A Few More Days!
Although we kept our hopes up that the 103rd Illinois General Assembly would adjourn today, as of the timing of this update, we have yet to see a budget bill filed. Both chambers are still here in Springfield and appear to be planning to continue action through the weekend with hopes of final adjournment on Sunday. We continue to await the filing of the budget bill, the budget implementation bill (BIMP), and the numerous omnibus packages that we have heard are brewing.
For a quick update on 403b action, the language from SB 2568 Amendment 6 was filed on a shell bill - HB 341 Senate Amendment 1. We are under the impression that the bill may be able to forego another Senate Committee hearing, even with the language being filed on a new vehicle, suggesting it could still be called for a vote at any time. We have continued to express concerns with members of the Senate and at the time of publication, Senator Villa has not called the bill for a vote on the Senate Floor.
While most of the week was spent on floor action and awaiting a budget bill, there were a handful of bills that were heard in committee.
Senate Education Committee
SB 458 (Walker; D-Arlington Heights) extends the requirement for districts to submit reports on the use of restraint and isolation through August of 2027. This was a compromise following a bill that was filed that would require school districts to reduce the number of incidents of isolation and restraint by 10% annually. The bill was passed through both the committee and on the Senate floor this week.
HB 5057 (Loughran Cappel; D-Crest Hill) is a measure that intends to assist with the teacher shortage by making changes to provisions related to the content area tests. The bill removes the requirement for a student teacher to have to pass the content test before beginning their student teaching assignment, and provides that the scoring rules for the content may allow for candidates to retake each section of the test individually, rather than having to retake the entire content test if failed.
House Education Curriculum and Policies Committee
HJR 73 (Mussman; D-Schaumburg) denies the request made by Boone-Winnebago ROE #4 with respect to its alternative learning opportunity program, on the basis that the request is outside the scope of the waiver process. The waiver requests to allow students in grades K-12 who meet enrollment criteria established by the school district and who meet the definition of "student at risk of academic failure" to participate in an alternative learning opportunities program. Per the waiver request, ROE #4 states “In response to the diverse needs of our most at-risk students in Grades K-3, the Boone Winnebago Regional Office of Education (BWROE) is leading a groundbreaking initiative to introduce an alternative learning option. This initiative, endorsed and supported by our school districts, builds upon the success of the BWROE's current implementation of a 6-12 alternative learning option. Grounded in extensive social emotional, trauma informed and restorative research, the initiative features a robust plan designed to address academic, social and behavioral concerns among our youngest learners.”
HB 4219 (Yang Rohr; D-Naperville) adds required instruction on the dangers of fentanyl to health education in middle schools. Additionally, the instruction can be taught by a school resource officer or school social worker, in addition to an educator, school nurse or school counselor. The bill was passed by the committee and received a concurrence vote on the House floor on Friday.
SB 1400 (West; D-Rockford) is an initiative of the education labor unions and school management groups that have been repeatedly hearing from their membership about the difficulties with implementation of SB 100. Specifically, members have expressed concerns with their ability to keep their classrooms, schools and districts safe, especially in light of escalating student behavior. The groups formed a coalition to develop legislation that is a first step in ensuring safe work environments for staff and learning environments for all students. Specifically, the legislation will direct ISBE to develop guidance on school discipline that aligns with the parameters set in SB 100 (PA 099-0456). As the escalation of school violence continues to gain attention, we anticipate many conversations on this topic moving forward.
HB 299 (Yang Rohr; D-Naperville) was posted for committee a second time with a new amendment. The new iteration of the bill adds the distribution of sexually explicit images to the definition of bullying, and makes clear that cyber-bullying includes distribution of “digital replica” images, images or audio starting with the 2025-2026 school year. The bill was passed by the House later on Wednesday with a unanimous vote. The Senate has yet to take up the measure for consideration, so it remains unclear if we will see this bill passed this session.
House Appropriations Elementary & Secondary Education Committee
HB 5430 (Davis; D-East Hazel Crest) received a gut and replace amendment that significantly changed the underlying bill and addressed enrollment and residency for students placed in special education placements. The legislation mandates that if a parent or guardian moves out of Illinois after placing their child in a special education facility, they must enroll the child in a new state's school for Illinois to be reimbursed. If enrollment is unsuccessful due to the new state's laws or procedures, the child remains a resident of their last Illinois school district. To identify the location of a parent or guardian, school officials must submit an affidavit within 14 days after three failed attempts to contact them. Additionally, for residential facility placements, the child must be enrolled in the appropriate district beforehand and the facility must have a contract signed by the parent or guardian acknowledging their legal responsibilities. The bill was passed by the House later on Wednesday with a unanimous vote, but we believe the Senate will be holding the bill for further discussions over the summer.
SJR 49 (Stuart; D-Collinsville) directs the Professional Review Panel to analyze the current recommendations in the Evidence-Based Funding Model related to the maximum caseloads for school counselors, school psychologists, school social workers, school nurses and speech-language pathologists, and to conduct financial modeling on the implications of meeting those maximums. The resolution provides that the report should be completed and provided to the General Assembly by December 31, 2025. The resolution was filed in response to concerns raised with SB 1401 that would mandate schools follow certain caseload limits for those support personnel positions. Our organization had expressed significant opposition to the bill and pointed out that the caseload sizes being recommended not only posed many challenges for school districts, but that the limits in the bill proposal did not match the recommended levels currently set in the EBF. The resolution was passed unanimously by the committee.
House Elementary & Secondary Education: Administration, Licensing, and Charter Schools Committee
SB 3156 (Davis, W; D-East Hazel Crest) is ISBE’s annual clean-up bill and aims to address several sections of the school code. Provisions of note include flexibility for the timeline of approving an e-learning plan, updating the definition of school counselor duties, and clarification on the members who should be included in a threat assessment team. The legislation was passed out of committee along party lines and received a concurrence vote in the House on Friday.
HB 305 (Katz Muhl; D-Northbrook) returned on concurrence following changes in the Senate. The new bill will allow districts involved in a Township Board of Trustees jurisdiction the ability to withdraw from their current arrangement with a 2/3rds vote of the school board. Additionally, the bill will require school districts that participate in a trustee arrangement to appoint an individual to serve on the Township School Board of Trustees, and will phase out the elected officials in those positions following the end of their existing terms. Further, the individuals appointed to the Board of Trustees on behalf of each district can be a school board member or a school employee, which may include a superintendent or business official. The committee passed the legislation unanimously and received a concurrence vote on the House floor on Friday.
SB 998 (Stuart; D-Collinsville) provides that successful completion of a FAFSA application is not a graduation requirement for the 2023-2024 school year due to the delays experienced at the federal level. The committee passed the legislation unanimously.
House Executive Committee
SB 125 (Vella; D-Loves Park) received an amendment in the House that dramatically changed the underlying bill. The amendment language adds a requirement for driver’s education classes to include instruction on safely sharing the roadway with cyclists and pedestrians beginning with the 2024-2025 school year. The committee passed the bill along party lines, and was passed on the floor along party lines on Friday.
House State Government Committee
SB 457 (Olickal; D-Chicago) was brought back to life at the last minute on Wednesday. As a quick refresher, this is the bill that would require ISBE to enter into a master contract to procure religious meals that may be requested by students. It is subject to appropriation, which means ISBE will not be required to enter into the master contract unless the General Assembly appropriates funding for the agency to administer the program (estimated to cost $750,000), and for the cost of the meals (estimated to cost between $18 million to $60 million depending on participation rates). The bill passed both chambers last spring, but was ultimately vetoed by the Governor at the request of ISBE due to the agency’s concern related to its ability to procure a master contract. The bill was brought back to life during veto session, but ultimately stalled in the House. In a surprising chain of events, the bill was assigned to the State Government committee on Wednesday, and the committee was posted for a hearing late into the evening that same night. The committee engaged in rigorous debate about the bill, and it was ultimately passed with only two Democrat members voting no. As of the time of publication, the bill has not been called for a vote on the floor.
Omnibus Bills
We have been waiting for a number of omnibus bills to be filed, and we began seeing those on Thursday afternoon. The first bill was Senate Amendment 1 to HB 5511 (Castro; D-Elgin), which is a procurement omnibus bill that includes language to address the issue we were trying to solve with the filing of HB 4737 (Costa Howard; D-Lombard). The original bill passed the House in April with unanimous support, and language was included in the omnibus package that achieves the goal of clarifying how vendors are ranked when governmental units, including school districts, intend to utilize a joint cooperative purchasing program. The final language can be found on page 156 of Senate Amendment 1 to HB 5511. We are still awaiting a few more omnibus bills to drop as of the time of publication.
What’s Next?
The rest of the weekend action should mainly be focused on the budget bills and omnibus packages. However, there is always the possibility for bills we once thought were dead to receive new life, so don’t be too surprised to see a Call to Action or two! We will be sure to provide you with a session wrap-up early next week with a breakdown of the FY25 budget and other items of interest.