April 10, 2019
UPDATE FROM TUESDAY LEGISLATIVE ACTION
As highlighted in the last IASB Legislative Alert, the Illinois General Assembly is convening this week to consider bills for final action in the chamber of origin. Several key pieces of legislation were discussed Tuesday.
STUDENT DATA PRIVACY
The issue of student data privacy has been discussed in the Capitol for last several years. Though IASB is sensitive to this issue, the proposals that have come forward have been unworkable for local school districts. HB 3606 is no exception.
The bill con tains a myriad of unfunded and/or unworkable mandates on school districts that would place enormous and expensive burdens on districts, including requiring each district to try and re-negotiate potentially hundreds of agreements, adding new posting requirements on websites, and allowing parents to opt out of classes they do not wish their children to participate in.
HB 3606 could be considered in committee today (Wednesday) or Thursday.
Various amendments have been filed and the sponsor has indicated that House Amendment #3 is the version that will be called in committee. IASB opposes all versions that have been filed (House Amendments 1, 2, and 3).
School board members are urged to call their State Representatives to urge a “NO” vote and to file a witness slip to register opposition to the bill. HB 3606 is posted for hearing in the House Cybersecurity, Data, Analytics, and IT Committee.
Click for a comprehensive analysis of HB 3606.
TEACHER SALARIES
SB 10, which would increase the minimum teacher salary to $40,000 per year, was amended in the Senate Education Committee and could be called for a vote on the Senate floor at any time. The amendment made no real substantive change to the underlying bill. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives approved its minimum teacher salary bill Tuesday, HB 2078, on a vote of 79-31. That bill will now be sent to the Senate. IASB still strongly opposes both bills.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
SB 1189 would add stringent, new requirements for school district Physical Education (P.E.) programs. The bill was called in the Senate Education Committee Tuesday to consider an amendment which would, generally, remove high schools from the new requirements. The underlying bill, however, is still full of onerous, unworkable requirements for school districts and IASB still opposes the bill.
Largely due to the vocal opposition by school board members and administrators, the sponsor did not attempt to move the bill forward and indicated that it would not be considered before the Senate deadline to move bills over to the House. Discussions will continue throughout the session.
A companion bill, HB 2234, is still pending on the House floor.
SCHOOL DISTRICT CONSOLIDATION
SB 1838 and HB 3053 address forced school district consolidation. Specifically, the bills would identify, before May 1, 2020, no less than 25 percent of school districts in Illinois that will be required to hold a referendum to consolidate in the next general election. Several amendments were filed to SB 1838 which were considered Tuesday by the Senate Education Committee. The committee failed to adopt the amendments and the underlying bill is still pending on the Senate floor. HB 3053 was approved by the House last month and has been sent to the Senate.
IASB strongly opposes both bills.