Time to engage!
With less than a month left for the scheduled legislative session, it is clear that the focus of the General Assembly has been public education. And I don’t mean in a loving and supportive way.
From the onset, we saw a determination to pass pension reform that would jeopardize the ability of the state to recruit and retain teachers. Next up was the imposition of medical assistance in schools that essentially mandates that trained teachers administer medication to children in schools.
The assault continued with an initial resistance to changes with the FOIA bill and protections for our higher ed and ESP members’ performance evaluations.
The most recent attack has come in the form of a voucher program for Illinois. The effect of the proposal could mean a diversion of nearly $100 million from public education and have a detrimental impact on suburban and downstate school districts.
We have just come off of a very successful Rally Day, but now is not the time to rest. Now is the time to engage. Legislators will need to continue to hear from their local constituents about the impact of their decisions and how they in so many ways have undermined public education with their votes.
Now is the time to remind them that they are going to have to wear the jacket for increased classroom sizes in the fall if they don’t pass a proposal for new revenue. They are the ones who will be held accountable for teacher reductions that could top 20,000.
Now is the time to remind them that the accountability they so often call for will be coming from the folks back home.
Vouchers
On Thursday, the House Executive Committee heard testimony on SB 2494, (Meeks/Joyce) the Chicago voucher bill. The bill creates the Illinois School Choice Program, which provides that any student enrolled in a Chicago Public School that is performing in the lowest 10 percent shall be eligible to receive a voucher equal to the foundation level per pupil, which is $6119.
IFT and IEA provided joint testimony that focused on the failed efforts of other vouchers programs across the country and the financial impact upon school districts across the state.
IEA testified that in 2004, the District of Columbia created a new scholarship program to provide low-income residents, with a focus on those attending schools in need of improvement or corrective action under ESEA. The program provided a scholarship worth up to $7500 that could be used to cover the cost of tuition, school fees and transportation to a private school.
Here were the findings of the Institute of Education Sciences:
- After 2 years, there was no statistically significant difference in test scores between students who were offered the scholarship and students who were not.
- The program had a positive impact on overall parent satisfaction but not to student satisfaction and safety.
- Twenty-six percent of those offered the scholarship never used it. Reasons ranged from lack of available space in the private school they wanted to attend, the participating school did not offer services for their child’s learning or physical disability or special need, or accepted into a charter school.
As a result of these findings and others, on March 16 the U.S. Senate rejected a bill to reauthorize the D.C. voucher program.
SB 2494 passed out of committee and is on the House floor. However, due to many questions about the funding, it faces an uncertain future. IEA, IFT and CTU along with a number of other education partners are vigorously working the bill. See our Voucher fact sheet here.
Student assistance health Needs
HB 6065 (Steans, D–Chicago) creates the Care of Students with Diabetes Act and asks teachers and school personnel to volunteer to administer medication to students.
The IEA is opposed to this legislation. The bill passed out of the Senate public health committee unanimously and will be heard by the full Senate. Please contact your state Senator and express your concerns about this bill and ask them to vote “NO”. See our fact sheet – HB 6065.
Background:
- Creates the Care of Students with Diabetes Act.
- Defines a “delegated care aide” as a school employee who has volunteered to receive training in diabetes care and to assist students in implementing their diabetes care plan.
- Requires a parent or guardian to submit a diabetes care plan for a student with diabetes who seeks assistance with diabetes care in the school setting.
- Provides that a delegated care aide (teacher or school personnel) shall perform the activities and tasks necessary to assist a student with diabetes in accordance with his or her diabetes care plan.
- Delegated care aides are authorized to provide assistance by a student’s parent or guardian and serve under the supervision of the principal. The intent is to have the parent or guardian choose the teacher to be the designated care aide.
- Allows self-administration of medication by a pupil with diabetes.
IEA supports:
- IEA believes that only certificated school nurses or licensed health care professionals working under the direct guidance of a certificated school nurse should administer medication and provide medical treatment and health care to students. All education employees should be protected from civil liability regarding administration of medicine.
- IEA recognizes that emergency situations may require non-medical personnel to step in and believe all education employees must be trained to recognize the signs and symptoms of such imminent life-threatening conditions and how to properly administer first aid in such situations.
- IEA can support some sort of training, within the confines of institute days, that covers how a school district wants to respond to children with medical emergencies. Such training is most appropriately conducted by a certified school nurse.
- IEA supports a task force (HJR 46 and SJR 112) to look at all school health issues (asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, food allergies, etc.). Such a task force would allow us to discuss in detail the needs of students and how to best approach them. This would also allow input from experts in the field.
Mandates
HB 4711 (Maloney, D–Chicago) provides that no school district is obligated to comply with any statutory or regulatory mandate or requirement unless it is funded with a separate appropriation for the school year during which the mandate is required. IEA is opposed to this bill that passed out of the Senate education committee unanimously.
While IEA opposes any future mandates that do not have a clear and specific source of revenue, we encourage the legislature to find the revenue before they pass the mandate. Several legislators in committee stated that this bill would allow them to continue to pass statewide education policy, and if funded was not provided, the local districts could decide if they want to comply with the laws or not creating a patchwork of laws implemented across the state.
IEA supports two task forces that have been proposed to look at past and future mandates and we are currently attending meetings regarding this issue. Please see our Unfunded Mandate position statement and an IEA fact sheet on HB 4711.
HB 4209 SA#1 (Garrett, D-Lake Forest) – Creates the Instructional Mandates Task Force charged to explore and examine all instructional mandates governing public schools and to make recommendations concerning the propriety of all existing mandates, the imposition of future mandates, and waivers of instructional mandates. It also establishes a moratorium on the passage of legislation that imposes instructional mandates on the public schools in this state through Jan. 2, 2012. The 15-member task force includes a representative from the IEA. The IEA-supported bill passed the Senate education committee unanimously.
Four-day school week
HB 4886 (Black, R-Danville) would allow a school district, by resolution of its board, to operate on a four-day school week plan approved by the Illinois State Board of Education. The IEA-opposed bill did not receive enough votes to get out of the Senate education committee this week.
Freedom of Information Act
HB 5154 (Lightford, D-Maywood) would prohibit the disclosure of performance evaluations under the Freedom of Information Act. The scope of this proposal had been agreed to during the negotiations on Race to the Top but was amended in the House. The Attorney General’s office is opposed to the bill. This IEA-supported bill passed out of the Senate labor committee on a partisan roll call vote 7-3, and now goes to the full Senate for consideration.
SURS credit for furlough time
HB 4644 (Bomke, R-Springfield) would allow for university employees that took either a mandatory or involuntary furlough day between the July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2011 to establish credit for that time off in SURS. The employee would be required to pay the employee and employer contribution, plus interest. The bill as amended passed the Senate pensions and investments committee unanimously and now proceeds to the Senate floor. The IEA supported this legislation.
School waivers
SJR 114 (Smith, D-Canton) is a resolution concerning driver education waivers. The Senate passed this resolution unanimously. It will be considered next Thursday by the House education committee.
The following school districts were granted behind-the-wheel driver education waivers for one year only:
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Additionally, Elgin School District U-46 was approved to substitute four hours of behind-the-wheel instruction with 16 hours of simulator use for one year only.
All physical education waivers which would waive students from receiving the daily activity required by law were approved, as were all driver education fee requests exceeding $250.
Race to the Top
ISBE is moving ahead in the application process for the Phase II “Race to the Top” application. There were only 42 percent of the school districts that returned the memorandum of understanding and the reviewers noted this in the Phase I application. The deadline for the Phase II application is June 1. ISBE has set a May 24 deadline for signed MOU’s and recommitment forms.
IEA will be holding the following one-hour webinars on the RTTT Phase 2 process:
- Tues., April 27, at 1 p.m. for staff
- Tues., April 27, at 8 p.m. for IEA governance (board of directors and local presidents)
Please check your e-mail for the call in number and web connection.
What’s next
We only have two weeks before the scheduled adjournment deadline of May 7. Beginning Tuesday, both the House and Senate are scheduled to be in session until the bitter end.