IAASE LEGISLATIVE UPDATE - Action Needed
The Senate Education Committee scheduled for March 9th was canceled and has been rescheduled for March 23rd at 1:00 pm. There are several important bills of interest to IAASE members being heard by the committee. SB 0517 is an IAASE initiative sponsored by Meg Loughran Cappel. For many years we have advocated for an equalized funding system in Illinois that reflects that districts with students with significant needs and associated high costs receive equalized reimbursement whether the students are placed in public school settings or private placements. Although this has been a legislative priority for IAASE for well over a decade, the disparity continues. We have submitted several legislative proposals, making steady advancements in recent years and we have learned much about strategy from our experiences. This year, we decided to introduce a bill that takes an important step forward into opening up the use of the line item on the state budget that historically has been solely for private tuition reimbursement. SB 0517 equalizes reimbursement for districts for students placed in either a public day or private day school and reflects the follow-up commitment from the General Assembly after Evidence-Based funding became law several years ago. While there are additional steps to take in the process of moving to a fully placement neutral system, we believe that it is a reasonable step towards that goal. Witness slips filed for March 9th do not carry over, so please click here to fill out a witness slip as a PROPONENT of this bill.
IAASE opposes SB0531 which changes the school code to provide that a student whose 22nd birthday occurs during the school year is eligible for special education services through the end of the regular school term (rather than being eligible for services only until the day before his or her 22nd birthday). While we agree that more services should be available for young adults with disabilities we do not believe that extending services past the 22nd birthday is the solution and we certainly don’t think this should be mandated without funding. Please click here to fill out a witness slip as an OPPONENT of SB0531.
We are very concerned about SB1821. This bill is extremely problematic as it amends the Children with Disabilities Article of the School Code to provide that eligible students who reached or will reach their 22nd birthday between March 17, 2020, and the end of the 2021-2022 school year shall be afforded the option of extending the student's eligibility through the end of the 2021-2022 school year to provide the student with an opportunity to participate in post-secondary transition activities and services and pursue the goals under the student's most recent individualized education program. It requires each school district to provide written notification of options, including the required waiver of compensatory services claims, to each student to whom these provisions apply or to the student's guardian or designated representative within 30 days after the effective date of the amendatory Act. It included a required written notification form and would be effective immediately. Please click here to fill out a witness slip as an OPPONENT of SB1821.
Other bills scheduled for the committee that you may be interested in are SB0559/HB3022, SB0634, and SB2071. SB0559/HB3022 allows private special education facilities to bill school districts for services a month in advance. Districts would be entitled to a refund at the end of the school year if a student was not actually enrolled for any of the days that the district pre-paid for. SB0634 extends interscholastic athletic eligibility through age 22 for students with disabilities. Our legislative committee believes that there could be unintended consequences of this bill and that the extended time from age 18-22 is for transition services, not continued participation in high school athletics. SB 2071 changes licensure requirements for school social workers by providing that an applicant who (i) has earned a master's degree in social work from a regionally accredited institution of higher education and (ii) holds a valid license issued pursuant to the Clinical Social Work and Social Work Practice Act may obtain a social worker endorsement on an Educator License with Stipulations. An applicant who satisfies these requirements is not required to complete an Illinois-approved educator preparation program but may be required to fulfill other criteria established by rule of the State Board of Education.
The full committee agenda is here and we encourage you to review all of the bills and make your voice heard on those that you see as consequential to your organization and/or your students. If you are represented by any of the committee members, it is also important to contact their offices to share the potential impact of these bills.
If this isn’t enough, the House Education committees are both meeting on March 24th. The Elementary & Secondary Education: Administration, Licensing & Charter School Committee meets at 2:00 pm. You may be interested in HB 38 which is about interviewing minority teacher candidates. Our concern with the bill is that it only excludes the shortage area of ESL. The Elementary & Secondary Education: School Curriculum & Policies Committee meets at 8:30 am and there are several bills on their agenda of interest to IAASE. We encourage you to submit a witness slip as a PROPONENT of HB3706 which is the companion bill to SB0517, our equalization bill. Other bills in committee that IAASE opposes are HB3022, HB2748, HB3324, and HB3817. Again, we ask that you consider the impact of these bills on your district and cooperative and consider filing a witness slip with your position.
The legislative committee is made up of the elected officers, plus representatives from each of our regions. Please feel free to contact us if we can be of service to you.
Judy Hackett, Co-chair jhackett@nsseo.org
Melissa Taylor, Co-chair mtaylor@bths201.org
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