered not to have made AYP.

Pearson sent several e-mail reminders to district superintendents (on May 7, 14, 18, and 20) regarding incomplete or unapproved enrollment data. In June, ISBE Student Assessment Division staff began phoning approximately 125 districts that had one or more schools with no data entered.

If enrollment data have been entered for a school, but these data have not been approved at both the school and district levels, the district superintendent should review the instructions on pages 21 - 23 (how to approve enrollments) in the Illinois Data Collection User's Guide, which is available on the ISBE Web site at www.isbe.net/assessment. For questions about the approval process after reviewing the instructions, contact Pearson Educational Measurement at 800/627-7990, state code 814.

Special education exceptions

The federal No Child Left Behind Act allows states to establish a 1 percent cap for school districts to receive an exemption from the testing of special education students. School districts with special education students are encouraged to access the following Web site to determine if they are eligible for this special ed exception.  The site is: http://www.isbe.net/spec-ed/PDF/waiver_guidance.pdf.

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Congress OKs child nutrition bill & new school lunch law

Roughly 50,000 more disadvantaged children would get free school meals next year under a child nutrition bill (S. 2507) passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on June 24 and sent to President Bush for enactment.

The bill will automatically qualify students for free meals at school if their families are on food stamps, a provision that would add about 50,000 children to school lunch rolls. It will also reduce the amount of paperwork schools must handle in order to give children free or reduced-price lunches.

In one of the biggest changes to the school lunch program, children would automatically qualify for free meals if their family qualifies for food stamps.

The law will extend for five years the federal school lunch program, plus the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, and programs that together cost nearly $16 billion per year.

Other key components of the bill include: local wellness policies that would govern foods sold on school campuses throughout the school day, a nutrition network that will fund nutrition education programs and personnel at the state level, and many pilot and grant programs to support school districts in improving student nutrition and physical activity.

President Bush is expected to sign the bill into law.

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Kids to learn and lose weight at planned California school

A California school that combines academics with special treatment for obese teens will open in September.

The Academy of the Sierras, in Reedley, may be the first of its kind. It is intended to help trim and enlighten teens ages 13-18 who are at least 30 pounds overweight. Up to 70 students will get behavioral therapy, a low-calorie diet and access to many activities.

For more information, visit the school's Web site: www.academyofthesierras.com.

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ILLINOIS SCHOOL DISTRICTS

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Law chills superintendents from campaigning for funds

Officials in some districts say an ethics law passed last fall has put a damper on their drive for referendum votes.

Many school boards have recently adopted a policy based on the law, the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act. But attention to the law has created concern about one provision that bans school officials from campaigning for or against a referendum or candidate on "compensated time."

The law was supposed to end partisan campaigning by state-paid employees. But it has instead left local school boards and legal experts searching for ways to run a referendum campaign.

Because school administrators are full-time paid employees, they must be careful about even the appearance of spending paid work hours campaigning, attorneys say.

Many districts have been rushing to get election plans in place before November, and clamoring for legal advice about how to run campaigns. Denying superintendents the right to express any opinion would be a violation of their constitutional rights, experts say. The new law means they simply cannot do it on paid time. But what does paid time mean? It is just normal business hours?

"New laws usually contain gray areas that are ironed out over time," said Brian Braun, of Miller, Tracy, Braun & Wilson, an attorney specializing in school law. "Whoever drafted this law created a lot of ambiguities."

The power to penalize districts for violations rests with the ethics commission that the act suggests all local bodies establish, and with the state's attorney's office. The law classifies a violation of the act as a misdemeanor carrying a fine of up to $2,500 and up to a year in jail.

Ethics commission enforcement would create new difficulties, however, because school districts do not have the power to impose the penalties recommended in the act. That leaves the state's attorney's office, but such enforcement is unlikely because of how vague the statute is.

Braun believes school districts would have the opportunity to remedy any potential violations before they are prosecuted. But the bigger concern is that the law might enable referendum opponents to contest the way a campaign is run, thus helping to defeat it.

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Lawsuits challenge use of tort funds to pay salaries

Quincy Dist. 172, Freeport Dist. 145, and Pearl City C.U. Dist. 200, are all facing lawsuits contending that some portion of the salaries of school district employees are being improperly paid from their district's tort fund. The school districts are being sued by citizens who oppose current school board practices, primarily finance referendum opponents.

"I've talked with a number of superintendents around the state who do this. It is very common," Freeport Dist. 145 Superintendent Peter Flynn said. "What we are doing is well within the law. Our attorney has assured us that we have a good case."

Indeed, the Illinois State Board of Education says that using tort fund money to pay salaries is acceptable. ISBE recently re-sent a 1990 memo to the regional superintendent for Adams County stating that tort funds may be used to pay the cost of risk management programs, "including the wages and salaries of employees in connection with defending or otherwise protecting against any liability or loss."

State law only generally describes the purposes for which schools may spend tort funds - including "to pay the cost of risk management programs" (754 ILCS 10/9-107). Legislation amending this law was adopted in 1999 (P.A. 91-628) to establish full disclosure requirements. Thus, districts must publish an itemized list each year of where their tort funds are spent.

Specifically, P.A. 91-628 added the following disclosure requirement:

The annual report shall also list all expenditures from the reserve or from property taxes levied or extended for tort immunity purposes. Total claims payments and total reserves must be listed in aggregate amounts. All other expenditures must be identified individually. A local public entity that maintains a self-insurance reserve or that levies and extends a property tax for tort immunity purposes must include in its audit or annual report any expenditures made from the property tax levy or self-insurance reserve within the scope of the audit or annual report.

"This gives members of the public all the information they need, and if they disagree with the expenditures, they can take it up with the board. Most school districts pay a portion of salaries out of the Tort Fund," explains Ben Schwarm, IASB's executive director of governmental relations.

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School attorneys' group provides Ethics Act guidance

The State Officials and Employees Ethics Act prohibits State employees and officials from engaging in certain political activities and accepting certain gifts. One of the Act's most frustrating sections prohibits employees from engaging in "prohibited political activity." The definition of "prohibited political activity" includes several provisions that would prohibit an employee from supporting a referendum during compensated time, according to IASB General Counsel Melinda Selbee.

Determining whether a salaried employee is "supporting" a referendum during "compensated time" is a factual inquiry, Selbee said. "It is easy to determine when an hourly worker is on the clock. It is harder to do so as the level of the employee gets higher. High-ranking, salaried employees must carefully consider their actions on a case-by-case basis," she added.

The Illinois Council of School Attorneys' publication, "Answers to FAQs Regarding the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act," is available on the IASB Web site, www.iasb.com. School officials should consult the district's attorney for legal advice.

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NEWS FROM IASB

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IASB resolutions aim to craft new IASB policies

Although resolutions can set policies for IASB for the coming year, the submission deadline passed on June 30, with IASB having received only 15 resolutions from 13 districts in 10 divisions.

The resolutions committee will meet August 6 in Oak Brook to make recommendations on each of these resolutions. Resolutions will be voted on by the IASB membership at the Delegate Assembly on November 20. Listed below by division and topic are 2004 resolutions and the school districts that submitted them.

Central Ill. Valley - Prairie State Achievement Exam, East Peoria CHSD 309; Sales Tax for School Districts, East Peoria CHSD 309; Property Tax Cap Expiration, East Peoria CHSD 309

Corn Belt - School Funding Reform, McLean County CUSD 5

DuPage - Advanced Placement for Students, Indian Prairie CUSD 204; School Funding Reform, Glen Ellyn SD 41

Kishwaukee - Funding for Fast Growing Districts, Elgin U-46; School Attendance Days, Genoa-Kingston CUSD 424

Lake - Bilingual Education, Warren THSD 121, Gages Lake

North Cook - Take Your Child to Work, Mt. Prospect SD 57; Tax Exemption - Federal, Niles ESD 71

South Cook - Tuition Impact Fees, Lemont-Bromberek CSD 113A

Three Rivers - General Tax Abatements, Bourbonnais ESD 53

Wabash Valley - Bidding Requirements - Public Work, Effingham CUSD 40

West Cook - School Funding Bill - Support, South Berwyn SD 100

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IASB Board adopts 2004-2005 budget

The IASB Board of Directors met May 15 in Springfield and reviewed and accepted a budget for 2004-2005. That budget contains total revenue of $7.14 million, and total expenses of $7.02 million. Included is a surplus of $126,727, and the budget provides a positive budget trend while maintaining a healthy financial position.

Revenue projections are based on expected proceeds from dues, annual conference, sponsorship fees and other services. Expenses are based on continued development of a governance model for districts, continuing costs on a Web site project, video training material development, various ongoing costs, and possible exploration of virtual workshops.

The Board's next meeting is set for August 27 in Grafton.

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Lombard office welcomes newest staff member

The Targeting Achievement Through Governance Program staff is now complete with the addition of Debbie Davidson on June 17 to serve as program secretary in IASB's Lombard office.

Davidson comes to the Association from a stint as an English as a second language (ESL) instructor at Waubonsee Community College. In addition to her office and computer skills, she brings experience in grant writing and administration.

Former Mattoon school board members are now allowed to present diplomas to their children and grandchildren during high school commencements. The board unanimously approved that proposal on June 8, opening the door for former board members to participate in graduation ceremonies (The Journal-Gazette, Mattoon, June 10) … Some 25 residents recently urged the school board in Quincy to consider a subdistrict plan to replace at-large board representation. (Quincy Herald-Whig, June 10) … Education funding reform advocates rallied outside Gov. Rod Blagojevich's Chicago office on June 22. Fair Funding for Illinois Schools, a parent group, gave the governor a failing grade for fairness in school funding. Earlier this year, the national education journal Education Week gave Illinois the only "F" in the nation for equity in school funding (Daily Southtown, Chicago, June 22) … Teachers, scientists and employers are concerned about the troubled state of science education, with young students skipping tough courses and too few qualified instructors. They say the result is lagging U.S. performance in jobs, research and innovation. (The Associated Press, July 6) … Children are not vaccinated mainly because their parents don't trust doctors. More than 2 million children or 36.9 percent of toddlers were not fully vaccinated in 2001 (Reuters, July 6) … Although the nation's public schools are as safe as ever, some say the war on terrorism is siphoning funding and attention from school safety just as rising gang violence threatens it. While overall school violence is dropping, 48 people died in school-related violence in the 2003-2004 school year, according to one tally - more than in any year in the past decade (USA Today, June 27, 2004) … In a drive to improve high school test scores, the Olympia C.U. Dist. 15 school board, in Stanford, voted last month to lengthen high school days to give students more one-on-one time with teachers (The Pantagraph, Bloomington, June 25) … School leaders in Kaneland C.U. Dist. 203, Maple Park, have met with local municipal leaders about collecting a new "transition fee" from developers in addition to impact fees. The fee could run between $1,000 and $2,000 per home, and would be collected in January to cover basic expenses added by new students (The Daily Herald, Arlington Heights, June 10) ... The state supreme court recently found Colorado's school-voucher program unconstitutional because it robs local boards of education of their control of local schools. The voucher program makes districts divert some of their local revenue to nonpublic schools, the court ruled on June 28. (The Associated Press, June 29, 2004).

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LEGISLATIVE DEVELOPMENTS

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Bill for TRIP, teacher certification approved

The Senate recently approved S.B. 1553 (del Valle, D-Chicago) to extend the Teachers Retired Insurance Program (TRIP) and to make major changes to the certification process for teachers and administrators.

The TRIP program that provides health insurance for retirees was set to expire in June. The bill (a complete synopsis is contained in Alliance Legislative Report 93-52) extends the TRIP program indefinitely, modifies annuitant benefits, and slightly increases the contributions from both active teachers/administrators and school districts.

The contribution rate for all TRIP contributors will remain the same for Fiscal Year 2005, but in Fiscal Year 2006 the active teachers/administrators' contribution rate will increase from .75 percent of salary to .80 percent of salary. The school district contribution rate will increase in Fiscal Year 2006 from .5 percent of TRS payroll to .6 percent of TRS payroll.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed the bill into law on June 30.

Other provisions in the bill would make major changes to the certification and re-certification process for teachers and administrators. The bill will automatically extend for one year the validity of Initial Teaching Certificates that would have expired. It also removes the expiration date of the School Code provision that allows substitute teachers to teach for up to 120 days in a school year. The bill removes the requirement that teachers and administrators must develop a certificate renewal plan and eliminates the necessity of having a Local Professional Development Committee.

A final provision of S.B. 1553 addresses the School Construction Grant Program. The bill does not transfer the responsibility of the construction program from the State Board of Education to the Capital Development Board (CDB) as proposed by the governor. The priority list for school construction criteria remains the same and is set in statute, and the bill clarifies that "school districts, however, must be allowed to choose the architect and engineer for their school construction projects, and no project may be disapproved by the State Board of Education or the Capital Development Board solely due to a school district's selection of an architect or engineer."

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