Legislative Changes Affecting Orland School District 135 and Others

In the last year, the most significant changes to the Illinois School Code have come from the Educational Reform Act.

To help board and staff understand the bill, as well as other legislative changes relating to school business, attorneys Raymond Hauser and John Izzo were present on Monday at the school district’s committee meeting.

Notably, they explained that teacher performance would play a greater role in promoting, shifting and firing than tenure and seniority, building on the Evaluation Reform Act of 2010. Furthermore, the bill makes significant changes to the collective bargaining agreement, permitting the public to see what’s on the table before teachers strike.

Also in attendance was State Representative Renée Kosel (R-New Lenox), who said it was helpful to hear about state matters “from a different perspective. And no matter how much you say you’re going to take into account every different opinion down in Springfield, you can never get the full picture.”

Here’s the roundup of Hauser’s and Izzo’s presentation by topic.

Performance

• As of Sept. 1, 2012, “student growth” must be taken into the evaluations of principals and assistant principals.
• On the same date, the rating scale for evaluations of teachers will include “Excellent,” “Proficient,” “Needs Improvement” and “Unsatisfactory.” The General Assembly has decided that many school districts are inaccurately rating poor and mediocre teachers, Izzo said. For instance, 93 percent of all teachers in the state received the highest possible rating last year, while only about a quarter of all graduating high school students were deemed ready for college level courses.
• As of Sept. 1, 2016, student growth must be taken into the evaluations of teachers.
• New or vacant teaching positions must be filled on the basis of certification, qualification, performance and experience. Seniority may not be used unless all other factors are equal. RIFS and recall will also be based on performance rather than tenure and seniority. Teachers must be categorized in positions for which they are qualified by May 10 of each school year before dismissal.

Tenure

• Will be earned and lost on the basis of performance (after September 2016).
• Will be quicker to obtain with a good performance record. Currently it takes four years without dismissal to earn tenure. The new law allows teachers with high marks to earn it in 480 days. School years are generally 175 days, meaning a teacher with high marks can obtain tenure in about 3 years—or 2 if they were already tenured in one school district and took a position with another.
• The process for dismissing a tenured teacher, on grounds of performance or misconduct, has been shortened. Both parties have less time to submit evidence and the whole process must be completed within 120 days after the hearing officer is selected. The hearing officer has final decision in performance-based dismissals, whereas the school district retains final decision in conduct-based dismissals, subject to court review and appeal.

Students

• Nurses are permitted to administer epinephrine auto-injector to students having an anaphylactic reaction.
• Delegated aides who care for children with diabetes must have expert diabetes training. All employees in that school must receive initial diabetes training.
• Districts must provide coaches, students and parents with .
• Internet threats against teachers and fellow students are now prohibited (in writing). What’s more, expelled students now have the right to transfer to an alternative program.
• Suspended, expelled or dismissed students or teachers who enter school grounds will be charged with a Class A Misdemeanor.

Personnel

• Assistant principals have been expressly added to the school code wherever principals are referred to. This means assistant principals must have annual evaluations, and so on.
• Retired administrators can return to work for less than 600 hours a year before affecting their IMRF pension.

Records

• A 2010 amendment which required the State’s Attorney ’s Office to review and grant permission to school districts before the school district denied the release of certain records involving personal information or preliminary drafts was stricken.
• Any individual who files FOIA requests with a government body more than 50 times in a year, or 15 times in a month, or 7 times in one week, will be designed a “recurrent requester” and charged $10 an hour for every hour of labor they cause after an initial eight. This excludes members of the press. Still, there are loopholes, as Izzo explained: a single FOIA request asking for 1,000 documents is still considered a single FOIA request.

Revenue and Finance

• The Illinois Department of Revenue must maintain property, income and sales tax rates by fund and total going back as far as 2008.
• If a district is experiencing severe financial difficulty, they may elect to establish a panel to review the problem voluntary.

District Organization

• As of Jan. 1, 2012, incumbent and new board members will have one year and 90 days, respectively, to take a one-hour Open Meetings Act training course. Committee chairs elected after July 13, 2011, are required to take a four-hour training course on labor, finance and fiduciary responsibilities, whereas incumbent committee chairs have been grandfathered in. Community relations coordinator Bridget McGuiggan noted that District 135 already has a similar policy in place.
• A commission, headed by Illinois Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon, has assembled to study the possibility of school consolidations. It will offer a recommendation to the General Assembly in July 2012, which must come to a vote on it 14 days thereafter.