Full Text of HB0363 96th General Assembly
HB0363ham001 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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Rep. Cynthia Soto
Filed: 4/1/2009
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| AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 363
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| AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 363 by replacing | 3 |
| everything after the enacting clause with the following:
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| "Section 5. The School Code is amended by adding Section | 5 |
| 34-18.37 as follows: | 6 |
| (105 ILCS 5/34-18.37 new) | 7 |
| Sec. 34-18.37. Establishing an equitable and effective | 8 |
| school facility development process. | 9 |
| (a) The General Assembly recognizes all of the following: | 10 |
| (1) The Illinois Constitution indicates that "a | 11 |
| fundamental goal of the People of the State is the | 12 |
| educational development of all persons to the limits of | 13 |
| their capacities". | 14 |
| (2) Quality educational facilities are essential for | 15 |
| fostering the maximum educational development of all | 16 |
| persons through their educational experience from |
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| prekindergarten through high school. | 2 |
| (3) The public school is a major institution in | 3 |
| communities that offers resources and opportunities for | 4 |
| many stakeholders, including not only families with | 5 |
| children who seek and deserve a quality education, but also | 6 |
| including the entire community that seeks educational | 7 |
| improvement. | 8 |
| (4) The equitable and efficient use of available | 9 |
| facilities-related resources among different schools and | 10 |
| among racial, ethnic, income, and disability groups is | 11 |
| essential to maximize the development of quality | 12 |
| educational facilities for all children, youth, and | 13 |
| adults. These factors vary according to the needs of each | 14 |
| school community, are vitally impacted by | 15 |
| facilities-related decisions, and, therefore, should | 16 |
| include the school community's voice to the greatest extent | 17 |
| possible in all current and future uses of the school | 18 |
| building. | 19 |
| (5) School openings, school closings, school | 20 |
| consolidations, school turnarounds, school phase-outs, | 21 |
| school construction, school repairs, school | 22 |
| modernizations, school boundary changes, and other related | 23 |
| school facility decisions often have profound impacts on | 24 |
| education in a community. These decisions must be carried | 25 |
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only according to clear systemwide criteria and with | 26 |
| genuine involvement of local school councils, parents, |
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| educators, and the community in decision-making. | 2 |
| (6) The General Assembly has previously stated that it | 3 |
| intended to make the individual school in the City of | 4 |
| Chicago the essential unit for educational governance and | 5 |
| improvement and to place the primary responsibility for | 6 |
| school governance and improvement in the hands of parents, | 7 |
| teachers, and community residents at each school. A school | 8 |
| facility policy must be consistent with these principles. | 9 |
| (7) The board shall prepare and implement a Master | 10 |
| School Facilities Plan for City of Chicago School District | 11 |
| 299 that establishes a transparent and inclusive process | 12 |
| that is both educationally sound and fiscally responsible, | 13 |
| as well as an annual Master School Facilities Plan based on | 14 |
| this Plan. | 15 |
| (b) To ensure that the intent of the General Assembly is | 16 |
| carried out in a fair and equitable manner and to establish | 17 |
| educationally sound and fiscally responsible criteria for | 18 |
| related facilities planning, the following process shall apply | 19 |
| to the school district: | 20 |
| (1) A Special Joint Chicago Education Facilities | 21 |
| Committee shall be established within 30 days after the | 22 |
| effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General | 23 |
| Assembly and shall consist of 4 members of the House of | 24 |
| Representatives' Elementary & Secondary Education | 25 |
| Committee, 4 members of the Senate's Education Committee, | 26 |
| and 4 representatives of school community organizations |
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| with past involvement in school facility issues. The | 2 |
| Speaker of the House of Representatives shall appoint the 4 | 3 |
| members of the House Elementary and Secondary Committee, 2 | 4 |
| of whom shall be Republicans and 2 of whom shall be | 5 |
| Democrats. The Speaker of the House shall appoint one of | 6 |
| the 4 appointed House members as Co-Chairperson of the | 7 |
| Committee. The Speaker of the House shall appoint one | 8 |
| representative of each of 2 school community organizations | 9 |
| with past involvement in Chicago school facility issues as | 10 |
| committee members. The President of the Senate shall | 11 |
| appoint the 4 members of the Senate Education Committee, 2 | 12 |
| of whom shall be Republicans and 2 of whom shall be | 13 |
| Democrats. The President of the Senate shall appoint one of | 14 |
| the 4 appointed Senate members as a Co-Chairperson of the | 15 |
| Committee. The President of the Senate shall appoint one | 16 |
| representative of each of 2 school community organizations | 17 |
| with past involvement in Chicago school facility issues as | 18 |
| committee members. Additionally, the chief executive | 19 |
| officer of the school district or his or her designee, a | 20 |
| representative from the Chicago Teachers Union, and a | 21 |
| representative from the Chicago Principals Association | 22 |
| shall serve on the Committee. | 23 |
| (2) The Committee shall call on independent experts, as | 24 |
| needed, to gather and analyze pertinent information on a | 25 |
| pro bono basis, provided that such experts shall have no | 26 |
| previous or on-going financial interest in school facility |
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| issues related to the school district. The Committee shall | 2 |
| secure pro bono expert assistance within 30 days after the | 3 |
| establishment of the Committee. | 4 |
| (3) The Committee shall be empowered to gather further | 5 |
| evidence, in the form of testimony or documents or other | 6 |
| materials; therefore, the Committee shall have the | 7 |
| authority to gather this testimony or compel the production | 8 |
| of these documents. | 9 |
| (4) The Committee, with the help of the independent | 10 |
| experts, shall analyze past Chicago experiences and data | 11 |
| with respect to school openings, school closings, school | 12 |
| consolidations, school turnarounds, school phase-outs, | 13 |
| school construction, school repairs, school | 14 |
| modernizations, school boundary changes, and other related | 15 |
| school facility decisions on their students. The Committee | 16 |
| shall consult widely with stakeholders, including public | 17 |
| officials, about these facility issues and their related | 18 |
| costs and shall examine relevant best practices from other | 19 |
| school systems for dealing with these issues | 20 |
| systematically and equitably. These initial investigations | 21 |
| shall include opportunities for input from local | 22 |
| stakeholders through hearings, focus groups, and | 23 |
| interviews. | 24 |
| (5) The Committee shall prepare a draft policy and | 25 |
| proposed legislation by September 30, 2009 describing how | 26 |
| these issues can be addressed effectively based upon |
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| educationally sound and fiscally responsible practices, | 2 |
| which shall be known as the Master School Facilities Plan. | 3 |
| (6) The Committee shall hold hearings in separate | 4 |
| relevant areas of the school district at times that shall | 5 |
| maximize school community participation to obtain comments | 6 |
| on the proposed Master School Facilities Plan. The final | 7 |
| hearing shall take place no later than 30 days prior to the | 8 |
| completion of the final draft to be presented to the | 9 |
| General Assembly for approval. The final proposed plan | 10 |
| shall be made available to the public in the school | 11 |
| district at least 7 days before formal introduction in the | 12 |
| General Assembly. | 13 |
| (7) The Committee shall prepare a final proposed plan, | 14 |
| which shall be introduced as proposed State law and shall | 15 |
| address the issues, standards, and procedures set forth in | 16 |
| this Section. The proposed law shall address issues of | 17 |
| system-wide criteria for ensuring clear priorities, | 18 |
| equity, and efficiency. | 19 |
| (8) The proposed law shall establish significant | 20 |
| decision-making roles for key stakeholders, including the | 21 |
| individual school and community; shall require clear | 22 |
| criteria or processes for establishing criteria for making | 23 |
| school facility decisions; and shall include clear | 24 |
| criteria for setting priorities with respect to school | 25 |
| openings, school closings, school consolidations, school | 26 |
| turnarounds, school phase-outs, school construction, |
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| school repairs, school modernizations, school boundary | 2 |
| changes, and other related school facility decisions, | 3 |
| including the encouragement of multiple community uses for | 4 |
| school space. | 5 |
| (9) The proposed law shall seek to minimize or | 6 |
| eliminate student mobility; the transferring of students | 7 |
| to lower performing schools; teacher mobility; | 8 |
| insufficient notice to and the lack of inclusion in | 9 |
| decision-making of local school councils, parents, and | 10 |
| community members about school facility decisions; and | 11 |
| costly facilities-related expenditures due to poor | 12 |
| educational and facilities planning. | 13 |
| (c) The Master School Facilities Plan shall set forth | 14 |
| criteria that shall form the basis for an annual Master School | 15 |
| Facilities Plan, in which the board rank-orders all schools in | 16 |
| the school district with respect to each type of proposed | 17 |
| school facility action, including school openings, school | 18 |
| closings, school consolidations, school turnarounds, school | 19 |
| phase-outs, school construction, school repairs, school | 20 |
| modernizations, school boundary changes, and other related | 21 |
| school facility decisions. These lists must be made public by | 22 |
| November 1 of each year. Each school facility action must be | 23 |
| taken in light of the severity of each school's needs, as | 24 |
| reflected in the school's ranking, with respect to a specific | 25 |
| type of needed action. Exceptions to the rank-ordered lists | 26 |
| must be justified in writing by the board. |
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| (d) The chief executive officer of the school district | 2 |
| shall prepare a school-by-school annual report on the impact of | 3 |
| school openings, school closings, school consolidations, | 4 |
| school turnarounds, school phase-outs, school construction, | 5 |
| school repairs, school modernizations, school boundary | 6 |
| changes, and other related school facility decisions on each | 7 |
| school's students. This report shall enumerate, on a | 8 |
| school-by-school basis, the name of the school, the nature of | 9 |
| the actions taken, the number of students affected, and the | 10 |
| characteristics of the students, including, but not limited to, | 11 |
| race, ethnicity, language proficiency, disability, and | 12 |
| homeless status. | 13 |
| This annual report shall be filed with the State Board of | 14 |
| Education by September 30 of each year to report on the | 15 |
| previous school year and must be made available to the public, | 16 |
| within 30 days after filing, by the State Board of Education | 17 |
| and the Chicago Board of Education, in both hard-copy and | 18 |
| electronic form.
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| Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 20 |
| becoming law.".
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