SB0849 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB095 05576 NHT 25666 b

95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2007 and 2008
SB0849

Introduced 2/8/2007, by Sen. Kimberly A. Lightford - Emil Jones, Jr.

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

105 ILCS 5/24-11

from Ch. 122, par. 24-11

Amends the School Code. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning teacher tenure.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning education.

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

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

(105 ILCS 5/24-11) (from Ch. 122, par. 24-11)

Sec. 24-11. Boards of Education - Boards of School Inspectors - Contractual continued service. As used in this and and the succeeding Sections of this Article:

"Teacher" means any or all school district employees regularly required to be certified under laws relating to the certification of teachers.

"Board" means board of directors, board of education, or board of school inspectors, as the case may be.

"School term" means that portion of the school year, July 1 to the following June 30, when school is in actual session.

This Section and Sections 24-12 through 24-16 of this Article apply only to school districts having less than 500,000 inhabitants.

Any teacher who has been employed in any district as a full-time teacher for a probationary period of 2 consecutive school terms shall enter upon contractual continued service unless given written notice of dismissal stating the specific reason therefor, by certified mail, return receipt requested by the employing board at least 45 days before the end of such period; except that for a teacher who is first employed as a full-time teacher by a school district on or after January 1, 1998 and who has not before that date already entered upon contractual continued service in that district, the probationary period shall be 4 consecutive school terms before the teacher shall enter upon contractual continued service. For the purpose of determining contractual continued service, the first probationary year shall be any full-time employment from a date before November 1 through the end of the school year. If, however, a teacher who was first employed prior to January 1, 1998 has not had one school term of full-time teaching experience before the beginning of a probationary period of 2 consecutive school terms, the employing board may at its option extend the probationary period for one additional school term by giving the teacher written notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, at least 45 days before the end of the second school term of the period of 2 consecutive school terms referred to above. This notice must state the reasons for the one year extension and must outline the corrective actions that the teacher must take to satisfactorily complete probation. The changes made by this amendatory Act of 1998 are declaratory of existing law.

Any full-time teacher who is not completing the last year of the probationary period described in the preceding paragraph, or any teacher employed on a full-time basis not later than January 1 of the school term, shall receive written notice from the employing board at least 45 days before the end of any school term whether or not he will be re-employed for the following school term. If the board fails to give such notice, the employee shall be deemed reemployed, and not later than the close of the then current school term the board shall issue a regular contract to the employee as though the board had reemployed him in the usual manner.

Contractual continued service shall continue in effect the terms and provisions of the contract with the teacher during the last school term of the probationary period, subject to this Act and the lawful regulations of the employing board. This Section and succeeding Sections do not modify any existing power of the board except with respect to the procedure of the discharge of a teacher and reductions in salary as hereinafter provided. Contractual continued service status shall not restrict the power of the board to transfer a teacher to a position which the teacher is qualified to fill or to make such salary adjustments as it deems desirable, but unless reductions in salary are uniform or based upon some reasonable classification, any teacher whose salary is reduced shall be entitled to a notice and a hearing as hereinafter provided in the case of certain dismissals or removals.

The employment of any teacher in a program of a special education joint agreement established under Section 3-15.14, 10-22.31 or 10-22.31a shall be under this and succeeding Sections of this Article. For purposes of attaining and maintaining contractual continued service and computing length of continuing service as referred to in this Section and Section 24-12, employment in a special educational joint program shall be deemed a continuation of all previous certificated employment of such teacher for such joint agreement whether the employer of the teacher was the joint agreement, the regional superintendent, or one of the participating districts in the joint agreement.

Any teacher employed after July 1, 1987 as a full-time teacher in a program of a special education joint agreement, whether the program is operated by the joint agreement or a member district on behalf of the joint agreement, for a probationary period of two consecutive years shall enter upon contractual continued service in all of the programs conducted by such joint agreement which the teacher is legally qualified to hold; except that for a teacher who is first employed on or after January 1, 1998 in a program of a special education joint agreement and who has not before that date already entered upon contractual continued service in all of the programs conducted by the joint agreement that the teacher is legally qualified to hold, the probationary period shall be 4 consecutive years before the teacher enters upon contractual continued service in all of those programs. In the event of a reduction in the number of programs or positions in the joint agreement, the teacher on contractual continued service shall be eligible for employment in the joint agreement programs for which the teacher is legally qualified in order of greater length of continuing service in the joint agreement unless an alternative method of determining the sequence of dismissal is established in a collective bargaining agreement. In the event of the dissolution of a joint agreement, the teacher on contractual continued service who is legally qualified shall be assigned to any comparable position in a member district currently held by a teacher who has not entered upon contractual continued service or held by a teacher who has entered upon contractual continued service with shorter length of contractual continued service.

The governing board of the joint agreement, or the administrative district, if so authorized by the articles of agreement of the joint agreement, rather than the board of education of a school district, may carry out employment and termination actions including dismissals under this Section and Section 24-12.

For purposes of this and succeeding Sections of this Article, a program of a special educational joint agreement shall be defined as instructional, consultative, supervisory, administrative, diagnostic, and related services which are managed by the special educational joint agreement designed to service two or more districts which are members of the joint agreement.

Each joint agreement shall be required to post by February 1, a list of all its employees in order of length of continuing service in the joint agreement, unless an alternative method of determining a sequence of dismissal is established in an applicable collective bargaining agreement.

The employment of any teacher in a special education program authorized by Section 14-1.01 through 14-14.01, or a joint educational program established under Section 10-22.31a, shall be under this and the succeeding Sections of this Article, and such employment shall be deemed a continuation of the previous employment of such teacher in any of the participating districts, regardless of the participation of other districts in the program. Any teacher employed as a full-time teacher in a special education program prior to September 23, 1987 in which 2 or more school districts participate for a probationary period of 2 consecutive years shall enter upon contractual continued service in each of the participating districts, subject to this and the succeeding Sections of this Article, and in the event of the termination of the program shall be eligible for any vacant position in any of such districts for which such teacher is qualified.

(Source: P.A. 90-548, eff. 1-1-98; 90-653, eff. 7-29-98.)