Update from the IAASE Board Meeting

The IAASE Board met this week for its Spring Board meeting.  We were hosted by the Illinois Association of School Administrators (IASA) and we accomplished so much.  Among other items, the Board discussed the following items:

• We congratulated Gene Olsen on his re-election on his re-election as the Treasurer and Dr. Christine Putlak on her re-election as the Member-at-Large.  The two leaders will serve for two years in these offices.

• We heard lots of legislative updates from our re-organized legislative team.  Among the biggest legislative issues we are facing right now, are the following bills:
• The changing landscape around the income tax in Illinois.  The latest proposal from the legislature includes some ties to school funding.  Members are encouraged to stay active during this final month of session and contact legislators as needed to make sure that any changes to the income tax structure are fair to schools across the state.
• The significant number of bills before the legislature to lessen the impact of the teacher shortage throughout the state.  Some of these bills will be supported by IAASE and others will be opposed because they, in fact, lower the bar on teaching and learning.
• HB 2605 allows a speech/language pathologist with their certificate of clinical competence to serve as a speech/language pathologist without having a teaching certificate.
• SB 209 which will change the rules for school districts looking to withdraw from a special education cooperative.  This is an IAASE bill that is working its way through the legislature in response to challenges with this process in the past year.
• SB 2025 is a bill having to do with RTI paperwork.  IAASE continues to work with the lobbyists who would like to see this bill passed.
• Most importantly regarding legislative issues, the Board discussed the longstanding issue related to reimbursements for students with high costs in cooperative and district programs.  SB 1757 would have addressed this issue and allowed for two line items to be established which would then merge at the end of 2024.  The bill made it to third reading in the Senate.  However, after careful consideration with the sponsor in the Senate, IAASE will be supporting a Senate resolution requiring school districts across the state to gather data about the costs associated with this reimbursement so that in the next year this bill can be reintroduced with actual costs.  The challenge for IAASE as an organization has always been that we can only estimate the costs associated with educating students in public settings and reimbursing at the 2x (rather than 4x) per capita rate.  As such, as the resolution moves forward, we will continue to work with all members of our organization to make sure that they are submitting costs for students with significant disabilities in less restrictive settings.

• The Board also heard from Tim Imler and Heather Calomese from ISBE regarding grants, work regarding Consolidated District Plans, the dyslexia handbook, and lots of other issues.  You can read a great email message from Tim Imler about all things DCFS/ Transportation by clicking here.

• We also reviewed the financials from February and March and a draft budget for the next fiscal year.  You can review all of those documents on the members only section of our website.

• The Board heard from the Medicaid Committee who just finished up another outstanding webinar.  They are seeking topics for webinars in the future.  You can give them feedback by clicking here.

• The Board also heard updates from the liaisons to the Illinois Principals Association, the Performance Evaluation Advisory Committee, and several other organizations about the work of these groups in the past several weeks.

As a reminder, the entire Board agenda and all of its supporting documents are available on our website under the Members Only section.