November 30, 2018

 
A lliance Legislative Report (100-80)

LEGISLATURE WRAPS UP VETO SESSION
 
The Illinois General Assembly completed its two-week Veto Session this week and is adjourned until it returns in the "Lame Duck" session on January 7-8. The new 101st General Assembly will be sworn in on Wednesday, January 9, 2019. The newly elected Governor will be inaugurated on Monday, January 14, 2019.
Neither SB 2892 (Manar, D-Bunker Hill), which would have phased-in a minimum teacher salary of $40,000; nor SB 2572 (Holmes, D-Aurora), which would have required all students to have 150 minutes of Physical Education per week, were considered before adjournment. Both bills were vetoed by the Governor and no motion to override the veto was called for a vote, thus killing those bills for this session. Both bills will likely be reintroduced in January for the 101st General Assembly to consider. The strong response by Alliance members regarding the impact of these two measures were largely responsible for stalling the bills this fall.
 
OTHER VETO ACTION
 
The following vetoed bills were overridden by both chambers and will become law:
 
HB 4284 (Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora) , a Vision 20/20 initiative , requires at least three members of the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to be from the educator community, defined as a teacher, principal, superintendent or school business official.
 
HB 4514 (Pritchard, R-Sycamore )  provides that only individuals licensed and endorsed as a school counselor may use the title of school counselor.
 
HB 4657 (Manley, D-Joliet) creates the Emotional Intelligence Education Task Force to develop curriculum guidelines and best practices on emotional intelligence and social-emotional learning.
 
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.
 
SB 2345 (Lightford, D-Westchester) requires ISBE to provide information for the school report card as to whether or not a school has participated in the Illinois Youth Survey.
 
The following vetoed bills failed to be overridden and they are now dead:
 
HB 1262 (Currie, D-Chicago) would have provided that a School Code mandate waiver request regarding tax rates, funds, or transfers shall not be reviewed by the panel of General Assembly members, but shall be submitted to the full General Assembly for consideration.
 
HB 3792 (Lilly, D-Chicago) would have provided that students, beginning in 6th grade, should be introduced to developing and applying work ethic in a variety of contexts.
 
HB 4208 (Welch, D-Westchester) would have reallocated funding from Student Resource Officer's (SROs) and law enforcement and use it for restorative justice, counselors, and psychologists.
 
HB 4882 (Mayfield, D-Waukegan) would have made changes to the Grow Your Own Teacher Act.
 
HB 5175 (Hoffman, D-Belleville) would have repealed the authority of the Charter School Commission to act on appeals to overturn a local school board decisions regarding Charter Schools.

HB 5481 (Guzzardi, D-Chicago) would have required school districts to report certain K-12 information about actively employed teachers, pupil-teacher ratios, class instructors and class sections to ISBE.
 
The following bills were not considered for final action and are still pending:
 
HB 5975 (Hernandez, D-Cicero) , for the successful referendum for Berwyn South SD 100, would limit the aggregate extension available to the school district approved by the voters.  
SB 563 (Cunningham, D-Chicago)  would remove language allowing police officers to request a mental health evaluation for anyone making a threat against a school.
SB 1226 (Bennett, D-Champaign)  would require school construction to comply with the Green Construction Act.
SB 3430 (Aquino, D-Chicago), in response to objections raised to HB 5975, would provide that taxing districts subject to the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL) would be required to seek an aggregate extension increase rather than an increase in limiting rate when a change is sought through referendum, thus
increasing local tax revenues for the district.
 
GOVERNOR-ELECT PRITZKER NAMES EDUCATION TEAM
 
Governor-elect JB Pritzker named a transition team for education this week called the Educational Success Committee.  A press release announcing the Committee mentioned it "is the seventh of several working groups of the transition made up of subject-matter experts who will advise and guide the incoming Pritzker-Stratton administration.
The Educational Success Committee will be co-chaired by:  State Senator Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill), State Representative Chris Welch (D-Westchester), Chicago Public Schools CEO Dr. Janice Jackson, and Illinois Education Association President Kathi Griffin.  The other 31 members of the Committee are:
  • Dr. Michael Amiridis, Chancellor, University of Illinois at Chicago
  • Dr. Carmen Ayala, Superintendent, Berwyn North SD 98
  • Christine Benson, Retired Superintendent, Mendota High School
  • Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, State Senator, Illinois General Assembly
  • Dr. Dale Chapman, President, Lewis and Clark Community College
  • Dr. Brent Clark, Executive Director, Illinois Association of School Administrators
  • Fred Crespo, State Representative, Illinois General Assembly
  • Will Davis, State Representative, Illinois General Assembly
  • Dr. Larry Dietz, President, Illinois State University
  • Dr. Kenneth Ender, President, Harper College
  • Dr. Jennifer Garrison, Superintendent, Vandalia CUSD #203
  • Phyllis Glink, Executive Director, Irving B. Harris Foundation
  • Dr. James Heckman, Professor, University of Chicago
  • Dr. Ed Hightower, Executive Director, Mannie Jackson Center for the Humanities Foundation
  • Kimberly Lightford, State Senator, Illinois General Assembly
  • John Miller, Vice President, Illinois Federation of Teachers
  • Mary Morten, Board Chair, Safe Schools Alliance
  • Zena Naiditch, President and CEO, Equip for Equality
  • Ginger Ostro, Executive Director, Advance Illinois
  • Kevin O'Mara, Professor, Concordia University
  • Dr. Cristina Pacione-Zayas, Director of Policy, Erikson Institute
  • Sylvia Puente, Executive Director, Latino Policy Forum
  • Dr. Aisha Ray, Retired Professor, Erikson Institute
  • Mimi Rodman, Executive Director, Stand for Children Illinois
  • Dr. Kevin Rubenstein, President, Illinois Alliance of Administrators of Special Education
  • Jane Russell, Vice President, Illinois Federation of Teachers
  • Juan Salgado, Chancellor, City Colleges of Chicago
  • Zaldwaynaka "Z" Scott, President, Chicago State University
  • Gloria Trejo, Principal, Pioneer Elementary School
  • Maria Whelan, President and CEO, Illinois Action for Children
  • Dr. Barbara Wilson, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, University of Illinois System