Double Overtime!

It appears that the General Assembly may be trying to take a page out of the Chicago Blackhawks playbook. While the Hawks were able to claim victory in overtime in a critical game last week, it’s unclear whether the Illinois General Assembly will be as fortunate.

The arbitrarily scheduled legislative adjournment date of May 7 came and went.  We anticipated the GA when it returned this week, would resolve the key issues; what funding for public education would look like, what new revenue might be adopted and how the pension payments to the systems might be resolved.  To date, we have little or no resolution on these issues.  Now, lawmakers have recessed, with plans to come back at some uncertain date to address the state budget and pension payments to the systems.

The question is ”Will they come back prepared to address the needs of the state or just come back and create more uncertainty?”

The Budget

The House and Senate concurred on a budget, a budget implementation bill and an emergency budget powers bill for fiscal year 2011.  This is the money we expect to go to schools as grants from the various agencies (Illinois State Board of Education, Illinois Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Community College Board).

For K-12 schools, the appropriation for FY10, for all grants, according to the ISBE, was $7.2 billion.  The combination of bills this year gives us flat funding for GSA ($4.615 billion) and for mandated categorical funding ($1 billion).  An additional $371 million is appropriated to ISBE for grants to schools in SB 1215.  That comes to a total of $6.9 billion for FY11, $367 million less than the total grant money for FY10, or about the approximate $300 million we’ve been expecting the cut to be for FY11.

For higher education the appropriation (for operations) is the same for FY11 as it was for FY10, $1 billion.

Much is still uncertain, given that Gov. Quinn can withhold money from various state agencies to manage the state’s cash flow.  The governor can hold back approximately 20% of the total appropriations.  We don’t yet know how this will play out for education.

Budget Legislation

HB 859 (Currie, D-Chicago/Trotter, D-Chicago) contains the state budget. It has passed both Houses and will now go to the Governor’s Desk.

SB 3660 (Cullerton, D-Chicago/Currie, D-Chicago) contains the Emergency Budget Act, which gives the Governor broad authority on how to implement the budget, allows the Governor the use of interfund transfers, except for funds that have a continuing appropriation, and includes the tobacco securitization. The tobacco securitization provision will allow the state to borrow $1.2 billion against future tobacco settlement money.  In essence, the state forgoes those contributions/payments for a lump sum payment of an estimated $1.3 billion that will be used today to fund the state budget. This is a one-time payment and will make next year’s budget even more difficult to create unless new revenue is found. The bill has passed both houses and will now go to the Governor’s desk.

SB 3662 (Trotter, D-Chicago/Currie, D-Chicago) is the Budget Implementation Act.  IEA opposed Amendment #3 of this bill because, if the appropriation is insufficient, the Illinois State Board of Education can short the GSA grant and make the full poverty payments.  While this provision may benefit some districts with high concentrations of poverty, it would hurt ALL school districts, as everybody else would get shorted. The bill has passed both houses and now goes to the Governor’s desk. 

SB 44 (Schoenberg, D-Evanston/Yarbrough, D-Maywood) is an additional $1 per-pack tax on cigarettes. The revenue from this new tax would be used to fund mandated categorical aid payments to school districts. The bill is expected to generate an additional $175 million in revenue for Fiscal Year 2010 and an additional $175 million in revenue for Fiscal Year 2011, for a total two-year gain in cigarette excise and use tax of $350 million.  The legislation has run into resistance in the House and it is uncertain whether it will be acted upon to assist with the education budget.  IEA supports this legislation.

Pension Payments

SB 3514 (Schoenberg, D-Evanston/Currie, D-Chicago) is the pension bond legislation that would make it easier for the state to make its payment to the state retirement systems (TRS and SURS included) this year by allowing the State to borrow an estimated $4.1 billion at a low interest rate (4.1%-4.5%). The alternative, legislating a pension payment holiday (delayed payment), would cost the taxpayers $58 billion according the bipartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA).

The IEA supports this legislation.  The House passed this bill, but the Senate did not act on this legislation before adjourning on Thursday night.

Pension Continuing Appropriation

If SB 3514 never makes it to the governor’s desk, the state retirement systems (TRS, SURS, SERS, JRS and GARS) may still receive their required pension payment. This is due to a law called the State Pensions Continuing Appropriations Act (SPCAA). The threat is that the legislature may still decide to change this section of the law and appropriate a lower amount than the current law requires.  There may simply not be enough money in the state’s coffers to make a payment to the retirement systems without creating tremendous hardships for education funding. The required pension payment for this new fiscal year is an estimated $4.5 billion, which is an increase of $500 million from last year’s payment of $4.0 billion.

This could be the third consecutive year where the SPCAA is used to enact pension funding.  State Comptroller Dan Hynes made all payments required of TRS last year as directed by the Act.  SURS received smaller payments initially, but did end up receiving all of its contributions for last year.  We are concerned that this year may be more difficult for the comptroller to manage this task.

The IEA has been successful in preventing a change to the State Pensions Continuing Appropriations Act and will continue to vehemently oppose any attempts to legislate a pension payment holiday as contained in HB 543.  Please contact your state representative and voice your opposition to the pension payment holiday contained in HB 543.

Special Education Hold Harmless

HB 2270 (Forby, D-Benton/Bradley, D-Marion) appropriates $17 million to the State Board of Education for school districts who qualify to receive special education–hold harmless funds.  This legislation appropriates funds for the current fiscal year.  This IEA-supported measure passed both houses this week and is now before the Governor.

Vouchers

The Illinois House adjourned Thursday without taking another vote on SB 2494, the voucher bill.  House sponsor Rep. Kevin Joyce (D–Chicago) filed a fourth amendment to the bill which called for a gradual sunset and a provision requiring state testing.

The sunset would allow the voucher program to continue through the 2026-2027 school year.  After the 2019-2020, only the parents of students who had previously received a voucher would continue to be eligible to receive vouchers for those students until they are out of the 8th grade.

All students in a private school which enrolls voucher students would be state-tested if voucher students exceeded 20% of the school’s enrollment. The IEA believes the State would be responsible for the cost of these tests.

The IEA opposes SB 2494 in any form, because of the diversion of public funds to any private school or any other private education institution.  This bill would further erode state support of an already underfunded public education system.

Thank you for your calls to members of the House of Representatives in response to the IEA Calls to Action on the voucher issue.  Since the House could vote on this bill if they reconvene, please take the time over the next few days or next week to call or email your State Representative about this issue.  If your State Representative voted no on the voucher bill the first time it was called, please thank them and reconfirm their no vote. Though the vote was unofficial, click this link to see a video showing how the House members voted.

Principal Preparation Endorsement

IEA supported SB 226 (Demuzio, D-Carlinville/Smith, D-Canton) which provides that individuals wanting to become principals before July 1, 2014, must earn a “principal endorsement” through a program at a university or through a not-for-profit organization in a program approved by ISBE and the Board of Higher Education. The individual also would be required to serve a one-year internship if the principal candidate goes through a not-for-profit organization rather than a university. Current principals holding the general administrative endorsement prior to July 1, 2014, shall have their general administrative endorsements converted to a principal endorsement upon request to ISBE if specified conditions are met.  SB 226 was passed by both houses.

Legislation Sent to Governor

Freedom of Information Act

The IEA has sent a letter to the Governor asking for his signature on HB 5154, which prohibits the disclosure of performance evaluations of ESPs and higher education faculty and staff under the Freedom of Information Act.

Health care management in schools

The IEA has sent a letter to the Governor to encourage him to use his amendatory veto power to make changes to HB 6065, which would require a school employee to administer insulin to a student.

HB 6065 creates the Care of Students with Diabetes Act and allows self-administration of medication by a pupil with diabetes and requires teachers and school personnel to volunteer to administer medication to pupils with diabetes. (Download HB 6065 fact sheet).

IEA issued a “call to action” on this legislation and we encourage you to still take action. All IEA members are urged to:

1. Call the Statehouse at 217/782-2000 and ask to be connected to the governor’s office.
2. Once connected, please state your name and the school where you work.
3. Ask that the following message be given to the governor:

“I would like the governor to use his amendatory veto to remove the section of House Bill 6065 that requires ‘Delegated Care Aides’ to administer insulin to students. Thank you.”

Higher Ed Borrowing

SB 642 (Haine, D-Alton)/Bradley, D-Marion) allows all public universities to borrow money to fund operations and improve their cash flow position.  The state is far behind in payments to all public universities and the bill allows them to borrow against future tuition revenue and future payments from the state.  The bill is supported by IEA and needed to help universities make payroll.  The bill is currently before Gov. Quinn for his action.  He has said that he will hold the university borrowing bill until the pension borrowing issue is resolved. The Governor is considering expanding the pension borrowing bill to include university borrowing.

G.A. Glossary

Continuing Appropriation

A continuing appropriation is a provision in Illinois law that guarantees a payment from the state for a specific purpose. For example: the state of Illinois has a continuing appropriation for pension funding (State Pensions Continuing Appropriations Act.) This appropriation can be changed by a simple majority vote during the regular legislative session but would require a three-fifths vote in overtime. If there is no appropriation made for pension funding in the state budget, the continuing appropriation provision kicks in and ensures that the state retirement systems (TRS, SURS, SERS, GARS, and JRS) receive full funding as required by law, regardless if there was an appropriation or not. This could be the third consecutive fiscal year where the continuing appropriation provision is implemented due to either no appropriation for pensions in the budget or an appropriation that is insufficient to make the required pension payment.

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:

1. After 2 years, there was no statistically significant difference in test scores between students who were offered the scholarship and students who were not.
2. The program had a positive impact on overall parent satisfaction but not to student satisfaction and safety.
3. 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:

Reavis THSD 220 (Cook County) Maine THSD 207 (Cook County) Wheaton CUSD 200 (DuPage County) Moline USD 40 (Rock Island County) Lyons THSD 204 (Cook County) Triad CUSD 2 (Madison County) Thornton Fractional THSD 215 (Cook County)

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.

Capitol Buzz…

The deed is done.

On Wednesday, the Governor signed into law SB 1946 (Public Act 96-0889), the most draconian pension revision bill in the country. While the bill’s passage was applauded by the Governor and the members of the General Assembly as an historic reform, the reality is that the bill will have a detrimental impact on education for years to come.

Most significantly, the bill eliminated the 3 percent annually-compounded cost-of-living rate increase and replaces it with a simple interest raise of half of the consumer price index or 3 percent, whichever is lower.  What public employees should find troubling about this is that a similar bill, which applies to General Assembly members and judges, kept the 3 percent compounded cost of living increase. The bill has an effective date of Jan. 1 and will apply to anyone hired after that date.  So much for parity.

Other key provisions in the bill cap pensionable salary at $106,800 and raise the retirement age for full benefits to 67 with 10 years of service. How would you like to be a recruiter trying to sell that package to an education major graduate?

For some, that doesn’t seem like quite enough to stifle jobs and economic development. Some are calling for changes that would impact current members. We have already begun an analysis of a proposal and have found substantial support for our belief that any proposal that would seek to diminish the benefits of current members would face a stiff constitutional challenge.

Pension trailer bill

After rushing pension changes for our future members through the legislature, lawmakers are now deliberating whether or not to make “technical” changes to SB 1946, the legislation just signed by the Governor on Wednesday.  A fact sheet of the law can be found here. IEA is aware of many of the discussions going on within the legislature around the trailer bill and is under the belief that HB 6368 (Cullerton-D, Chicago) will be the bill that carries these “technical” changes.  The term “technical” means that currently, there does not seem to be a will to change any of the major benefit reductions recently legislated but that there is an understanding by those that supported these pension cuts that they passed flawed legislation that needs to be modified for it to be implemented.

SOS Rally Day

SOS Rally Day is April 21.  IEA has partnered with several other organizations and rally day is proving to be a fairly large event. We’re encouraging everyone to wear pink to the rally in support of those who have been RIF’d.  Click here for a list of things to keep in mind as you’re planning your trip:

The tentative schedule of events for the day, which is subject to change:

9 to 11 a.m.                Buses arrive at IEA HQ-visit legislators (time permitting)

11 to 11:30 a.m.            Walk to rally staging point at 2nd and Capitol

11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.    SOS rally speakers at 2nd and Capitol

12:15 p.m.                  Beginning of march

1 p.m.                      Visit legislators (time permitting)

(Lunch will be available at noon and served throughout the day. Members may eat at their leisure.)

Access to the Capitol will be limited at some point during the day due to the large number of people attending the SOS Rally Day.

Vouchers

SB 2494 (Meeks, D-Calumet City) creates the Illinois School Choice Program. The proposal would allow parents to obtain public vouchers to cover the cost of private schooling. Under SB 2494, a pilot program will be created in Chicago that would allow children from the worst-performing schools to use the vouchers.

The bill has been assigned to the House Executive Committee and will be heard on Thursday. We will testify in opposition to the bill citing several national studies that have evaluated similar voucher programs. The findings of those studies conclude that 1) there was no statistical difference in test scores in general between students who were offered the voucher and those who were not; 2) while the program had an overall positive impact on parents, the students did not report a positive impact on satisfaction or safety; and 3) even after being in the program for two years, the results were still the same.

Four-day school week

HB 4886 (Black, R-Danville) allows 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 plan provides that the district must ensure a minimum of 880 hours of student contact in addition to required institute days (instead of requiring a minimum term of 185 days). This bill is in response to a superintendent from Jamaica, Ill., a rural school district that is interested in curbing the of rising transportation and fuel costs while servicing large geographic districts. This bill is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Education Committee this week. The IEA opposes this bill.

Illinois State Board of Education Blue Ribbon Committee on Mandates

The Blue Ribbon Committee on Mandates was established through HJR 74 with the charge to make recommendations to the General Assembly on unnecessary and costly mandates in the School Code and the Administrative Code. The committee convened for the first time this Tuesday and Daryl Morrison, Education Policy and Agency Relations Director attended the meeting as the IEA’s representative on the committee.  The state board received 104 emails with more than 500 suggestions for changes to the law or regulations that impose mandates for school districts. The committee started to review the tabulations and posted the “Elimination of Mandates: Summary of Suggestions” report on its website.  Below are excerpts from the document:

• Health/life safety issues: 122 suggestions, of which 66 addressed laws regarding environmental issues and 43 addressed the requirements to have automated external defibrillators at indoor and outdoor athletic facilities.
• Curriculum: 80 suggestions, with 30 citing the requirement that physical education classes be provided daily. The remaining suggestions addressed instructional mandates generally or made specific references to units of instruction required under laws enacted in the last 10 years.
• Transportation: 59 suggestions, most of which addressed the requirement to have a two-way radio system in each bus (22) and for the use of biofuels (19).
• Employee issues: 49 suggestions. Twelve addressed requirements for staff training (in-service sessions, teacher institutes), while 10 cited teacher and principal mentoring programs and six pertained to criminal background checks.
• Special education: 48 suggestions. Among these suggestions, 17 were general comments, and 27 addressed the administrative rules regarding the proportion of special education students in a general education classroom (14) and response to intervention requirements (13).
• Driver education: 33 suggestions with all but two citing the requirements for the provision of behind-the-wheel instruction, which as of January 1, 2008, cannot be provided by methods other than on-the-road practice driving.

The committee did not have time to go through all of the suggested categories. The next Blue Ribbon Committee on Mandates will be held on April 27.  For more information regarding the Blue Ribbon Committee on Mandates, please visit the Illinois State Board of Education website.

What’s Next?

The General Assembly will be in session from Tuesday, April 20-Friday, April 23 of next week.  The committee deadline for substantive bills to pass out of committee is Friday, April 23 in both the House and the Senate.

A week never to forget

Where do we begin? Let’s start by defining the conditions we faced at the Capitol. The dictionary defines a  tsunami as a very large ocean wave caused by an underwater earthquake or volcanic eruption.  And quite simply that is what happened.

Those of us who are advocates for public education were hit by a tsunami of seismic proportion. The large wave came in the form of SB 1946, the two-tier pension proposal.

After several weeks of discussions between the Senate and organized labor, that underwater earthquake known as the Speaker of the House intervened and in less than 48 hours left a trail of destruction that will have irreversible effects.  Like most tsunamis, the intervention was abrupt and without regard for the relationships that had been developed over the years.

And like most tsunamis, there is always a second wave. This wave came in the form of SB 2494, which establishes a pilot voucher program in Chicago. Hard to say if this one will have the same impact as the first, but we need to be on high alert.

Back Home Lobby Days

For the next two weeks, we are asking you to participate in Back Home Lobby Days.  Our lobbying message now turns to a revenue increase to Save Our Schools, Save Our State.

These are the points that we would like you to address when talking with your legislators:

• Now is the time to demand that the General Assembly take action to pass a bill that substantially increases funding for public education, K-12 and higher education institutions.
• We need a significant revenue increase now! A 1 percent income tax surcharge is not enough; nothing short of HB 174 or its equivalent, is what is required. This can be a difficult sell, but there are effective ways to make this argument, see our Back Home Lobby Days Helpful Tips.

Five parts to our lobbying script:

1. OUR STORIES:  Local stories which focus on RIFs and program cuts which will destroy quality education in Illinois classrooms.
2. NO EXCUSES! For those that voted Yes on two-tier, they have no excuse not to support the much needed revenue. They have reform and now we need new revenue to prevent the harmful cuts that will have a devastating impact on public education.
3. LAWMAKERS’ CHOICE:  We believe lawmakers have a stark choice in front of them now – support the Governor’s budget proposal which represents $1.3 billion in cuts to education and the loss of nearly 20,000 jobs or approve a revenue increase this spring – November will be too late for our students.
4. OUR SOLUTION:  We call on you (lawmaker) to demand of your leaders an opportunity to vote yes for new revenues arising from HB 174 or its equivalent  before adjourning this Spring Legislative Session.
5. Say “yes” to our schools, our school employees, and our state.

Egregious pension changes for our future educators!

With lightening quick speed, the legislature passed SB 1946 (Cullerton, D-Chicago/Madigan, D-Chicago).  This is a bill that members of the IEA will remember.  The legislation was not negotiated or agreed to by any members of the educational community or labor.

The legislation will force our future members who participate in the Teachers’ Retirement System, the State Universities Retirement System, and the Illinois Municipal Retirement System to reach age 67 before being eligible to receive their unreduced retirement.  Illinois now has the highest retirement age requirement in the nation.  To receive a pension at age 67, future members will be required to have a minimum of 10 years of service.  Read the IEA fact sheet here.  There were additional benefit changes for future participants of TRS, SURS and IMRF.  Those include:

• Final average salary will now be the highest eight consecutive years of salary in the last 10 years of service.
• Maximum pensionable salary will be equal to $106,800 and indexed annually to 3 percent or half of the Consumer Price Index, whichever is less.
• Survivor benefits for future participants will be 66.6 percent of the deceased member’s earned pension.  The original survivor’s annuity will be increased annually by half of CPI or 3 percent, whichever is less.
• The elimination of double dipping.

IEA testified in opposition in both the committee meeting in the House and Senate.  Quotes attributable to IEA’s testimony were reported by numerous media outlets.

Legislators Voting No or Present on Two Tier Pension Legislation

No Vote – Sen. Larry Bomke, Sen. Michael Frerichs, Sen. Mike Jacobs, Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, Sen. John Millner, Sen. Dale Righter, Rep. Bill Black, Rep. Dan Brady, Rep. Rich Brauer, Rep. John Cavaletto, Rep. Will Davis, Rep. Paul Froehlich, Rep. Careen Gordon, Rep. Jay Hoffman, Rep. Eddie Jackson, Rep. Bill Mitchell, Rep. Don Moffitt, Rep. Rich Myers, Rep. Brandon Phelps, Rep. Raymond Poe, Rep. Al Riley, Rep. Chapin Rose, Rep. Jim Watson

Present Vote – Sen. Deanna Demuzio, Sen. Kirk Dillard, Sen. Gary Forby, Rep. Mike Bost, Rep. Roger Eddy, Rep. Jerry Mitchell, Rep. Randy Ramey, Rep. Dan Reitz, Rep. Skip Saviano, Rep. Pat Verschoore

Vouchers

The Senate took the unprecedented action of passing a voucher bill this week, a cause led by Sen. Meeks and other members of the Senate education committee. SB 2494 (Meeks, D-Calumet City) creates the Illinois School Choice Program. The proposal would allow parents to obtain public vouchers to cover the cost of private schooling. Under SB 2494, a pilot program will be created in Chicago that would allow children from the worst-performing schools to use the vouchers.

We testified in opposition to the bill citing several national studies that have evaluated similar voucher programs. The findings of those studies concludes that 1) there was no statistical difference in test scores in general between students who were offered the voucher and those who were not; 2) while the program had an overall positive impact on parents, the students did not report a positive impact on satisfaction or safety; and 3) even after being in the program for two years, the results were still the same.

Additionally, we testified to the fact that parents in both the Washington, D.C. and Milwaukee voucher programs reported the parochial schools were ill-equipped to deal with the special needs of their child. The bill passed out of the Senate on a 33-20-3 roll call. Rep. Will Davis has signed on as the chief sponsor in the House.

4-day school week

HB 4886 (Black, R-Danville) allows a school district, by resolution of its board, to operate on a 4-day school week plan approved by the Illinois State Board of Education. The plan provides that a school district that operates on a 4-day school week must ensure a minimum of 880 hours of student contact in addition to required institute days (instead of requiring a minimum term of 185 days). This bill is in response to rural school districts that are feeling the financial strains of rising transportation and fuel costs while servicing large geographic districts. This bill passed out of the House. The IEA opposes this bill.

School funding – working cash fund

SB 3544 (Crotty, D–Oak Forest)/HB 6041 (Eddy, R–Huntsville). Current law allows the transfer of working cash to the education fund to pay for “salaries and other necessary expenditures”.  These bills would change the statute to read working cash can be used for “any expenditure.”  IEA opposed these bills because we are not interested in expanding the use of the working cash fund beyond providing a cash flow buffer for districts and we want to limit the use of the fund so that we ensure the timely payment of salaries. SB 3544 passed the Senate with a vote of 38-16. HB 6041 passed the House with a vote of 113-2.

Unfunded mandates

SB 618, Amendment #1 (Sullivan, D–Rushville) would allow school districts to waive the requirements for physical education and behind-the-wheel instruction to be offered and Amendment #2 would raise the drivers education fee to $250 from $50. IEA opposes Senate Amendment#1. Neither amendment was called for a vote in committee. Since the deadline was not extended on this bill, no action will be taken on the bill. It is our understanding that the sponsor plans on working through these mandated issues via the Blue Ribbon Committee on Elementary and Secondary Education Mandates established by HJR 74.

Care of students with diabetes

SB 3822 (Steans, D–Chicago)/HB 6065 (Cross, R–Oswego) allows self-administration of medication by a pupil with diabetes, 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, and 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.

HB 6065 passed the House by a vote of 114 “yes” to 1 “no”.  We expect the senate bill to be considered when the Legislature returns in April.

Waivers

The IEA took the following position on school waiver requests this week:

• Oppose the eight waivers which would eliminate daily physical activity required by law.
• Oppose drivers education fee limits that request fees that exceed $250.00.
• Support the request to allow students to use computerized simulators and range driving for behind-the-wheel instruction required to be conducted in a car with dual operating controls operated on public roadways.

Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act

Rep. Bassi, R-Palatine, amended HB 5596 to allow the Chicago school board to reopen the CTU contract without both parties agreeing. No educational employee may strike during mediation or fact finding. Penalties for striking are: the exclusive bargaining agent shall be removed and declared ineligible for representation for 2 years; employer cannot deduct dues for the exclusive bargaining agent for 2 years; fines may be imposed on the bargaining rep and officers.  The IEA opposed this bill, which failed in committee.

Higher education

SB 642 (Haine, D-Alton)/John Bradley, D-Marion) allows all public universities to borrow money to fund operations and improve their cash flow position.  The state is far behind in payments to all public universities and the bill allows them to borrow against future tuition revenue and future payments from the state.  The bill is supported by IEA and needed to help universities make payroll.

HR 918 (Pritchard, R-Hinckley) establishes a commission to review higher education mandates.  The task force will complete a report by August 2010.  All mandates will be examined and categorized into four areas: 1) those state mandates that are health/safety in nature and designed to comply with federal laws; 2) those state mandates essential to the operation of the public university; 3) those state mandates that exceed federal requirements; and 4) those state mandates that are not essential to core academic programs.

The sponsor amended this resolution to ensure that IEA would have representation on the task force.

Labor relations

SB 2497 (Koehler, D–Peoria/Smith, D-Canton) would remove peace officers employed by school districts from representation under the Illinois Education Labor Relations Act and place them under the Illinois Labor Public Relations Act. The bill was amended to include peace officers employed by school districts which have their own police department in existence on the effective date of this amendatory act. The bill passed the Senate.

What’s next

The Legislature begins its Spring Break today.  They will resume legislative session on April 13.  During this time, we ask everyone to participate in Back Home Lobby Days.

IEA SOS Rally Day is April 21st and will be a huge event. Please contact your local IEA Regional Office and ask for the Lobby Day contact so that you can catch a ride to Springfield. Food will be provided.  For more information about what Lobby Day is all about please click on this video.

If you plan on meeting with your state legislators please call the state operator at 217-782-2000 to reach their Springfield legislative office and to set up an appointment to meet with them. You can find your legislator here.

The Capitol Buzz…

Governor’s budget address

On Wednesday, the Governor delivered his much anticipated budget address.  We all knew the numbers would be abysmal in terms of the challenges that the state faces and Gov. Pat Quinn stated them early on in the speech:

1. The state has a $13 billion budget deficit!
2. A $1.3 billion reduction in funding to public education, with the majority of that coming from grade schools and high schools.
3. Hold Harmless for General State Aid has been zeroed out.
4. A 20 percent reduction in mandated categoricals.
5. A loss of nearly $1 billion in federal money for education.

To the surprise of many, the speech was short. However, the real surprise came at the end of the speech when the Governor deviated from the presentation that had been distributed and proposed a 1 percent income tax increase with the proceeds dedicated to education. In our conversations with the Governor’s office, they have indicated that the details of that proposal are still being ironed out but the Governor intends for those funds to be an investment in our public education system at all levels.

Back Home Lobby Days

Between March 28^th and April 11^th, members of the General Assembly will be home on break. We anticipate that a good number of them will be accessible in their district offices to meet with their constituents and to discuss the important issues facing the state of Illinois.

As we did last year, we are encouraging all of our members and staff to take this opportunity to talk to legislators and impress upon them the need for revenue. The large number of RIF notices should provide an opportunity to impress upon legislators the need for revenue to Save our Schools and Save our State.

Here are some of the key components of HB 174 which would provide a comprehensive approach to addressing the funding needs of the State. It is our goal to educate the members of the General Assembly about the bill and to suggest that they use it as a framework for discussions about revenue.

HB 174 Highlights

HB 174 (Miller, D-Dolton/Cullerton, D-Chicago) would raise anywhere from $5 billion to $5.2 billion in new, recurring tax revenues, provide tax relief to homeowners and low income families, and provide additional funding for public schools, health and human services.

• The Illinois individual income tax rate increases to 5 percent from 3 percent.
• The Illinois corporate income tax rate increases to 5 percent from 4.8 percent.
• The standard exemption an individual taxpayer can claim against the state income tax increases to $3,000 from $2,000.
• Property tax relief is provided by doubling the state personal income tax credit individuals may claim for the local property taxes paid on their principal residence in Illinois, to 10 percent from 5 percent. The value of this credit is capped at $1,500.
• Tax fairness for low-income working families comes from a tripling of the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to 15 percent from 5 percent of the federal EITC claimed.
• The Illinois sales tax base is expanded to include 39 different consumer services that previously were untaxed. Most of the services Illinois will tax under HB 174 are already taxed by one or more of our neighboring states.
• Education funding will be enhanced starting in Fiscal Year 2011 with 33 and 1/3 percent of all new revenues generated from the tax increases in HB 174 annually going to the Common School Fund.
• Starting in FY 2012, 16 and 2/3 percent of all new revenues generated from the tax increases in HB 174 are allocated to the Higher Education Fund. The rest of the new revenue from HB 174 will go to the State General Revenue Fund (GRF).

We will provide more details in the Capitol Report the week of March 24^th and we will be discussing this at length at the Representative Assembly in Rosemont next week.

Race to the Top

Illinois is one of 16 finalists (15 states and the District of Columbia) for the RTTT grants. Each applicant can bring five participants to the interview. IEA Executive Director Audrey Soglin will represent IEA on the Illinois interview team.
The other Illinois participants are: State School Supt. Chris Koch, ISBE General Counsel/Deputy Supt. Darren Reisberg, ISBE Deputy Supt./Chief of Staff Susan C. Morrison and Illinois P-20 Council Chair Miguel del Valle.

The interview will take place Wednesday in Washington D.C.  The recipients of the first round of RTTT grants will be announced during the first week of April.

In January, the IEA Board of Directors voted to support Illinois’ application to participate in the RTTT.

Pensions

HB 5059 (Joyce, D-Chicago) would have forced the Teachers’ Retirement System, the State Universities Retirement System, and all public pension plans in Illinois to divest from any funds that trade derivatives in off markets or non-open markets. IEA opposed this legislation along with both TRS and SURS. The bill did not receive enough votes to pass out of the House Pensions Committee.

HB 5416 (McCarthy, D-Orland Park) ensures that the Teachers’ Retirement Insurance Program (TRIP) task force will be appointed and begin meeting four times a year after April 30. The purpose of the task force is to make recommendations to the General Assembly on any changes to the revenues of the plan and the benefits of the plan that are needed to ensure its long-term solvency. This IEA-supported bill, as amended, passed the House Pensions committee unanimously.

HB 5872 (Fortner, R-West Chicago) would create a defined contribution plan (401k) in TRS and the other state retirement systems. The plan would only call for pension contributions on salary in excess of the Social Security Wage Index (currently $106,800) to be placed into a defined contribution plan. The IEA is opposed to the creation of a defined contribution plan since our certified members do not receive Social Security. Additionally, the creation of a defined contribution plan would further strain the finances of TRS since this idea would require two retirement plans be funded instead of focusing on one and funding it properly. Rep. Fortner held a subject matter discussion during committee and expressed his hope that parts of his bill could be considered in any pension modernization proposals that may be developed this legislative session.

SB 2456 (Schoenberg, D-Evanston/McCarter, R-Lebanon) is an IEA initiative.  During the past legislative session IEA was successful in defeating a proposal by the State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias that would have stripped TRS and SURS of its investment oversight of our members’ retirement dollars. However, there is still a provision within the TRS and SURS articles of the Pension Code that would allow by a simple majority vote for the investment authority and oversight to be handed over to the Illinois State Board of Investments.  This legislation would protect our members’ investment oversight by increasing the number of votes by required to transfer oversight to the Illinois State Board of Investments. The legislation would require a three-fifths vote rather than a simple majority vote. This IEA initiative passed the Senate unanimously and now goes to the House for consideration where it will be sponsored by Rep. Pat Verschoore (D Rock Island). 

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

HB 5154 (Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora) 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 House by a vote of 70 “yes” and 39 “no” votes. It will now be considered in the Senate.

Student assistance health needs

HB 6065 (Cross, R–Oswego) creates the Care of Students with Diabetes Act and allows self-administration of medication by a pupil with diabetes and requires teachers and school personnel to volunteer to administer medication to pupils with diabetes. The IEA opposed this legislation. The bill passed out of the House Education committee with a vote of 15-3-1 and will be heard by the full House.

Higher education

HB 4706 (Winters, R-Shirland) removes the statutory 50 percent tuition waiver for a child of a public university employee.  This is a benefit used and valued by many of IEA’s higher education members.  The IEA opposed the bill and the sponsor was not able to find enough votes to get the bill passed out of House Higher Education Committee.  Therefore, the bill has died in committee.  However, the sponsor may amend this bill onto another bill later during the spring legislative session.  IEA will remain opposed to this initiative.

HR 918 (Pritchard, R-Hinckley) examines higher education mandates in order to try and identify those that are superfluous to the mission of a university.  The IEA asked the sponsor to amend the resolution to include an IEA representative on the task force.  IEA supported the resolution, with our ability to have input into the work of the task force.  The resolution passed out of House Higher Education Committee and now awaits the full vote of the Illinois House.

Unfunded mandates

HB 4711 (Eddy, R-Hutsonville) was amended to state that school districts have discretion in complying with any unfunded mandates that are passed by the General Assembly after the date of bill passage. The amendment makes this bill consistent with the IEA’s position on unfunded mandates. The IEA supports this bill and it is currently on second reading in the House.

College Insurance Program

HB 6162 (Currie, D-Chicago) allows retirees from City Colleges of Chicago to join the College Insurance Program (CIP).  In order to fund this move, all full time community college faculty and staff would see their statutory contributions to this fund increase from a half a percent of payroll to three-quarters of a percent of payroll.  The IEA opposes this bill as the additional retirees would strain a fund that is already running out of operating money.  This bill was held in the House Pension Committee.

Family military leave

SB 3818, Senate Amendment #1 (Hutchinson, D-Olympia Fields) amends the Family Military Leave Act to include a child or grandparent of a person called to military service lasting longer than 30 days. This bill passed the Senate unanimously and will now be considered in the House under the sponsorship of Rep. Dugan (D-Bradley).

Writing assessment

HB 6042 (Eddy, R-Hutsonville) removes the requirement that the state board of education test pupils in the third, fifth, sixth and eighth grades in writing, and that writing will not be included as part of the Prairie State Achievement Examination. The IEA opposed this bill, which failed to pass out of the House Elementary & Secondary Education Committee.

What’s next?

The Senate will be in session March 15-19 and March 23-25. March 19 is the Senate’s deadline to pass Senate bills out of that chamber.  The House will be in session on March 16-19 and March 22-26. The House’s deadline for passage of House bills is March 26.

IEA Lobby Day

IEA Lobby Day is April 21st and will be a huge event. Please contact your local IEA Regional Office and ask for the Lobby Day contact so that you can catch a ride to Springfield. Food will be provided.  For more information about what Lobby Day is all about please click on this video.

If you plan on meeting with you state legislators please call the state operator at 217-782-2000 to reach their Springfield legislative office and to set up an appointment to meet with them. You can find your legislator here.  Unless you schedule a meeting time with your legislator before making the trip to Springfield, you will find it difficult to meet with them due to tight schedules during the spring legislative session.

Special Note

Due to our involvement with the Representative Assembly, there will be no Capitol Report dated March 19.

The Capitol Buzz…

Off to the races!

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Education named the 16 finalists in the first round of its “Race to the Top” competition, which will deliver $4.35 billion in school reform grants to chosen states, AND ILLINOIS IS ONE OF THE FINALISTS. 

The grants are designed to reward states that have exhibited progress in boosting student achievement scores by developing strong standards, getting high-quality teachers in the classroom and turning around low-performing schools. The winners will be selected in April. 

The announcement is very timely in light of the fact that Sen. Meeks (D-Calumet City) has introduced a voucher bill (SB 2494) that would allow the students in Chicago attending schools whose performance is in the lowest 10 percent to receive a voucher to attend a parochial or private school of their choice. Sen. Meeks, who had been the chief sponsor of HB 174, the school funding reform bill, has expressed frustration with the lack of funding for public schools and sees vouchers as the only alternative. IEA testified in opposition to the Meeks’ proposal and has made the point that the Race to the Top grant and School Improvement Grants would provide some of the funding for low performing schools that Meeks is looking for.  

Special note:

This week was the final week for the Senate to move bills out of committee to be heard on the floor for final action. Often there are unresolved issues and the sponsor, advocates and opponents will continue to work on bills with an attempt to come to an agreement. In these cases, the sponsor will agree to “hold” the bill on second reading until an agreement is reached and then bring the bill back to committee for an amendment reflecting any changes. We refer to this process several times in our report on issues ranging from unfunded mandates to school funding issues. 

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia (D-Aurora) made good on her word and called HB 5154 for a vote in the House State Government Committee. The proposal 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. The bill passed out of committee with bipartisan support on an 11-2 roll call.

Student assistance health needs

SB 3822 (Steans, D–Chicago) creates the Care of Students with Diabetes Act, which:

• Allows self-administration of medication by a pupil with diabetes.
• 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. 

The IEA opposed this legislation. The bill passed out of the Senate Public Health committee unanimously and will be heard by the full Senate. 

SB 2929 (Kotowski, D-Park Ridge) requires that when a student needs to receive any medication in school or during school activities, a medication management plan be established and requires that absent a full-time school nurse, the school principal must appoint, supervise, and coordinate the training of a designated health care aide to perform the tasks necessary to assist a student in accordance with the plan. 

IEA opposes this bill which was held in the Senate Education committee this week and then transferred to the Senate Public Health committee for consideration next week. 

Higher education issues

Tuition waivers

HB 4706 (Winters, R-Shirland) removes the statutory provision for 50 percent tuition waivers for children of university employees. This IEA-opposed bill was not called for a vote in the House Higher Education Committee. 

University borrowing authority

SB 642, Amendment #1 (Haine, D-Alton) allows all public universities to borrow funds in anticipation of receiving tuition, state of Illinois appropriations or other revenue sources to be paid back within 12 months. 

IEA supports this bill. The bill passed the Senate and moves to the House. 

College Insurance Program

HB 6162 (Currie, D-Chicago) and SB 3532 (Trotter, D-Chicago) allow retirees from City Colleges of Chicago to join the College Insurance Program (CIP).  In order to fund this move, all full time community college faculty and staff would see their statutory contributions to this fund increase from a half a percent of payroll to three-quarters of a percent of payroll.  The IEA opposes these bills as the additional retirees would strain a fund that is already running out of operating money.  Neither bill was called for a vote this week but the House bill could be called for a vote next week. 

School funding

The IEA, in alliance with a number of educational organizations, sent a letter to members of the Senate and House revenue committees conveying that we are committed to funding education and are opposed to all legislation that would erode the state’s tax base and/or the local property tax base available for schools in this time of fiscal turmoil. Last week the Taxpayer’s Federation of Illinois took the same stand as our alliance.  Read the letter here. 

SB 3086 (Raoul, D-Chicago) requires that every bill that creates a new program or service that will be provided by the ISBE, shall include a budget impact note. The IEA-supported bill passed unanimously in committee. 

SB 3106 (DeLeo, D-Chicago) would allow school districts that are within property tax cap districts to exempt from the tax cap levies for special education expenses.  IEA supported this legislation that moved to the full Senate. 

SB 3117 (Garrett, D–Lake Forest/McCarter, R–Lebanon) extends the time period for allowing interfund transfers by three years, from June 30, 2010 to June 30, 2013. The IEA-supported bill passed unanimously in the Senate Education committee. 

SB 3139 (Harmon, D-Oak Park) would allow the debt limit that a school district can use without referendum to grow at the same rate of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or 5 percent, whichever is lower.  Currently, to increase a district’s debt limit they must go to referendum.  IEA supported this legislation.  This bill passed Revenue Committee unanimously. 

SB 3544 (Crotty, D-Oak Forest) and HB 6041 (Eddy, R-Hutsonville) current law allows the transfer of working cash to the education fund to pay “salaries and other necessary expenditures” and this legislation would change this to “any expenditure.”  It moves the basic use from a reserve to take care of cash flow and opens up the possibility of using working cash to pay for a building.  Although the bill passed out of committee, Sen. Crotty agreed to hold the bill on 2^nd reading until further conversations could be conducted.  IEA testified in opposition to this measure. 

SB 3609 (Demuzio, D-Carlinville) provides that ISBE, in consultation with the state comptroller, may transfer line item appropriations for General State Aid between the Common School Fund and the Education Assistance Fund (instead of from the Common School Fund to the Education Assistance Fund) and removes the requirement that the salaries for regional superintendents and assistant regional superintendents of schools be payable from the Common School Fund. The IEA-supported bill passed unanimously in the Senate Education committee. 

Pensions

HB 4582 (Davis, Monique, D-Chicago) would appropriate to the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund (CTPF) an amount equal to 20 percent of the state’s contribution to the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS). This contribution would be in addition to, and not a deduction from, the pension contribution to TRS.  This legislation states that it would be implemented in the current fiscal year.  If this becomes law, CTPF would receive a contribution from the state equal to an estimated $400 million.  The state is facing a financial crisis and is having issues funding the current state retirement funds as it stands now.  Since there is real concern that the state may not meet its pension payment obligation to TRS and SURS, the IEA opposed this legislation. 

HB 5872 (Fortner, R-West Chicago) would create a defined contribution plan (401k) in TRS and the other state retirement systems.  The plan would only call for pension contributions on salary in excess of the Social Security Wage Index (currently $106,800) to be placed into a defined contribution plan.  The IEA is opposed to the creation of a defined contribution plan since our certified members do not receive Social Security.  Additionally, the creation of a defined contribution plan would further strain the finances of TRS since this idea would require two retirement plans be funded instead of focusing on one and funding it properly.  Watch for the action on this item next week when it is expected to be considered in committee. 

SB 3663 (Noland, D-Elgin) would allow our non-certified members that participate in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund employed at a special educational cooperative or educational cooperative to be eligible to accumulate sick leave between multiple IMRF educational employers.  Last year, IEA was successful in passing legislation that allows ESPs employed in a school district to be able to accumulate their sick leave between multiple school district employers if they retired from a school district.  Cooperatives were not included in the legislation last year.  IEA supported this measure that passed out of committee. 

SB 3726 (Frerichs, D-Gifford/Bomke, R-Springfield) as amended, 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 IEA supported this measure. 

Early childhood

SB 2594 (Lightford, D-Maywood) removes the “sunset date” for preschool educational program grants. The IEA supported bill passed unanimously in committee. 

SB 3507 (Jones, D–Chicago) is a proposal to have the Illinois Early Learning Council make recommendations for the early childhood block grant appropriations needed to make available high quality early childhood and family education programs and services to all eligible children.  The IEA-supported bill passed unanimously in the Senate Education committee. 

Bullying

SB 3266 (Lightford, D-Maywood) requires a new comprehensive policy in every school district regarding bullying. The bill requires new bullying reporting and investigation provisions for school districts and requires the district to maintain data that records each bullying complaint and the result of the district’s investigation into the complaint. The bill calls for a handful of districts to test the idea if money is appropriated to the ISBE for this purpose. The IEA-supported bill passed the Senate Education committee 6-3-1. 

Criminal background checks

SB 3375 (Haine, D-Alton) provides that if a criminal background check reveals certain convictions, then the person is ineligible for employment and shall be dismissed.  IEA testified in opposition to this school management initiative. Although the bill passed out of committee, Sen. Haine agreed to hold the bill on 2^nd reading until further conversations could be conducted. 

Labor relations

SB 2497 (Koehler, D-Peoria) would remove peace officers, employed by school districts, from representation under the Illinois Education Labor Relations Act and place them under the Illinois Labor Public Relations Act. 

The IEA testified in opposition to this legislation.  The bill passed out of the Senate Labor committee, and is still in discussion.” 

SB 3570 (Forby, D-Benton) removes language from the Educational Labor Relations Act that provides that the term “student” includes graduate assistants primarily performing duties that are pre-professional. 

The IEA supported this bill which passed committee unanimously. 

What’s next

Both chambers will be in session Tuesday through Thursday.  The House will be working toward their deadline for bills to be passed out of committee, while the Senate will be considering bills which have already passed out of committee. 

The annual IPACE dinner, which will be held during the IEA Representative Assembly on March 19, is now “sold out”, due in large part to the popularity of the entertainment, The Capitol Steps. 

Please make your plans now to attend this year’s IEA Lobby Day on April 21.

Tell Governor Quinn How You Feel About the Proposed State Budget

We are encouraging IEA members to tell the man in charge of the state budget their stories about the RIFs and program cuts that are threatening districts statewide. You can post a comment to the Governor’s budget website, tell your story and try to impact the budget that he will unveil next week.  Watch this short video that explains what you need to do.

Remember, posting to the governor’s site gives you the best opportunity to impact the budget, so, even if you post to the IEA Website, be sure to post to the Governor’s budget website as well.

The IEA encourages your comments during the period of March 1-5.  You may wish to provide stories about the devastating impact expected RIFs will have on the delivery of quality instruction in the state, and what is and what will be the painful reality for Illinois students as a result of the state’s unwillingness to fund education appropriately.  Our fight is about increasing revenues in Illinois and our target is state government.

Call to action on prohibiting strikes

SB 3766 (Burzynski, R-Sycamore) would prohibit strikes during the regular school term.  We ask you to call members of senate labor committee by Wednesday and ask them to vote against SB 3766, which infringes on your collective bargaining rights.

Members on senate labor committee are:  Sen. Forby (D-Benton), Sen. Holmes (D-Aurora), Sen. Pankau (R-Roselle), Sen. Crotty (D-Oak Forest), Sen. E. Jones (D-Chicago), Sen. Hutchinson (D-Olympia Fields), Sen. Lightford (D-Maywood), Sen. Maloney (D-Chicago), Sen. Althoff (R-Crystal Lake), Sen. Cronin (R-Elmhurst) and Sen. Hultgren (R-Winfield).

To contact these legislators, simply call the state telephone operator at 217-782-2000 and ask to be connected to one of these legislators.

FOIA changes

HB 5154 (Chapa La Via, D-Aurora) amends the Personnel Record Review Act and provides that the disclosure of performance evaluations under the act is prohibited. This bill was posted to the House State Government Administration committee this week but was not heard or called for a vote. Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office changed their position of neutrality to one of opposition. In light of this development, the bill was held this week and may be heard in committee next week.

Pensions

HB 5506 (Kosel, R-New Lenox) would limit the maximum salary of future active members that could be used to determine their pension for those that will participate in the Teachers’ Retirement System, the State Universities Retirement System, the Judges Retirement System, and the State Employees Retirement System after July 1.  The bill limits pensionable salary at retirement to that of the Governor’s salary.  The legislation was held in committee after a thorough debate with regard to the overall discussion of pension issues that may need to be modernized.  The IEA opposed this legislation since there are a number of technical issues with the bill and that it does not conform to the IEA Legislative Platform.

HB 5511 (Eddy, R-Hutsonville) would allow the Paris Cooperative High School to participate in IMRF as a participating instrumentality. It would also require the school districts making up the district to make any required contributions, if the governing body of the co-op is unable to pay the required employer contributions.  This bill was supported by the IEA and now goes to the full House.

SB 2456 (Schoenberg, D Evanston and McCarter, R-Lebanon) is an IEA initiative.  During the past legislative session IEA was successful in defeating a proposal by the State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias that would have stripped TRS and SURS of its investment oversight of our members’ retirement dollars.  However, there is still a provision within the TRS and SURS articles of the Pension Code that would allow by a simple majority vote for the investment authority and oversight to be handed over to the Illinois State Board of Investments which manages the retirement assets of the Judges Retirement System, the State Employees Retirement System, and the General Assembly Retirement System.  Sen. Schoenberg’s and Senator McCarter’s legislation would protect our members’ investment oversight of their own retirement fund by increasing the number of votes by each board of trustees required to transfer this type of oversight to the Illinois State Board of Investments.  The legislation would require a three-fifths vote rather than a simple majority vote.  This IEA initiative passed the committee unanimously and now goes before the full Senate.

Vouchers

SB2494 (Meeks, D-Chicago) creates the Illinois School Choice Program, which shall be administered by the State Board of Education. The proposal allows non-public schools that meet requirements to enroll students attending Chicago District 299 schools ranked within the lowest 10 percent of schools based on state testing by using a voucher.

IEA testified in strong opposition to the bill.  We applauded Meeks for his support of public education and then talked about the efforts in the Senate on HB 174. We pointed out that efforts were being made at the federal level via the RTTT application to focus on underperforming schools. We also spoke to the School Improvement Grants that focus on underperforming schools.

On the substantive issues, we testified as to how vouchers fail kids because: there is no link between vouchers and gains in student achievement; vouchers undermine accountability to taxpayers (especially at time when there is more accountability being placed on public schools); vouchers fail to give parents real educational choice; and there is public opposition to vouchers in 13 states.

No vote was taken and the bill will be heard in the Senate Executive Education Subcommittee again next week.

Non-resident student transfers

SB 2496 (Meeks, D-Chicago) would require a school district to enroll non-resident pupils of the school district without charging these students tuition as long as these students are residents of this State. IEA opposed the measure.

Education stakeholders testified that the measure would need to adjust the state funding formula to be seriously considered. Illinois schools presently receive about two thirds of their funding through local property taxes. Under the Meeks’ proposal, the property tax funding does not follow the child so when they go to another school district, the cost of that student is not built into the property taxes you pay, because they are not a member of the district.

This proposal will also be heard again next week in the subcommittee.

Unfunded mandates

SB 2980 (Maloney, D-Chicago) would allow a school board to waive, by resolution, any statutory or regulatory curricular mandate for which the school district does not receive a separate state appropriation through ISBE or reimbursement by the state to extend the school day or year. The bill would exempt special education requirements, graduation requirements, and any curricular mandate directly related to an Illinois Learning Standards. It also provides that if a student requests information on any curricular mandate that has been waived, then the school district shall provide the student with the requested information.

The IEA supports this concept but did not take a position on this bill yet. We raised some concerns to the bill sponsor about a more clear definition of curricular mandates and if an area such as bilingual education or special education was not appropriated money, if the school board could waive that mandate. Sen. Maloney agreed that these were legitimate concerns and will bring forth an amendment to address these issues. After working with the sponsor and viewing the amendment, the IEA will decide if we want to support this initiative.

The bill passed the Senate Education committee unanimously and will return to committee to consider an amendment.

SB 3000 (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, 2014. The 15 member Task Force includes a representative from the IEA. This IEA-supported bill passed the Senate Education committee unanimously.

Community college funding

SB 2548 (Demuzio, D-Carlinville) provides that the Illinois Community College Board shall certify, prepare, and submit monthly vouchers (rather than quarterly vouchers) to the State Comptroller setting forth an amount equal to one-twelfth (instead of 25%) of the grants approved by the State Board for base operating grants and equalization grants. Effective July 1, 2010. This IEA supported bill passed out of the Senate State Government and Veterans Affairs committee.

University furloughs

HB 4644 (Poe, 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 House Pensions committee unanimously and now proceeds to the House floor.  The IEA supported this legislation.

Tax Increment Finance (TIF) districts

SB 3152 (Link, D-Vernon Hills) amends the Tax Increment Allocation Redevelopment Act in the Illinois Municipal Code. Provides that, for each redevelopment project area, municipalities must submit to (i) the state Comptroller and (ii) all taxing districts overlapping the redevelopment project area a list of all intergovernmental agreements in effect during the fiscal year to which the municipality is a party and an accounting of any moneys transferred or received by the municipality during that fiscal year pursuant to those intergovernmental agreements.  This IEA supported legislation now goes before the Senate.

Other Senate education bills

SR 560 (Lightford, D-Maywood) creates the Task Force on Eliminating Racial Bias in Suspensions and Expulsions to examine the causes of the racial gap in suspension and expulsion rates.  The Task Force report is to submit a report to the General Assembly by May 1, 2010. The 15 member Task Force includes a representative from the IEA.  Any recommendations may be included in SB 2489. The IEA supported resolution passed the Senate Education committee unanimously.

Other House education bills

HB 5322 (Currie, D-Chicago) removes a sunset provision on funding for the benefit of children who because of their home and community environment are subject to such language, cultural, economic and like disadvantages that they have been are determined as a result of screening procedures to be at risk of academic failure. The IEA supports this legislation. It passed out of committee by a unanimous vote.

Lobby Day

Please check the IEA Website for additional Lobby Day information.  Lobby Day will be held on April 21.

What’s Next

The House will be in session Tuesday through Thursday next week. The Senate will be in session Tuesday through Friday, with Friday being the deadline for substantive bills to be passed out of Senate committees.  The majority of both chambers’ time will be spent hearing bills in committee.  The House’s deadline for substantive bills to be voted out of committee will be next week on March 12.

The Governor’s budget address has been rescheduled to March 10.

The Capitol Buzz…

IEA Director of Government Relations Jim Reed is encouraging IEA members to tell the man in charge of the state budget their stories about the RIFs and program cuts that are threatening districts statewide. You can email Gov. Quinn, tell your story and try impact the budget the he will unveil next month.

Responsible Budget Coalition rally

Thousands of Illinoisans flooded the Statehouse rotunda Wednesday with a single message “We can’t wait for a responsible budget” in a rally sponsored by the Responsible Budget Coalition. IEA is a coalition member.  The crowd heard from more than a dozen speakers who called on the General Assembly to face up to the revenue problems that are forcing cuts in state services for children, the sick and the elderly and causing schools statewide to threaten thousands of employees with layoffs. The General Assembly must pass a responsible budget with real new revenues this spring. Delay is unacceptable.

IEA President Swanson’s spoke at the rally. See a video of his comments.

IEA members are urged to contact their state legislators and push them to support a responsible budget that would preserve education quality and save jobs for public education employees statewide.

Please come to the IEA Lobby Day, slated for April 21. Our members need to show up in mass numbers to show legislators that we demand education be funded and that we need them to show leadership in getting it.

Grassroots activists gather

This weekend more than 120 IEA grassroots political activists (GPAs) will be meeting to learn more about upcoming federal issues like the Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization and state school funding and pension issues.

Unfunded mandates

HB 4711 (Eddy, R-Hutsonville) would allow school districts to opt out of unfunded mandates. IEA supports fully funding mandates, but not funding some by cutting others. So, IEA opposes the bill. It passed a House committee 13-5-1. Please see the IEA position on Unfunded Mandates here.

Interfund transfers

HB 4780 (Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora) extends the time period to June 20, 2013 during which non-Chicago school districts can transfer money from specified funds for any purpose. IEA supports. It passed out of a House committee unanimously.

Higher Education

HB 4706 (Winters, R-Shirland) eliminates tuition discount for university employees’ kids. IEA opposes. Bill in rules committee)

SB 416, Senate Amendment #1 (Cullerton, D-Chicago) allows several state universities to borrow funds, secured by future tuition revenues and state appropriations.  IEA supports.  The bill is on third reading.

SB 3532 (Trotter, D-Chicago) and HB 6162 (Currie, D-Chicago) allow retirees from City Colleges of Chicago to receive benefits under the College Insurance Program. The measure triples contributions of all full-time active community college faculty and staff.  IEA opposes. Bill in rules committee.

HJR 93 (Crespo, D-Hoffman Estates) makes the Illinois Board of Higher Education complete a report by June 1 to determine whether performance-based funding is feasible for community colleges and universities.

What’s Next

Both the House and Senate will be in session Tuesday through Thursday next week. The majority of their time will be spent hearing bills in committee.  The Senate’s deadline for substantive bills to be voted out of committee is March 5, while the House’s deadline is March 12.

The governor’s budget address has been rescheduled to March 10.

The Capitol Buzz…

Though only two weeks old, the spring session of the General Assembly has the potential to be one of the most bizarre and unpredictable sessions many of us have seen.

The legislative process usually goes like this: bills are introduced; they are assigned to committee and then negotiations begin to work out the differences that the proponents and opponents have with the proposal. Once that is hashed out, the bill comes to the floor for a vote and then either goes to the other chamber for a vote or dies in the chamber of origin.

This year, the negotiations have begun before some bills have been formally introduced. This means that there is much less opportunity for discussion in committee and that the fate of a bill may sometimes be a foregone conclusion before it even gets to the floor for a vote. The result is that we all have to be vigilant about educating ourselves about legislative proposals as we become aware of them.

For the 96^th General Assembly, there have been more than 6,200 House bills and 3800 Senate bills introduced. It is also important to remember that just because a bill is introduced does not mean it will pass both chambers, be heard on the floor or even be heard in committee. Sometimes legislators will talk about a bill as if it is moving through the process even though it was never assigned to a committee.

The IEA Capitol Report is a weekly synopsis of those bills that are moving through the legislative process. If you have a concern about a specific bill you may have heard of, please don’t hesitate to contact the IEA Government Relations Department about the progression of bill.  You may contact us at 217-544-0706, or 100 E. Edwards, Springfield, IL  62706.

View a video of Jim Reed discussing the latest Capitol Report

Budget Discussions

The Governor’s Budget address has been pushed back to March 10, 2010.  The Governor requested the extension in a letter to the General Assembly so that he could gather information from the general public and to allow for public comment on a website.

There is going to be a lot of discussion about how to address the budget deficit and how the budget for FY2011 should be crafted.

Some of the “fixes” will include revenue, cuts, “strategic borrowing” and assistance from the federal government. Along the way, you will hear rumors and speculation about how that is going to be done. Some say that the negotiations will result in a substantial reduction in education funding.  Some have publicly stated that a reduction in the general state aid to schools, which would result in a substantial reduction in the foundation levels, might be an inevitable result of the gridlock.

Before you take this or any other predictions as fact, we would request that you reach out to your leaders and assigned lobbyist for verification. Those individuals will be in the best position to give you the most recent and accurate information about the state of the budget negotiations.

Issues of interest

Here are a few of the topics that are already being discussed in great detail that we want to make you aware of.  Fewer opportunities for public engagement could result in the perception that you all were not as well informed as you should have been. We want to avoid that as much as possible and give you the heads up early in the game.

Revenue– The most prominent proposal, HB 174 (Miller, D-Dolton/Cullerton, D-Chicago), has been used as the framework for an income tax increase. Other legislative proposals on revenue include taxation on income in excess of $100,000, and a cigarette tax.

Hold harmless– There have been several proposals that would call for the elimination of funds that have been designated as “hold harmless” in an effort to fill in the gaps that some districts are facing.  However, any proposals that would seek to reduce “hold harmless” grants will have to be discussed as part of a larger conversation regarding sustainable school funding.

Unfunded mandates-There are a number of proposals that are seeking to limit compliance with school mandates. Unfunded school mandates have been targeted by many legislators as a possible cost saving measure for school districts. Currently, the IEA is studying the impact any of these bills would have on students and employee working conditions.

• HB 4711 (Eddy, R-Hutsonville) – School districts would no longer need to comply with any unfunded mandates
• HB 5136 (Black, R-Danville) – Allows districts whose waiver requests are denied to appeal to a state board advisory committee.
• HB 5889 (Pihos, R-Glen Ellyn) – School districts are not required to comply with any instructional mandates beginning July 1, 2010.
• SB 2980 (Maloney, D-Chicago) – School districts would no longer need to comply with any unfunded mandates.
• SB 3000 (Garrett, D-Highwood) – Creates the Instructional Mandates Task Force.

Student medical needs in schools– The issue of school personnel handling a variety of student health needs has been rapidly growing over the past couple of years. This year there are five bills introduced to address the medical needs of students. Each of these bills places additional responsibility on school districts, teachers, and school personnel.

• SB 2929 (Kotowski, D-Park Ridge) – Requires medication management plans for students.
• SB 3471(Steans, D-Chicago) – Deals with student asthma action plans for students.
• SB 3472 (Steans, D-Chicago) – Addresses self-administration of medication by a pupil with asthma.
• HB 6065 (Cross, R-Oswego) – Allows self-administration of medication by a pupil with diabetes and requires school personnel to volunteer to administer medication to pupils with diabetes.
• SB 3822 (Steans, D-Chicago) – Same as HB 6065.

The IEA supports a task force to look at all school health issues (asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, food allergies, etc.).  Such a task force was created in HJR 46 and would allow us to discuss in detail the needs of students, hear from experts in the field, and also allow us to react to student health issues comprehensively.

Until the task force can convene and act, we will continue to work on each of these bills to best address the needs of the students and ensure adequate training of school personnel to accommodate the needs of students, while protecting teachers from civil liability.

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)-At the beginning of the year, in conjunction with the Race to the Top legislation, SB 315 (Lightford, D-Maywood/Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora) passed the General Assembly and was signed by the Governor. One of the provisions that was a part of that bill was the exemption of performance evaluations from FOIA for teachers, principals and administrators. Noticeably absent from that list were Higher Ed members and ESPs. Despite arguments to the contrary, the House leadership refused to expand the list. The chief sponsors of SB 315 were aware of the negotiations around the FOIA issue and were amenable to a discussion once the spring session began.

Some of the bills that have surfaced thus far that would expand the FOIA coverage beyond the current law are:

• HB 5154 (Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora) -A blanket prohibition on the disclosure of all performance evaluations.
• HB 3588 (Cross, R-Oswego)-Gives an employer who receives a request for records of a disciplinary report, letter of reprimand, or other disciplinary action in relation to an employee under FOIA to provide notification to the employee in written form or electronic mail.
• SB 2497 (Forby, D-Benton)-Public Labor Relations Act redefines “public employee” to include peace officers employed by school districts.
• HB 5069 (Verschoore, D-Milan) – Restores this section of FOIA back to what it was prior to the change that went into effect on January 1, 2010.

Pensions (The Fight Continues)-During the past legislative session we were resolute in our opposition to any sort of proposal that would reduce pension benefits afforded to our future colleagues (aka:  a two-tier pension system).  The year is a new one but the fight remains the same.  We continue to fight any sort of two-tier pension proposal because our benefits are mainstream nationally. Additionally, this proposal exists only because of the state’s failure to fund our members’ modest benefits while IEA members always make their pension contribution for their benefit, regardless of the economy.  Be prepared and ready to answer the call to protect our retirement security by visiting our website often to review IEA fact sheets on pension reform and by reviewing page 28 of the Pension Modernization Task Force Report.  Bills continue to be introduced to implement two-tier.  A few are:

HB 5418 (McCarthy-D, Orland Park)-would force our future colleagues to work until age 67 or until age 62 if they had 35 years of service.

SB 3408, SB 3409 (Brady-R, Bloomington) HB 4593 and HB 5872 (Fortner-R, West Chicago)-would establish Defined Contribution retirement plans (similar to a 401-k) for those that are K-12 members in TRS and IEA members in SURS.

It is worth noting that these are just a few of the bills that were introduced recently dealing with our members’ retirement benefits.  There are many others. There is legislation out there that would put ESP’s into a two-tier pension plan.  We need to remember that all members of our organization are in this fight together.  If it happens to one group of our membership, all of the others are next.

Civil Service University Staff Furloughs

Late in 2009, the State Universities Civil Service System (SUCSS) proposed rule changes for civil service university staff that would mandate a university’s ability to impose furloughs without bargaining the decision.  IEA is working with a coalition of labor organizations to oppose those rules changes.  The proposed rules changes were rejected at a Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) meeting on February 9.

IEA opposed these rules because the decision to impose furloughs is economically motivated.  Under 20 years of Illinois Education Labor Relations Act (IELRA) rulings, economically motivated furloughs must be bargained with both the decision and the impact.

This issue will probably resurface later during the spring 2010 legislative session.

What’s Next

The Senate and the House of Representatives will reconvene on Tuesday, February 16.

On February 17, thousands will rally at the Illinois Statehouse for a Responsible Budget. The Rally begins at 11 am.  For more information, go to the Responsible Budget Coalition page on our website. IEA is a member of the Responsible Budget Coalition.

Please mark your calendars for April 21-IEA Lobby Day.  If you are unable to attend Lobby Day in Springfield, you will be able to lobby your legislators through the IEA website.  Details will be available soon.

(Listen to an audio only version of this report)

So, this is what happens when you have an early primary date.

By now, all of you have seen the results of the February 2nd primary election. To say things didn’t go as planned is an understatement.  As a state and as an organization, we are faced with greater challenges than we ever could have imagined.

Going into this election, we were excited about the opportunity to make a real difference and show we can impact elections at the state level. In some cases, we did that. In the Democratic race for Comptroller, its clear that IEA had an impact.  We played a big role in getting State Representative David Miller across the finish line. Additionally, most of the IPACE recommended candidates that ran for the General Assembly were winners on Tuesday.

However, in the race for Governor, we fell short. We know that the turnout among voters in the general public was well below what was anticipated. It is our hope that the same is not true for IEA members.  It is clear that, in both the Democratic and Republican gubernatorial elections, IEA members could have made the difference for Dan Hynes and Kirk Dillard.

Over the next few weeks, we expect to know who the candidates for governor will be from both major parties.

Looking toward the fall election, IEA Government Relations will do everything necessary to inform our leaders, members and staff about the importance of getting the vote out in support of IPACE/IEA-recommended candidates.

It’s not enough for the IPACE and the IEA Board of Directors to identify the individuals who care about public education, who care about teachers and who care about sustaining the pension system that we currently have in place.  The more than 138,000 IEA members need to support those candidates and urge others to do so.

Below is a listing of the results from Tuesday’s Primary Election for those IPACE-recommended candidates who were in contested primary races.

IPACE-Recommended Candidates
2010 Primary Election
Governor
Kirk Dillard	Republican		No winner declared yet.
Dan Hynes	Democrat		Lost
Comptroller
David Miller	Democrat		Won
Illinois State Senate
Senate District	Candidate	Political Affiliation
1	Tony Munoz	Democrat	Won
7	Heather Steans	Democrat	Won
Illinois House of Representatives
House District	Candidate	Political Affiliation
4	Cynthia Soto	Democrat	Won
10	Annazette Collins	Democrat	Won
11	Ann Williams	Democrat	Won
18	Eamon Kelly	Democrat	Lost
32	Andre Thapedi	Democrat	Won
40	Joe Laiacona	Democrat	Lost
41	Brien Sheahan	Republican	Lost
50	Kay Hatcher	Republican	Won
60	Eddie Washington	Democrat	Won
62	Sandy Cole	Republican	Won
94	Rich Myers	Republican	Won
114	Eddie Jackson	Democrat	Won

Responsible Budget Coalition

Schools, child care providers and other public services are facing massive budget cuts due to the state budget crisis.  Illinois needs a real budget solution that will fairly raise the revenue needed to stop cuts and fully fund vital services.

On February 17, thousands will rally at the Illinois Statehouse for a Responsible Budget. Rally begins at 11 am.  For more information, go to the Responsible Budget Coalition page on our website.

IEA is a member of the Responsible Budget Coalition.

What’s Next

The Senate will be in Session on Monday, February 8, and the House of Representatives comes back Tuesday, February 9.  Thursday, February 11 is the deadline for introduction of substantive bills in each chamber.

Please mark your calendars for April 21 – IEA Lobby Day.