Outlook for 103rd IL General Assembly Improving; Concerns Remain
A frenetic legislative session that has been marked by unfunded mandates has tampered down slightly after sponsors did not call their proposals for a vote before Friday’s deadline for House bills to pass out of the chamber of origin.
However, a handful of concerning proposals — curriculum mandates, kindergarten reform, training mandates, special education changes and bullying notification and reporting — were approved in the House and now move to the Senate.
Without question, the outlook for the 103rd Illinois General Assembly is much more positive today than it was a few weeks ago. Because of the advocacy efforts of Illinois ASBO members, several significant unfunded mandates that would have been harmful to school districts stalled in the Illinois General Assembly. Thank you to everyone who filled out witness slips and reached out to your local legislators.
However, more than 200 bills that impact public education were introduced this year and dozens of those proposals — many of which are concerning — cleared legislative hurdles.
One major issue that remains is mandating full-day kindergarten. We are currently in the process of collecting data on the number of school districts that would be impacted by this proposal. If your district currently is not offering full-day kindergarten to every district student, please complete the survey, so we can utilize the information to advocate against this mandate and for the funding needed to make full-day kindergarten a reality.
Below is a summary of some of the key substantive House bills that were not passed before the deadline, as well as a sampling of the 60-plus education bills that have passed through the House and will move to the Senate.
Key Bills That Did Not Pass Before the House Deadline
HB 2287 (Moylan; D-Des Plaines) Electric Bus Mandate. Thank you to everyone who contacted their legislators to express concerns about this unfunded mandate. Thanks to your advocacy, the sponsor did not have the votes to pass the bill and pulled it from the record. An amendment has been filed that would provide an incentive program to encourage the purchase of electric vehicles, and offer an appropriation for up to 80% of the cost of the vehicles. The amendment would be subject to appropriation.
HB 1124 (Mussman; D-Schaumburg) Dyslexia Screening Mandate. Again, thank you to everyone who contacted their legislators to express concerns about this mandate. As the result of advocacy efforts, the sponsor elected to not call the amended bill in committee, and communicated that the work on this front will continue in the context of ISBE’s efforts to develop a comprehensive literacy plan for the state, rather than through yet another legislative mandate.
HB 2784 (Hirschauer; D-West Chicago) Educational Support Personnel Minimum Wage. The bill was not called for a floor vote at the close of session on Friday. We continue to express concerns with legislators about the potential cost to districts for this mandate. If enacted, the mandate could result in both cuts to existing staff and programs, as well as significant property tax increases.
HB 3412 (Ford; D-Chicago) Referring Students for Tickets and Fines. The bill was called for a vote on the floor, but did not achieve the 60-vote threshold for passage, so it was pulled from the record. School management groups, as well as various law enforcement groups, have continued to express concerns about the bill. We have advocated for continued ability to contact law enforcement if there are instances of criminal activity that occur on school campuses.
Key Legislation That Passed the House
Although many of the bills that have passed would classify as “mandates,” there are a few pieces of legislation that would prove helpful to school districts. HB 341 (Yednock; D-Ottawa) eliminates the Annual Statement of Affairs requirement provided certain reports are available on a district’s webpage. HB 1123 (Costa Howard; D-Lombard) will require the school report card to include data on graduation rates that reflect the needs of transition students. HB 2492 (Williams; D-Chicago) would allow school boards to authorize entrance into a guaranteed energy savings contract, irrespective of debt limitations and without bond approval, provided there is a project labor agreement in place.
In an effort to revive free meals for all students post-pandemic, HB 2471 (West; D-Rockford) would create the Healthy School Meals for All program. The bill, if passed, would allow school districts to opt-in to the program, and they would be reimbursed for the cost of the meals, subject to appropriation. There is currently no appropriation proposal, but it will be discussed as the budget is shaped over the next few months.
A handful of curriculum mandates have passed that will add a variety of topics to be covered in different courses. HB 1633 (West; D-Rockford) adds a unit of instruction requirement for Native American history, HB 3924 (Yang Rohr; D-Naperville) adds specific requirements in high school health courses related to instruction on the dangers of fentanyl, HB 3932 (Yang Rohr; D-Naperville) adds instruction on allergen safety into high school health courses, HB 2104 (Delgado; D-Chicago) adds water safety instruction to the list of permissive safety education content, and HB 1375 (Tarver; D-Chicago) adds a course in financial literacy to the list of graduation requirements. HB 1375 is an initiative of Next Gen Personal Finance and the mandate received wide bipartisan support with a vote of 106-0-0. There are continued advocacy efforts for an amendment in the Senate that would place the new requirements within the required consumer education course so as to avoid yet another graduation requirement.
As part of the large conversation surrounding literacy that is occurring at the statehouse, several reading bills were passed last week. HB 2773 (Flowers; D-Chicago) mandates that “school districts shall teach students to read using phonics.” HB 2872 (Mayfield; D-Waukegan) directs ISBE to develop and adopt a comprehensive literacy plan for the state by January 31, 2024. HB 3147 (Faver Dias; D-Grayslake) creates the Literacy and Justice for All Act. The bill would mandate that education candidates take a content test on reading foundations, and would earn an additional credential on their PEL if they pass the assessment.
A number of measures addressing the education of students with disabilities have passed the House. HB 3600 (Mussman; D-Schaumburg) clarifies that if a student is removed from the school environment for a partial day, that it constitutes a full day of removal. The bill currently also classifies an in-school suspension as a day of removal. We are continuing negotiations with the advocates of the legislation as we believe this issue is best addressed through non-regulatory guidance from ISBE rather than additional legislation. HB 3224 (Ness; D-Carpentersville) requires IEP transition teams to provide parents with information about the district’s career and technical education opportunities, HB 3643 (Syed; D-Palatine) requires voter registration to be considered as an IEP goal for a student who is 17 or older, and HB 3680 (Benton; D-Plainfield) requires a student’s IEP team to be included in a decision to exempt the student from participation in any safety drills, and requires accommodations during emergencies to be considered as part of the IEP development.
Continuing a trend of allowing students excused absences, students may be excused for the purposes of attending a family member’s induction into office under HB 1204 (Tarver; D-Chicago), as well as to attend 4H and FFA events under HB 3814 (Harper; D-Chicago).
The ongoing substitute shortage has led to a number of bills aiming to increase flexibilities for school districts. HB 2147 (Yang Rohr; D-Naperville) allows retirees to turn to work for 120 days or 600 hours through June 2026. The IEA/IFT continue to push back on any attempt to extend this allowance past 120 days, or to make it permanent in the statute. HB 3442 (Crespo; D-Streamwood) provides that districts may employ substitutes in vacant positions for longer than 30 days provided a request is sent to the ROE for an extension, and that the district has provided training to the substitute and continues to actively seek a qualified candidate to fill the vacancy.
Training mandates have also been a new theme this year with three additional training mandates passing the House so far. HB 0342 (Ammons; D-Urbana), an initiative of Advance IL, mandates all school districts provide training at their Teacher Institute Days before school starts and must include information on specific definitions related to trauma. HB 1561 (Lilly; D-Oak Park) requires school personnel to undergo training on how to respond to an incident involving life-threatening bleeding, and HB 3116 (Stuart; D-Collinsville) requires training for all school personnel on homelessness.
HB 3425 (Croke; D-Chicago) Bullying Notification and Reporting. This initiative expands the definition of bullying to cover harassment on the basis of physical appearance, socioeconomic status, academic status, pregnancy, parenting status, and homelessness. The bill would require school officials to notify parents of students involved in bullying allegations within 24 hours of their knowledge of the allegation. There are additional reporting requirements, including reporting to the State Board of Education on verified instances of bullying, and associated factors. We have expressed concerns over the 24-hour notification requirement, however, the amendments have not reflected a change at this time.
HB 3428 (Blair-Sherlock; D-Villa Park) Opioid Antagonist Mandate. Currently, school code allows school districts the option to keep undesignated opioid antagonists (i.e, Narcan) on campus. This bill mandates it be kept on campus, and also mandates that healthcare professionals with prescriptive authority prescribe the antagonist to local school districts.
Update on Association Initiatives
HB 2233 (Hoffman; D-Belleville) Increase Competitive Bidding Threshold. Our initiative to increase the competitive bid threshold from $25,000 to $35,000 passed the House with a vote of 99-11. Due to opposition from labor unions, our attempt to increase the construction bid threshold from $50,000 to $70,000 had to be removed from the bill.
SB 2324 (Koehler; D-Peoria) County Facility Sales Tax Ballot Access. Our initiative to increase ballot access for the County Facilities Sales Tax has also been passed in the Senate with a vote of 54-2.
The Senate deadline for bills to be passed out of the chamber is this Friday, March 30. After that date, we will have a solid idea of what bills may make their way through the full process and become law. That being said, there is always the chance for shell bills to pop up between now and the end of session, which is set to end on May 19.
Thank you again for your continued support and advocacy efforts.