Full Text of HB5399 095th General Assembly
HB5399eng 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| AN ACT concerning education.
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| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, | 3 |
| represented in the General Assembly:
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| Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section | 5 |
| 11E-35 as follows: | 6 |
| (105 ILCS 5/11E-35) | 7 |
| Sec. 11E-35. Petition filing. | 8 |
| (a) A petition shall be filed with the regional | 9 |
| superintendent of schools of the educational service region in | 10 |
| which the territory described in the petition or that part of | 11 |
| the territory with the greater percentage of equalized assessed | 12 |
| valuation is situated. The petition must do the following: | 13 |
| (1) be signed by at least 50 legal resident voters or | 14 |
| 10% of the legal resident voters, whichever is less, | 15 |
| residing within each affected district; or | 16 |
| (2) be approved by the school board in each affected | 17 |
| district. | 18 |
| (b) The petition shall contain all of the following: | 19 |
| (1) A request to submit the proposition at a regular | 20 |
| scheduled election for the purpose of voting: | 21 |
| (A) for or against a high school - unit conversion; | 22 |
| (B) for or against a unit to dual conversion; | 23 |
| (C) for or against the establishment of a combined |
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| elementary district; | 2 |
| (D) for or against the establishment of a combined | 3 |
| high school district; | 4 |
| (E) for or against the establishment of a combined | 5 |
| unit district; | 6 |
| (F) for or against the establishment of a unit | 7 |
| district from dual district territory exclusively; | 8 |
| (G) for or against the establishment of a unit | 9 |
| district from both dual district and unit district | 10 |
| territory; | 11 |
| (H) for or against the establishment of a combined | 12 |
| high school - unit district from a combination of one | 13 |
| or more high school districts and one or more unit | 14 |
| districts; | 15 |
| (I) for or against the establishment of a combined | 16 |
| high school - unit district and one or more new | 17 |
| elementary districts through a multi-unit conversion;
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| (J) for or against the establishment of an optional | 19 |
| elementary unit district from a combination of a | 20 |
| substantially coterminous dual district; or | 21 |
| (K) for or against dissolving and becoming part of | 22 |
| an optional elementary unit district. | 23 |
| (2) A description of the territory comprising the | 24 |
| districts proposed to be dissolved and those to be created, | 25 |
| which, for an entire district, may be a general reference | 26 |
| to all of the territory included within that district. |
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| (3) A specification of the maximum tax rates for | 2 |
| various purposes the proposed district or districts shall | 3 |
| be authorized to levy for various purposes and, if | 4 |
| applicable, the specifications related to the Property Tax | 5 |
| Extension Limitation Law, in accordance with Section | 6 |
| 11E-80 of this Code. | 7 |
| (4) A description of how supplementary State deficit | 8 |
| difference payments made under subsection (c) of Section | 9 |
| 11E-135 of this Code will be allocated among the new | 10 |
| districts proposed to be formed. | 11 |
| (5) Where applicable, a division of assets and | 12 |
| liabilities to be allocated to the proposed new or annexing | 13 |
| school district or districts in the manner provided in | 14 |
| Section 11E-105 of this Code. | 15 |
| (6) If desired, a request that at that same election as | 16 |
| the reorganization proposition a school board or boards be | 17 |
| elected on a separate ballot or ballots to serve as the | 18 |
| school board or boards of the proposed new district or | 19 |
| districts. Any election of board members at the same | 20 |
| election at which the proposition to create the district or | 21 |
| districts to be served by the board or boards is submitted | 22 |
| to the voters shall proceed under the supervision of the | 23 |
| regional superintendent of schools as provided in Section | 24 |
| 11E-55 of this Code. | 25 |
| (7) If desired, a request that the referendum at which | 26 |
| the proposition is submitted for the purpose of voting for |
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| or against the establishment of a unit district (other than | 2 |
| a partial elementary unit district) include as part of the | 3 |
| proposition the election of board members by school board | 4 |
| district rather than at large. Any petition requesting the | 5 |
| election of board members by district shall divide the | 6 |
| proposed school district into 7 school board districts, | 7 |
| each of which must be compact and contiguous and | 8 |
| substantially equal in population to each other school | 9 |
| board district. Any election of board members by school | 10 |
| board district shall proceed under the supervision of the | 11 |
| regional superintendent of schools as provided in Section | 12 |
| 11E-55 of this Code. | 13 |
| (7.5) For the combining of Westmer Community Unit | 14 |
| School District 203 and Aledo Community Unit School | 15 |
| District 201, if desired, a request that the referendum at | 16 |
| which the proposition is submitted for the purpose of | 17 |
| voting for or against the establishment of a combined unit | 18 |
| district include as part of the initial proposition the | 19 |
| election of board members by a combination of members | 20 |
| representing each of the forming unit districts and members | 21 |
| at large rather than solely members at large and the | 22 |
| election of all board members at large for each election | 23 |
| thereafter. The format for the election of the new unit | 24 |
| district school board must be defined in the petition. When | 25 |
| a combination of board members representing each of the | 26 |
| forming unit school districts and at-large formats are |
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| used, 3 members must be elected from each of the forming | 2 |
| unit school districts and the remaining member must be | 3 |
| elected at large. | 4 |
| (8) If desired, a request that the referendum at which | 5 |
| the proposition is submitted for the purpose of voting for | 6 |
| or against the establishment of a unit to dual conversion | 7 |
| include as part of the proposition the election of board | 8 |
| members for the new high school district (i) on an at large | 9 |
| basis, (ii) with board members representing each of the | 10 |
| forming elementary school districts, or (iii) a | 11 |
| combination of both. The format for the election of the new | 12 |
| high school board must be defined in the petition. When 4 | 13 |
| or more unit school districts and a combination of board | 14 |
| members representing each of the forming elementary school | 15 |
| districts are involved and at large formats are used, one | 16 |
| member must be elected from each of the forming elementary | 17 |
| school districts. The remaining members may be elected on | 18 |
| an at large basis, provided that none of the underlying | 19 |
| elementary school districts have a majority on the | 20 |
| resulting high school board. When 3 unit school districts | 21 |
| and a combination of board members representing each of the | 22 |
| forming elementary school districts are involved and at | 23 |
| large formats are used, 2 members must be elected from each | 24 |
| of the forming elementary school districts. The remaining | 25 |
| member must be elected at large. | 26 |
| (9) If desired, a request that the referendum at which |
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| the proposition shall be submitted include a proposition on | 2 |
| a separate ballot authorizing the issuance of bonds by the | 3 |
| district or districts when organized in accordance with | 4 |
| this Article. However, if the petition is submitted for the | 5 |
| purpose of voting for or against the establishment of an | 6 |
| optional elementary unit district, the petition may | 7 |
| request only that the referendum at which the proposition | 8 |
| is submitted include a proposition on a separate ballot | 9 |
| authorizing the issuance of bonds for high school purposes | 10 |
| (and not elementary purposes) by the district when | 11 |
| organized in accordance with this Article. The principal | 12 |
| amount of the bonds and the purposes of issuance, including | 13 |
| a specification of elementary or high school purposes if | 14 |
| the proposed issuance is to be made by a combined high | 15 |
| school - unit district, shall be stated in the petition and | 16 |
| in all notices and propositions submitted thereunder. | 17 |
| (10) A designation of a committee of ten of the | 18 |
| petitioners as attorney in fact for all petitioners, any 7 | 19 |
| of whom may at any time, prior to the final decision of the | 20 |
| regional superintendent of schools, amend the petition in | 21 |
| all respects (except that, for a unit district formation, | 22 |
| there may not be an increase or decrease of more than 25% | 23 |
| of the territory to be included in the proposed district) | 24 |
| and make binding stipulations on behalf of all petitioners | 25 |
| as to any question with respect to the petition, including | 26 |
| the power to stipulate to accountings or the waiver thereof |
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| between school districts. | 2 |
| (c) The regional superintendent of schools shall not accept | 3 |
| for filing under the authority of this Section any petition | 4 |
| that includes any territory already included as part of the | 5 |
| territory described in another pending petition filed under the | 6 |
| authority of this Section. | 7 |
| (d)(1) Those designated as the Committee of Ten shall serve | 8 |
| in that capacity until such time as the regional superintendent | 9 |
| of schools determines that, because of death, resignation, | 10 |
| transfer of residency from the territory, failure to qualify, | 11 |
| or any other reason, the office of a particular member of the | 12 |
| Committee of Ten is vacant. Upon determination by the regional | 13 |
| superintendent of schools that these vacancies exist, he or she | 14 |
| shall declare the vacancies and shall notify the remaining | 15 |
| members to appoint a petitioner or petitioners, as the case may | 16 |
| be, to fill the vacancies in the Committee of Ten so | 17 |
| designated. An appointment by the Committee of Ten to fill a | 18 |
| vacancy shall be made by a simple majority vote of the | 19 |
| designated remaining members. | 20 |
| (2) Failure of a person designated as a member of the | 21 |
| Committee of Ten to sign the petition shall not disqualify that | 22 |
| person as a member of the Committee of Ten, and that person may | 23 |
| sign the petition at any time prior to final disposition of the | 24 |
| petition and the conclusion of the proceedings to form a new | 25 |
| school district or districts, including all litigation | 26 |
| pertaining to the petition or proceedings. |
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| (3) Except as stated in item (10) of subsection (b) of this | 2 |
| Section, the Committee of Ten shall act by majority vote of the | 3 |
| membership. | 4 |
| (4) The regional superintendent of schools may accept a | 5 |
| stipulation made by the Committee of Ten instead of evidence or | 6 |
| proof of the matter stipulated or may refuse to accept the | 7 |
| stipulation, provided that the regional superintendent sets | 8 |
| forth the basis for the refusal. | 9 |
| (5) The Committee of Ten may voluntarily dismiss its | 10 |
| petition at any time before the petition is approved by either | 11 |
| the regional superintendent of schools or State Superintendent | 12 |
| of Education.
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| (Source: P.A. 94-1019, eff. 7-10-06.)
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| Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 15 |
| becoming law.
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