093_SB0317

 
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 1        AN ACT concerning schools.

 2        Be it enacted by the People of  the  State  of  Illinois,
 3    represented in the General Assembly:

 4        Section  5.   The  School  Code  is  amended  by changing
 5    Section 24-11 as follows:

 6        (105 ILCS 5/24-11) (from Ch. 122, par. 24-11)
 7        Sec. 24-11.  Boards  of  Education  -  Boards  of  School
 8    Inspectors  - Contractual continued service.  As used in this
 9    and the succeeding Sections of this Article:
10        "Teacher" means any  or  all  school  district  employees
11    regularly required to be certified under laws relating to the
12    certification of teachers.
13        "Board"  means board of directors, board of education, or
14    board of school inspectors, as the case may be.
15        "School term" means that portion of the school year, July
16    1 to the following June 30, when school is in actual session.
17        This Section and Sections 24-12  through  24-16  of  this
18    Article  apply  only  to  school  districts  having less than
19    500,000 inhabitants.
20        Any teacher who has been employed in any  district  as  a
21    full-time  teacher for a probationary period of 2 consecutive
22    school terms shall enter upon contractual  continued  service
23    unless given written notice of dismissal stating the specific
24    reason  therefor, by certified mail, return receipt requested
25    by the employing board at least 45 days  before  the  end  of
26    such  period; except that for a teacher who is first employed
27    as a full-time teacher by  a  school  district  on  or  after
28    January  1,  1998  but  before  the  effective  date  of this
29    amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly and who  has  not
30    before  January  1,  1998  that  date  already  entered  upon
31    contractual   continued   service   in   that  district,  the
 
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 1    probationary period  shall  be  4  consecutive  school  terms
 2    before  the  teacher  shall  enter upon contractual continued
 3    service.   For  the  purpose   of   determining   contractual
 4    continued  service,  the first probationary year shall be any
 5    full-time employment from a date before  November  1  through
 6    the  end  of the school year.  If, however, a teacher who was
 7    first employed prior to January 1, 1998 or first employed  on
 8    or  after  the  effective  date of this amendatory Act of the
 9    93rd  General  Assembly  has  not  had  one  school  term  of
10    full-time teaching  experience  before  the  beginning  of  a
11    probationary  period  of  2  consecutive  school  terms,  the
12    employing  board  may  at  its option extend the probationary
13    period for one additional school term by giving  the  teacher
14    written  notice  by certified mail, return receipt requested,
15    at least 45 days before the end of the second school term  of
16    the  period  of 2 consecutive school terms referred to above.
17    This notice must state the reasons for the one year extension
18    and must outline the corrective actions that the teacher must
19    take to satisfactorily complete probation.  The changes  made
20    by  this  amendatory  Act of 1998 are declaratory of existing
21    law.
22        Any full-time teacher who is not completing the last year
23    of  the  probationary  period  described  in  the   preceding
24    paragraph,  or  any teacher employed on a full-time basis not
25    later than January  1  of  the  school  term,  shall  receive
26    written  notice  from  the  employing  board at least 45 days
27    before the end of any school term whether or not he  will  be
28    re-employed for the following school term. If the board fails
29    to give such notice, the employee shall be deemed reemployed,
30    and  not later than the close of the then current school term
31    the board shall issue a regular contract to the  employee  as
32    though the board had reemployed him in the usual manner.
33        Contractual  continued  service  shall continue in effect
34    the terms and provisions of the  contract  with  the  teacher
 
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 1    during  the  last  school  term  of  the probationary period,
 2    subject to  this  Act  and  the  lawful  regulations  of  the
 3    employing  board. This Section and succeeding Sections do not
 4    modify any existing power of the board except with respect to
 5    the procedure of the discharge of a teacher and reductions in
 6    salary as hereinafter provided. Contractual continued service
 7    status shall not restrict the power of the board to  transfer
 8    a  teacher  to  a  position which the teacher is qualified to
 9    fill  or  to  make  such  salary  adjustments  as  it   deems
10    desirable,  but  unless  reductions  in salary are uniform or
11    based upon some reasonable classification, any teacher  whose
12    salary is reduced shall be entitled to a notice and a hearing
13    as  hereinafter provided in the case of certain dismissals or
14    removals.
15        The employment of any teacher in a program of  a  special
16    education  joint agreement established under Section 3-15.14,
17    10-22.31 or 10-22.31a shall  be  under  this  and  succeeding
18    Sections  of  this  Article.   For  purposes of attaining and
19    maintaining  contractual  continued  service  and   computing
20    length  of  continuing service as referred to in this Section
21    and Section 24-12, employment in a special educational  joint
22    program  shall  be  deemed  a  continuation  of  all previous
23    certificated  employment  of  such  teacher  for  such  joint
24    agreement whether the employer of the teacher was  the  joint
25    agreement,   the  regional  superintendent,  or  one  of  the
26    participating districts in the joint agreement.
27        Any teacher employed after July 1, 1987  as  a  full-time
28    teacher  in a program of a special education joint agreement,
29    whether the program is operated by the joint agreement  or  a
30    member  district  on  behalf  of  the  joint agreement, for a
31    probationary period of two consecutive years shall enter upon
32    contractual  continued  service  in  all  of   the   programs
33    conducted  by  such  joint  agreement  which  the  teacher is
34    legally qualified to hold; except that for a teacher  who  is
 
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 1    first  employed  on  or  after January 1, 1998 but before the
 2    effective date of this amendatory Act  of  the  93rd  General
 3    Assembly  in a program of a special education joint agreement
 4    and who has not before January  1,  1998  that  date  already
 5    entered  upon  contractual  continued  service  in all of the
 6    programs conducted by the joint agreement that the teacher is
 7    legally qualified to hold, the probationary period shall be 4
 8    consecutive years before the teacher enters upon  contractual
 9    continued  service in all of those programs.  In the event of
10    a reduction in the number of programs  or  positions  in  the
11    joint agreement, the teacher on contractual continued service
12    shall  be  eligible  for  employment  in  the joint agreement
13    programs for which the teacher is legally qualified in  order
14    of   greater  length  of  continuing  service  in  the  joint
15    agreement unless an alternative  method  of  determining  the
16    sequence   of   dismissal  is  established  in  a  collective
17    bargaining agreement.  In the event of the dissolution  of  a
18    joint agreement, the teacher on contractual continued service
19    who  is legally qualified shall be assigned to any comparable
20    position in a member district currently held by a teacher who
21    has not entered upon contractual continued service or held by
22    a teacher who has entered upon contractual continued  service
23    with shorter length of contractual continued service.
24        The  governing  board  of  the  joint  agreement,  or the
25    administrative district, if so authorized by the articles  of
26    agreement  of  the  joint agreement, rather than the board of
27    education of a school district, may carry out employment  and
28    termination  actions  including dismissals under this Section
29    and Section 24-12.
30        For purposes of this  and  succeeding  Sections  of  this
31    Article,  a  program of a special educational joint agreement
32    shall be defined as instructional, consultative, supervisory,
33    administrative, diagnostic, and related  services  which  are
34    managed  by  the special educational joint agreement designed
 
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 1    to service two or more districts which  are  members  of  the
 2    joint agreement.
 3        Each  joint  agreement  shall  be  required  to  post  by
 4    February 1, a list of all its employees in order of length of
 5    continuing   service   in  the  joint  agreement,  unless  an
 6    alternative method of determining a sequence of dismissal  is
 7    established in an applicable collective bargaining agreement.
 8        The  employment  of  any  teacher  in a special education
 9    program authorized by Section 14-1.01 through 14-14.01, or  a
10    joint   educational   program   established   under   Section
11    10-22.31a, shall be under this and the succeeding Sections of
12    this   Article,   and  such  employment  shall  be  deemed  a
13    continuation of the previous employment of  such  teacher  in
14    any   of  the  participating  districts,  regardless  of  the
15    participation of other districts in the program. Any  teacher
16    employed  as  a  full-time  teacher  in  a  special education
17    program prior to September 23, 1987 in which 2 or more school
18    districts  participate  for  a  probationary  period   of   2
19    consecutive  years  shall  enter  upon  contractual continued
20    service in each of the participating  districts,  subject  to
21    this  and the succeeding Sections of this Article, and in the
22    event of the termination of the program shall be eligible for
23    any vacant position in any of such districts for  which  such
24    teacher is qualified.
25    (Source: P.A. 90-548, eff. 1-1-98; 90-653, eff. 7-29-98.)

26        Section  90.  The State Mandates Act is amended by adding
27    Section 8.27 as follows:

28        (30 ILCS 805/8.27 new)
29        Sec. 8.27. Exempt mandate.   Notwithstanding  Sections  6
30    and  8 of this Act, no reimbursement by the State is required
31    for  the  implementation  of  any  mandate  created  by  this
32    amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly.
 
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 1        Section 99.  Effective date.  This Act takes effect  upon
 2    becoming law.