Advocacy

Special Session Concludes: What You Need to Know

We dodged a cannon ball.

In a whirlwind abbreviated special session, the General Assembly approved a FY 21 budget (SB 264, sponsored by Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill and Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago) that avoids severe cuts to schools, local governments or skipping the state’s full statutory pension payment.

Quite the outcome, to say the least. For schools, K-12 education funding will be held at the same level as in the current budget. Districts will receive level funding for mandated categorical payments and early childhood programs, as well as an increase in special education reimbursement.

How did that happen, given the revenue shortfall? Federal assistance.

The state plans to borrow up to $5 billion from a special Federal Reserve program. The idea is the money would serve as a sort of a bridge loan to cover the state’s cash needs until Congress, hopefully, comes through with an aid package to state governments, allowing the state of Illinois to repay the loan quickly.

The General Assembly plans to use the initial help from Washington to fill a nearly $6 billion hole. The state operating budget is $42.8 billion for next year, but revenue is forecasted to be $36.96 billion.

Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, the House’s chief budget negotiator, framed it as an attempt “to pick the best of a bunch of bad options.” Alternative plans discussed were a 35 percent across the board cut to every spending line in the budget, a lump sum budget or shorting payments to the pension systems. 

Reasonable people can disagree whether this is the right approach, given it’s not a sure thing Congress will come through with a stimulus package for states. Republicans voiced concerns during the floor debate. Here’s what Gov. JB Pritzker said when asked about the plan Friday.

“We don’t know what the federal government’s going to provide,” Pritzker said. "But we believe that at least the two proposals that have been made in the Senate and in the House each provide for enough so that we will be able to fill the hole that’s been created by the tax revenues lost during COVID-19.”
  
Like it or not, this budget plan avoids a doomsday scenario. We’re not closer to closing the adequacy gap, but we’re also not back at the starting line. For that, I consider it a huge win. A 35 percent cut would have been decimating.

Senate President Don Harmon told the Chicago Tribune, “I’m telling folks if you are able to secure level funding from last year for whatever area that is a priority for you, that should be considered a big win.”

Sen. Andy Manar also noted on the Senate floor, "This was a choice we made not to present a budget that slashes at a time we're dealing with a global pandemic. We cannot cut health care, school funding, small business programs or laying off state employees."

Make our voices heard

However, this plan does come with some red flags.

The revenue projections are probably too optimistic, and, just as Pritzker said, there is no guarantee right now the federal government will provide relief to state governments. If that falls through, the bottom could fall out and Pritzker will be faced with a series of bad, and even worse, options.

Therefore, now is the time to speak to your local Congressperson and share how a stimulus bill to the states could impact your school district and community. We need to make our voices heard.

As is the case every session, the General Assembly also passed a budget implementation bill. This year’s BIMP, HB 357, includes the creation of a bi-partisan panel of lawmakers, the Legislative Oversight Committee, to monitor budget management actions taken by the governor and the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget due to the anticipation of constantly changing and unpredictable economic circumstances. The governor will be required to file a monthly report with the commission.

School funding details

More details are available about school funding. The FY 21 EBF appropriation includes a $12.7 million increase from FY 20. Of that, an additional $5.8 million is needed to fully fund the FY 21 base-funding minimum (hold harmless based on FY 20 allocations) and to make necessary adjustments as provided by the Illinois State Board of Education.

With this appropriation, there will be no new tier funding allocated to school districts in FY 21; however, school districts will receive the same amount of EBF in FY21 as they received in FY 20. Also, an additional $1 million is appropriated to fill any base-funding minimum gaps that may arise.

For special education, the orphanage tuition line item for FY 21 includes an increase of $11.2 million over FY 20 to meet reimbursement costs. Regular/vocational transportation is identical to FY 20 and agriculture education remains flat.

Federal dollars are also in play. A total of $569.5 million in federal CARES Act funding is appropriated from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund to provide school districts with COVID-19 response funding. Also, $108.5 million in funding from a separate federal grant designated for governors to use at their discretion has been dedicated to education.

The following bills were approved by both chambers:

Education Omnibus Bill

SB 1569, sponsored by Sen. Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, D-Shorewood; Rep. Will Davis, D-Homewood

The abbreviated session didn’t feature the usual slog of unfunded mandates and
other bad bills, but there were a limited number of education issues addressed. These measures were primarily included in an amended SB 1569, known as the education omnibus bill. To condense several weeks’ worth of action into three days, lawmakers lumped issues together into one bill.

The bill touches on aspects of remote learning, licensure, codifying provisions contained in the governor's earlier executive orders and more. It’s a lengthy piece of legislation, but the key provisions include:

Interfund Transfers
The statutory authority given to schools in 2003 to transfer among operations funds has been extended one year. The law was set to sunset this year if not renewed.

Remote Learning
The legislation authorizes remote and blended learning days by codifying emergency rules in case remote learning is used in future school years and authorizes blended learning days for schools to utilize a hybrid approach of both in-person and remote learning.

Remote Learning Planning Days
School districts can use up to five remote learning planning days as pupil attendance days for calculation of length of school term.

5 clock hours
Clock-hour requirements do not apply if there’s a disaster due to a public health emergency.

Professional Educator Licensure (PEL) Renewal
All licenses issued by ISBE that expire on June 30, 2020 and have not been renewed by the end of the 2020 renewal period shall be extended for one year and shall expire on June 30, 2021.

Teacher evaluations
Mirrors the governor's executive order regarding teacher evaluations that were not finished before schools were closed in March. The default evaluation is "proficient" for unfinished evaluations, though those teachers who's last evaluation was rated "excellent" will be evaluated "excellent" for 2019-20.

High School Graduates
Validates any diplomas conferred under modified graduation requirements during 2019-20 school year and summer 2020.

Individualized Education Plans
The legislation makes some changes to the IEP process that you should review with your school attorney. Among the changes are clarification to what information must be shared with parents of students with IEP’s and that a Response to Intervention needs to be provided in written notice to parents. It also requires a log to be kept regarding services a student receives and eliminates language regarding the systems of support school districts may utilize and information that can be used in evaluations.

Broadband Advisory Council

SB 2135, sponsored by Sen. Elgie Sims Jr., D-Chicago; Rep. Kelly Burke, D-Evergreen Park.

We were pleased to see the General Assembly take a step to address an issue that is front and center for educators — broadband access. House Amendment 5 to SB 2135 directs the Broadband Advisory Council to study the goal of providing free access to all residents of the state to broadband service through the expansion of the state broadband competitive matching grant program. The council will issue its report no later than Jan. 1, 2021. 

Graduated Income Tax

Senate Joint Resolution 1, sponsored by Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park; House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago; Rep. Chris Welch, D-Hillside 

There was little doubt voters would weigh in on the graduated income tax in November. However, the General Assembly first had to approve putting language for a graduated income tax constitutional amendment on the ballot and publishing arguments for and against the measure in pamphlet form. Click here to read the language.

Vote by mail/School holiday

SB 1863, sponsored by Sen. Julie Morrison, D-Lake Forest; Rep. Kelly Burke, D-Evergreen Park.

The General Assembly approved a measure along party lines to expand voting by mail for the November 3 general election only, as well as make the day a state holiday for schools. The legislation also allows persons 16-years or older to serve as election judges. 

Labor omnibus bill

HB 2455, sponsored by Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea; Sen. Linda Holmes, D-Aurora

The legislation ensures Illinois continues to qualify for federal relief by extending unemployment benefits, waiving a one-week unemployment insurance waiting period and expanding eligibility for unemployment to non-instructional education employees, such as lunch workers and teachers’ aides. The provision expires on December 31, 2020.

School districts, as long as they are reimbursable employers, will not incur any additional costs from this eligibility expansion as the CARES Act covers 50 percent of the cost and the remaining 50 percent will be spread out over non-reimbursable employers.

In addition, the bill will allow essential workers who contract COVID-19 to qualify for workers compensation benefits, with the assumption they contracted the disease on the job. 

Retired teachers as substitute teachers

SB 1857, sponsored by Sen. Iris Martinez, D-Chicago; Rep. Kelly Burke, D-Evergreen Park

There wasn’t much to address the teacher shortage this session, but we didn’t take a step backward in the ability to utilize retired teachers as substitutes. An amendment to SB 1857 contains a provision to extend the expiration date for the ability of retired teachers who receive Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) benefits to substitute teach in a school for up to 120 days per school year without jeopardizing their pension benefits. If not enacted, the statute would have sunset and the number of days a retiree could work would have gone back to 100 days. This provision goes through June 30, 2021.

Property tax delays/Homestead exemption

SB 685, sponsored by Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria; Rep. Michael Zalewski, D-Chicago  

The legislation allows county boards to pass an ordinance to delay the payment of property taxes up to 120 days and not apply late fees. Many counties across the state are already doing some version of this during the pandemic, but the law is needed because there was conflicting advice and legal opinions on whether county boards had the authority to delay penalties. In addition, the legislation postponed property tax sales and automatically extends the homestead exemption for persons with disabilities who meet existing requirements without application. 

Debt Limit Extension

SB 1937, sponsored by Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood; Rep. Chris Welch, D-Hillside

Legislation was passed to allow seven school districts who passed referendums to extend debt service to issue bonds. Those districts were:

• Greenview CUSD #200
• Komarek SD #94
• Williamsville CUSD #15
• Berkeley SD #87
• Elmwood Park CUSD #401
• Maroa-Forsyth CUSD #2
• Schiller Park SD #81

As you can see, it was quite an interesting session. We avoided massive cuts to public education. Now, we will be closely following what happens in Congress with a stimulus bill and keep you updated. Until then, have a happy Memorial Day weekend.
 
Sincerely, 


Diane Hendren 
Director of Governmental Relations 
Illinois Association of School Administrators 

Shared with permission from IASA