After an anything but normal spring legislative session comprised of remote legislating and zoom committee hearings, the Illinois General Assembly (GA) wrapped up its business for the first half of the 102nd GA. Before the Memorial Day holiday, a long list of issues remained unresolved, including ethics reform, property tax changes, and passage of the state budget. Both the House and Senate worked into the wee hours of June 1, and the Senate returned for session later that day.
Highlights of the action:
Fiscal Year 2022 Budget
Better-than-expected state revenue projections helped shrink the FY22 budget deficit from $3 billion in February to less than $1 billion at the end of May. Facing a much smaller deficit, and with the certainty of federal dollars coming from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the governor and lawmakers were able to craft a $42 billion budget (SB 2800) with the scheduled $350 million increase to the Evidence Based Model for K-12 education. The budget also closes three corporate loopholes that will generate about $650 million in state revenue each year going forward.
The IFT legislative team spoke at several committee hearings and advocated for our collective funding priorities . See below for additional budget details.
*$300M for tier funding, $50M for property tax relief, and $12M for integration of District Intervention funds (North Chicago and East St. Louis)
Budget Implementation Bill (SB 2017)
The budget implementation bill included several provisions of interest to IFT members including:
Pensions
TRS Tier 1 – for those who retire after June 1, 2021, uses either their 4 highest consecutive years of the last ten years of service (current FAS) or the highest four years of the last ten, whichever is higher.
TRS Tier 2 – for those who retire after June 1, 2021, uses either their highest 96 consecutive months of service of the last 120 months of service (current FAS) or the highest 96 months of service of the last 120 months of service, whichever is higher.
TRS – creates a 6% exemption for returning to work in an overload or stipend capacity following any emergency declaration during which the overload and stipend work could not be offered. This is a permanent exemption.
TRS – creates a 6% exemption for an increase in the number of instructional days beyond the 2019-2020 school year. This is a permanent exemption.
SURS – creates a 6% exemption for returning to work in an overload capacity following any emergency declaration during which the overload work could not be offered. This is a permanent exemption.
Invest in Kids Tax Credit Scholarship
This bill also expanded the Invest in Kids tax credit scholarship program to allow a “technical academy” that provides a “jointly administered CTE program” to participate. These programs provided by non-public schools must be approved by ISBE and are limited to receiving no more that 15% of the total amount of the Invest in Kids program. The legislation also extended the sunset of the scholarship program by a year to 2025. The IFT opposed this expansion that was put forward by other labor unions including those in the building trades.
Mental Health in the School Setting
This expands the scope of the Children’s Mental Health Partnership to include making recommendations for ensuring all Illinois youth receive mental health education and have access to mental health care in the school setting. It requires consultation with educators and school support personnel.
The budget implementation bill passed both chambers.
Redistricting and Primary Election Moved to June 28, 2022
After each census, legislative district boundaries are redrawn. The timeline for this process is set forth in the Illinois Constitution. The pandemic-related delay in the delivery of census data needed to draw the maps complicated the redistricting process. To meet the Constitutional timeline, House and Senate democrats used American Community Survey (ACS) data to draw maps and approved their redistricting plan (HB 2777) the final weekend of session.
The General Assembly also approved a redistricting plan for Illinois judicial districts (SB 642) - the first change in judicial districts since 1963. They also approved a plan for reorganizing judicial circuits (SB 2406) that will impact probation officers in the Metro East.
To deal with the delay in redrawing congressional districts, the General Assembly approved moving the 2022 primary election to June 28, 2022 (SB 825). Election day for the general election (November 8, 2022) will again be a legal school holiday.
IFT Initiatives
House Bill 18 extends the time between evaluations for teachers previously rated “proficient” or “excellent” from two to three years and applies to all school districts in the state. It also extends the work of Performance Evaluation Advisory Committee (PEAC) to June 30, 2024 (PEAC was scheduled to end June 30 of this year). The bill passed both chambers.
House Bill 375 will provide university and community college adjuncts with a notice of the status of the class(es) they were hired to teach. The employer will give the notice once at least 30 days before the start of the semester or term and then again 14 days before the start of the semester or term. The bill passed both the House and Senate.
House Bill 2908 creates a 21-member elected school board for the City of Chicago. Passed the Senate, requires concurrence in the House.
Labor Initiatives
Workers’ Rights Constitutional Amendment
Senate Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 11 would amend the Bill of Rights of the Illinois Constitution to explicitly state that employees have a fundamental right to organize and collectively bargain through a representative of their choosing to negotiate wages, hours, and working conditions. It would also prohibit any state law from being passed that interferes with that right such as so-called “right to work” laws. Passed by both the House and Senate, the proposed Constitutional amendment will be on the November 2022 ballot and needs to be approved by 60% of the voters.
Organizing Improvements – Electronic Signatures and Elections
House Bill 2521 allows electronic signatures to be used in organizing drives and extends the time those signatures are valid to 12 months, allows secret ballot elections to select a labor organization as the representative of the employees in a bargaining unit to be conducted electronically, and makes any retaliatory action from an employer against employees who are on engaged in a lawful strike an unfair labor practice. The bill passed both chambers.
Union Rights for Chicago Principals
House Bill 3496 changes the legal definition of a supervisor in Chicago to allow principals to be considered educational employees with collective bargaining rights. This bill was an initiative of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association and was supported by the IFT and CTU. HB 3496 passed the House but was not called for a vote in the Senate.
Union Rights for More State Employees
Senate Bill 525 makes determinations of confidential employee, managerial employee, and supervisor status dependent upon actual job duties and not the job description. This will expand the number of state employees that can join a union and have collective bargaining rights, and it will reverse the Rauner-era practice of using an outdated job description to misclassify workers. The bill passed the House and Senate.
COVID-Related Measures
Metrics for Reopening Schools
House Bill 2789 requires the Department of Public Health (IDPH) to establish metrics for school districts to determine if the district may safely conduct in-person or remote instruction. The bill applies to public and private schools and establishes a complaint process. An individual can make a complaint that a school is not in compliance with the IDPH metrics to the regional superintendent of schools, who must investigate. The ROE findings can be appealed to ISBE. The bill did not pass.
Urges Extended School Year
Senate Resolution 232 urges Illinois school districts to add additional time to the school day and/or school year, beginning in the 2021-22 school year and for the next three years, to address disrupted learning because of the pandemic. This resolution was adopted by the Senate.
Pensions
Retirement Savings for Tier 2 Participants
Senate Bill 2103 provides for automatic enrollment into a supplemental defined contribution plan for new participants in SURS and TRS. New members will automatically have three percent of their pay distributed to the plan and they can change that amount or opt out completely at any time. The legislation will enable new participants in Tier II to save additional assets for retirement and does not impact the employee’s defined benefit under SURS or TRS. This passed both chambers.
Exempting Summer School from Pension Penalties
Senate Bill 1646 excludes salary increases from teaching summer school between May 1, 2021 and September 15, 2022, from the calculation used to determine if an individual’s salary increased more than 6% and, as a result, requires a corresponding employer pension contribution. This passed both chambers.
Private School Service Credit
House Bill 1966 allows for the purchase of up to two years of private school credit under TRS. The member must pay the employee and employer cost plus interest for the service credit. This passed both chambers.
Contract School Educators in CTPF
Senate Bill 2093 allows educators working in CPS contract schools to access a defined benefit pension via CTPF. The bill passed both chambers.
Return to Work
House Bill 2569 extends the provision allowing retired teachers to return to teaching without penalty until June 30, 2024. It also requires schools to post vacancies on the district’s website and in an online database. This passed both chambers.
Senate Bill 1989 also extends the provision and allows retired teachers to return to teaching without penalty, but only until June 30, 2023. This bill passed both chambers.
Employee Benefits
Family Leave For Part-time Educational Employees
House Bill 12 would grant Family and Medical Leave to an employee of a school district, public university, or community college district who has been employed for at least 12 months and who has worked at least 1,000 hours in the previous 12-month period. This passed both chambers.
Expanded Use of Sick Leave
House Bill 816 broadens the ability to use sick leave. The legislation would allow teachers and other employees to use up to 30 days of paid sick leave for adoption or placement for adoption or fostering children. This passed both chambers.
Curriculum/School Day
‘Sexting’ Education
House Bill 24 requires sex education course material for grades 6-12 to include an age-appropriate discussion on sexting. The discussion shall include consequences of sexting, bullying and harassment, internet safety, and the identification of appropriate school personnel who may be contacted for help if a student is concerned about something occurring in this area. Appropriate personnel may include a principal, teacher, school social worker, counselor, or trusted community leader. This passed both chambers.
Social Studies and American History – Inclusion of the Asian American Experience
House Bill 376 requires public schools to include in their curriculum a unit of instruction studying the events of Asian American history. The bill passed both chambers.
Driver Education – How to Interact with Police During a Traffic Stop
House Bill 3097 requires school driver education course instruction to include procedures for interacting with law enforcement during traffic stops. It also requires that adult education courses include these procedures. The bill requires the Secretary of State and Illinois State Police to collaborate in updating the Illinois Rules of the Road to include appropriate law enforcement interaction during traffic stops. This passed both chambers.
Health Education on E-Cigarettes and Vaping
House Bill 3202 adds e-cigarettes and other vapor devices as an education area under Comprehensive Health Education Program. This passed both chambers.
Citizenship Education
House Bill 3281 allows school districts to teach a unit of instruction on the process of becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen. It passed both chambers.
Teaching the Contributions of Muslim Americans
Senate Bill 564 requires the teaching of the contributions made by Muslims and Muslim Americans to society as part of U.S. History and adds the birthday of Muhammad Ali (January 17) to the list of commemorative holidays. The bill was amended to include several other religions. Passed both chambers.
Keeping Youth Safe and Healthy Act
Senate Bill 818 requires the Illinois State Board of education to adopt new learning standards on personal health and safety standards for grades K-5. New sexual health standards would also be adopted for students in grades 6-12. The bill requires these standards to be medically accurate, culturally appropriate, inclusive, trauma-informed, and developmentally- and age-appropriate. The new standards would go into effect in 2023. This passed both chambers.
Financial Literacy as Part of Social Studies
Senate Bill 1830 allows coursework on financial literacy to be included in social studies classes and counted as fulfilment of social studies requirements for a high school diploma. This passed both chambers.
Play Time
Senate Bill 654 requires all public schools to provide 30 minutes of supervised, unstructured, child-directed play each day for students K-5. Play time does not count as physical education and can be divided into periods of at least 15 consecutive minutes. The bill prohibits the withholding of play time as a disciplinary or punitive action unless a student’s participation poses an immediate threat to his/her safety or the safety of other students. It passed both chambers.
Other Legislation
Forced Consolidation Bill Stopped
House Bill 7 would have created the Efficient School District Commission and was an initiative of the Illinois Policy Institute (IPI). Its purpose is to provide recommendations to the governor, the General Assembly, and the electorate regarding the number of school districts in this state and where the reorganization and realignment of school districts would be beneficial. The 13-member commission would be charged with making recommendations to regional superintendents on school consolidation. The question of whether to consolidate districts would be put on the ballot in communities without their input. The IFT and other education stakeholders opposed this bill and it failed in the House.
Eliminate Sunset Invest in Kids Tax Credit Scholarship Program
House Bill 4076 was introduced after all the applicable legislative deadlines and would have eliminated the sunset date for the Invest in Kids tax credit scholarship program. The IFT opposes this program and this legislation. It was not called for a vote before adjournment.
Changing the EdTPA
Senate Bill 808 provides that, to obtain a license under the Article, a student teacher candidate may not be required to videotape himself or herself or his or her students in a classroom setting. It passed both chambers.
Sexual Abuse
House Bill 3223 among other things, would allow a student who is a
victim of domestic or sexual violence to transfer schools if necessary for the student’s mental or physical well-being. It creates the Ensuring Success in Schools Task Force to draft model policies. IFT has an appointment on this Task Force. This passed both chambers.
Updated Policies and Trainings - Sexual Abuse Prevention
House Bill 3461 will require a school district’s policy addressing child sexual abuse to include an age-appropriate and evidence-informed curriculum. The bill requires a school district include it in its policy, training materials, and instruction a definition of grooming behaviors and how to report. It details what the policy must address. New policies must be adopted and implemented by July 1, 2022. This passed both chambers.
Several issues remain unfinished, including passage of gaming and energy legislation that includes a carbon free schools initiative. No official return date has been scheduled, but it is likely that the legislature may return to Springfield before the end of June.
Watch IFT Under the Dome for additional updates.