Tell Governor Quinn How You Feel About the Proposed State Budget
Please join Jim Reed, IEA government relations director, as he walks you through the steps of submitting comments to the governor’s budget website about how the state’s budget crisis is affecting your district.
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.
Illinois Education Association is an association of more than 130,000 members composed of Illinois elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty and staff, educational support professionals, retired educators and college students preparing to become teachers.
I am a teacher, taxpayer, and parent. My concern is with education and the future budget cuts. Since Illinois has financial issues the education program is at risk including my job, and the education for our children. Budget cuts mean less teachers, higher class sizes, program cuts, and a less prominent system for our children. Education should be the most important element for our country. We are the future, and Illinois is not paying it’s school districts! I am embarrassed to be part of a state that does not value the importance of education. This is in your hands, and I would think you have the compentance to do the right thing!
I am a speech pathologist, taxpayer, and parent. I am gravely concerned about my child’s education, my job, and the education of the students I specifically service. Budget cuts mean higher stress levels on teachers, larger caseload sizes, larger class sizes, decreases in specials, extracurricular activies, and decreased support for an enormous amount of children with very special needs which markedly and adversely affect their academic and social-emotional functioning. I cannot believe that our state and its legislatures would let our educational system fail our students and future workforce. I implore you to use all of your efforts to think outside of the box to save the integrity of our educational system.
Governor Quinn
I started teaching in 1969. I did not make much, but enjoyed the job. As the years went by the state funding of education decreased. They have even borrowed from the teachers pension fund, with promises of repayment, to create education dollars. Teachers were never repaid, but were greeted with less support and fewer funds. To those who do not have children attending public schools, this means little. The poor and middle class have to shoulder the burden. The only chance is a good education which Illinois does not feel is important enough to provide. More monies should be provided, not less. The schools are crumbling literally and figuratively. Our nation is slipping farther and farther behind in educating our school children. India has more children with high IQ’s than we have school age children. I never thought we would fail so greatly in providing a good foundation for our youth. We are abandoning them to become second class citizens of the world by underfunding their educations.
Peggy Garrett
Retired CPS teacher
Chicago, Illinois
I am a biology teacher and a taxpayer. Teachers feel the brunt of educational budget cuts in many ways. Here are what your budget cuts are going to do.
Less to spend on materials for students. One of the first things to go with budget cuts is the already small discretionary fund that teachers get at the beginning of the year. In many schools this fund is almost entirely used to pay for photocopies and paper throughout the year. Other ways that teachers might spend this money is on classroom manipulatives, posters, and other learning tools. However, as budget cuts increase more and more of this is either provided by the by the teachers and their students. With less money, schools often cut their school-wide technology and material budgets. Teachers and media specialists who have researched and asked for specific products or items will find that these will not be available for their use. While this might not seem to be as big an issues as some of the other items on this list, it is just one more symptom of a wider problem. The individuals who suffer most from this are the students who are not able to benefit from the purchase. With less money Schools facing budget cuts typically begin by cutting their electives and either moving teachers to core subjects or eliminating their positions entirely. Students are given less choice and teachers are either moved around or stuck teaching subjects they are not ready to teach. With less money comes larger classes. Research has shown that students learn better in smaller classes. When there is overcrowding there is a greater likelihood of disruptions. Further, it is much easier for students to fall through the cracks in larger schools and not get the extra help they need and deserve to succeed. Another casualty of larger classes is that teachers are unable to do as many cooperative learning and other more complex activities. They are just too difficult to manage with very large groups. With less money our students suffer. With less money I may loose my job and you might force the closure of schools. With less money we all loose. I urge you not to consider more cuts, but to find new ways to increase revenue. The state sill owes us 12.4 million dollars this year and I now have many students, friends, and other teachers suffering the mis management of our states administration.