PROPOSED MANDATES APPROVED
The Senate this week approved three bills that would place new requirements on local school districts. Each of these bills has been sent to the House of Representatives for further consideration.
SB 3249 (Steans, D-Chicago)
would add to the current list of items to be included in the public school History of the United States curriculum the "roles and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the history of this country and this State". Further, the bill would require that all textbooks approved must be non-discriminatory as to any of the characteristics under the Illinois Human Rights Act and must include the roles and contributions of all people protected under that Act.
The bill was approved by the full Senate on a vote of 34-18.
SB 2428 (Stadelman, D-Rockford)
requires every school to provide a federally reimbursable meal or snack to a student who makes the request, regardless of whether the student has the ability to pay or owes money for meals or snacks. If a student owes money for meals or snacks that is in excess of the equivalent of the amount charged a student for five lunches, a school may contact the parent or guardian of the student to attempt collection of the amount owed. Further, schools may not publicly identify or stigmatize a student who cannot pay for a meal or snack or who owes money for a meal or snack such as the use of wrist bands, hand stamps, having the student sit in a separate location, or posting the name of the student.
The bill was approved by the full Senate on a vote of 41-9-1.
SB 2572 (Holmes, D-Aurora)
eliminates the changes in the requirements for Physical Education made under SB 1947 last year (moving the requirement from five days per week to three days per week), and sets a rigid time standard for PE
of 150 minutes a week. The bill was approved by the full Senate on a vote of 36-14-1.
OTHER BILL ACTION THIS WEEK
The following bills passed the full Senate and will be taken up in the House at a future date:
SB 486 (Harmon, D-Oak Park)
makes changes to how assessment and taxation of solar energy systems is calculated. It provides for commercial solar energy systems to have a real property cost basis (fair market value of the real property) of $194,000 per megawatt for the improvements, compared with the current real property cost basis of $439,200 per megawatt for wind energy.
SB 2527 (Weaver, R-Peoria)
prohibits a school from adopting a policy limiting the number of dual credit courses a student may enroll in or the number of academic credits a student may receive from dual credit courses.
SB 2541 (Lightford, D-Maywood)
requires the Department of Public Health to develop rules and appropriate revisions to the Child Health Examination form to address School Code requirements regarding social and emotional screening of students.
SB 2668
(McConchie, R-Lake Zurich)
exempts from sales tax, selling food at retail to students, teachers or staff at a school.
SB 3033 (Weaver)
allows schools to be designated as "Industrial Development Agency" under the Industrial Development Assistance Law to have the ability to apply for grants for the instruction of occupations in manufacturing.
SB 3046 (Manar, D-Bunker Hill)
allows Teacher Retirement System (and other systems) annuitants to opt out of TRIP and provides timelines for doing so.
COMMITTEE ACTION FROM THIS WEEK
The following bills were approved by Senate Committees and await further action from the full Senate:
HB 751 (Davidsmeyer, R-Jacksonville)
extends the sunset provision for retired teachers returning to teaching in subject shortage areas from June 30, 2013 to June 30, 2019.
HB 3080 (Reis, R-Olney)
, from July 2017 to June 2019, allows retired teachers to be paid for 120 days of work in a school without impairing retirement status (currently 100 days).
HB 4242 (McSweeney, R-Cary)
requires schools to report certain information regarding employee and contractor severance agreements on the school website and to local news media no more than 72 hours from approval of an agreement when an employee or contractor has been found to have engaged in sexual harassment or sexual discrimination.
HB 4409 (Pritchard, R-Sycamore)
changes part of the definition of school psychologist to a person that holds a valid Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP) credential.
HB 4514 (Pritchard)
provides that only individuals licensed and endorsed as a school counselor may use the title of school counselor.
HB 4706 (Scherer, D-Decatur)
makes the requirement for substitute teachers to be physically fit,permissive. The bill defines what can be required and medical personnel required to make the determination. It requires the hiring school board to pay for the examination when it requires an examination of any substitute teacher employee.
HB 5247 (Pritchard)
requires the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) t
o initiate rulemaking to allow students of any high school in Illinois who are 16 years of age or older to participate in registered apprenticeship programs allowing them to earn postsecondary credit toward a certificate or degree.
HB 5771 (Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora)
,
facilitating the work of the Balanced Accountability Model, establishes a definition of chronic absenteeism and requires state funded early childhood programs to collect and review the data and determine needed resources to engage chronically absent students and their families.
BILLS SCHEDULED FOR COMMITTEE NEXT WEEK
The following is a selection of bills of interest that are scheduled to be considered in committees next week. For a full listing of next week's Senate committees, click
here
. For a full listing of next week's House committees, click
here
.
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE
Tuesday, May 8, 2:00 p.m., Room 212, State Capitol
HB 4208 (Welch, D-Westchester)
pushes to reallocate funding from Student Resource Officer's (SROs) and law enforcement and use it for restorative justice, counselors, and psychologists.
HB 4226 (Kifowit, D-Aurora)
requires schools to disseminate a brochure to any family whose child may have sustained a concussion.
HB 4284 (Chapa LaVia)
requires at least three members of ISBE to be from the education community, defined as a teacher, principal, superintendent or school business official.
HB 4369 (Sommer, R-Morton)
requires ISBE to develop and maintain a dyslexia handbook, make it available on their website, and update it every four years.
HB 4442 (Gabel, D-Chicago)
creates a three-year pilot project for a school district to include in its curriculum a unit of instruction on parenting education for grades 9 through 12.
HB 4657(Manley, D-Joliet)
allows schools to teach a unit of instruction studying emotional intelligence and creates the Emotional Intelligence Education Task Force to develop curriculum guidelines.
HB 4742 (Ford, D-Chicago)
requires ISBE to
implement a program and adopt rules to allow school districts to supplement their substitute teacher recruitment for elementary and secondary schools with the use of recruiting firms.
HB 4870 (Lang, D-Skokie)
requires school districts to authorize a parent or guardian of a student who is a qualifying patient to administer a medical cannabis infused product to the student on school premises or a school bus if both the student and the parent or guardian have been issued registry identification cards.
HB 4908 (Moeller, D-Elgin)
requires all children entering kindergarten, second, sixth, and ninth grades to have a dental examination.
HB 5005 (McConnaughay, R-West Dunde
e) provides that the Department of Central Management Services is not required to verify the State educator license of a teacher employed by the Department of Juvenile Justice if the license is verified by ISBE.
HB 5062 (Flowers, D-Chicago)
requires ISBE to develop a program facilitating education in advanced manufacturing skills.
HB 5136 (Slaughter, D-Chicago)provides that the PERA committee meet annually and includes language exempting the RIF and PERA committees from the Open Meetings Act (OMA) and allows collective bargaining strategy sessions to be exempt from the provisions of the OMA.
HB 5175 (Hoffman, D-Belleville)
increases the statutory minimum teacher salary from $10,000 per year to $40,000 per year.
HB 5195 (Greenwood, D-E. St. Louis)
allows school boards to provide free transportation for any pupil residing within 1 1/2 miles from the school attended where conditions are such that walking, either to or from the school to which a pupil is assigned for attendance or to or from a pick-up point or bus stop, constitutes a serious hazard to the safety of the pupil due to a course or pattern of criminal activity.
HB 5196 (Greenwood)
lowers the licensure renewal fee for paraprofessionals beginning July 1, 2018 from $50 to $25.
HB 5481 (Guzzardi, D-Chicago)
requires school districts to report certain K-12 information about actively employed teachers, pup-teacher ratios, class instructors and class sections to ISBE.
HB 5588 (Crespo, D-Streamwood)
changes references in State laws from the old version of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, No Child Left Behind, to the new version, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Additionally, it makes changes necessary to implement accountability changes included in the State Plan created as a requirement of the ESSA.
HB 5770 (Conroy, D-Villa Park)
requires schools to notify student and families that a student may be eligible to receive mental health services from the school district under a federal Section 504 plan.
HB 5795 (Chapa LaVia)
establishes a definition for truant students as a child who is subject to compulsory school attendance who is absent without valid cause for more than 1% but less than 5% of the past 180 days.
SENATE HIGHER EDUCATION COMMITTEE
Tuesday, May 8, 3:30 p.m., Room 212, State Capitol
HB 4346 (Jones, D-Chicago)
requires each public university to offer a course studying the events of Black History and allows school districts and public universities to meet certain requirements by offering an online course.
HB 4858 (Pritchard)
provides that local school districts and community colleges may apply for and receive grants for the acquisition of land, construction of facilities, and purchase of equipment, dedicated solely to the instruction of occupations in manufacturing.
HB 4882 (Mayfield, D-Waukegan)
redefines several components of the Grow Your Own Teacher Program.
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
Tuesday, May 8, 3:30 p.m., Room 400, State Capitol
HB 4583 (Halbrook)
, under the Open Meetings Act,provides that certain notice provisions that currently apply to regular meetings of a public body shall also apply to special meetings of a public body.
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE
Tuesday, May 8, 3:45 p.m., Room 409, State Capitol
HB 4340 (Wheeler, R-Crystal Lake)
requires school administrators to post notice of the human trafficking hotline in the administrative office or another location in view of school employees.
HOUSE ELEMENTARY & SECONDARY EDUCATION: LICENSING, ADMINISTRATION & OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE
Wednesday, May 9, 9:00 a.m., Room 115, State Capitol
SB 2658 (Schimpf, R-Murphysboro)
provides that a Professional Educator License with Stipulations with a provisional educator endorsement obtained by a service member or a spouse of a service member is valid until June 30 immediately following three (rather than two) years of the license being issued.
SB 3201(Hastings, D-Frankfort)
requires the school to notify the parent no later than 48 hours after discovery of a breach of security that results in the unauthorized release, disclosure, or acquisition of student information contained in a school student record.
SB 3220 (Aquino, D-Chicago)
provides that an institution of higher education that is denied recommendation for recognition by the State Educator Preparation and Licensure Board to offer an educator preparation program at the institution may appeal the decision to ISBE.
HOUSE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE
Wednesday, May 9, 9:00 a.m., Room 122B, State Capitol
SB 2516 (Morrison, D-Deerfield)
requires an employer, or the employer's representative, to inform an employee of available mandated reporter training prior to the employee signing a statement that the employee has knowledge and understanding of certain reporting requirements under the Act.
HOUSE ELEMENTARY & SECONDARY EDUCATION: SCHOOL CURRICULUM & POLICIES COMMITTEE
Wednesday, May 9, 10:00 a.m., Room D-1, Stratton Office Building
SB 454 (Fine, D-Glenview)
provides that if a child's individualized education program team determines that the child does not require assistive technology services or devices, the team shall include a statement in the child's program that informs the child's parent or guardian of the decision and the basis for the decision.
SB 650 (Connelly, R-Naperville)
provides that certain notices concerning requests for mandate waivers may be made electronically.
SB 1829 (Hutchinson, D-Chicago Heights)
makes changes to licensing required to teach preschool children.
SB 2941 (McGuire, D-Joliet)
provides that a school district may participate in ISBE's competency-based, high school graduation requirements pilot program for some or all of its schools.
SB 3514 (Hunter, D-Chicago)
provides for Chicago Public Schools only,
once a special education staffing level is set, the school board shall provide full staffing for the school and shall fund the total cost of each position.
HOUSE TRANSPORTATION: VEHICLES & SAFETY COMMITTEE
Wednesday, May 9, 10:00 a.m., Room C-1, Stratton Office Building
SB 2482 (Morrison, D-Deerfield)
requires a school bus to be operated with the "SCHOOL BUS" signs covered and the stop signal arm and flashing signal system disabled whenever a school bus is operated for the purpose of transporting passengers over 18 years of age.
