HB4917 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB093 19583 NHT 45324 b

93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2003 and 2004
HB4917

Introduced 02/04/04, by Calvin L. Giles

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

105 ILCS 5/7-1

from Ch. 122, par. 7-1

Amends the School Code. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning boundary changes.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning schools.

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 7-1 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/7-1) (from Ch. 122, par. 7-1)

Sec. 7-1. Districts in one educational service region - changing boundaries.

(a) School district boundaries lying entirely within any educational service region may be changed by detachment, annexation, division or dissolution or any combination thereof by the regional board of school trustees of that such region, or by the State Superintendent of Education as provided in subsection (l) of Section 7-6, when petitioned by the boards of each district affected or by a majority of the registered voters in each district affected or by two-thirds of the registered voters in any territory proposed to be detached from one or more districts or in each of one or more districts proposed to be annexed to another district. Registered voters shall be determined by the official voter registration lists as of the date the petition is filed. No signatures shall be added after the date the petition is filed. If there are no registered voters within the territory proposed to be detached from one or more districts, then the petition may be signed by all of the owners of record of the real estate of the territory. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Article, if pursuant to a petition filed under this subsection all of the territory of a school district is to be annexed to another school district, any action by the regional board of school trustees or State Superintendent of Education in granting or approving the petition and any change in school district boundaries pursuant to that action is subject to and the change in school district boundaries shall not be made except upon approval at a regular scheduled election, in the manner provided by Section 7-7.7, of a proposition for the annexation of all of the territory of that school district to the other school district.

Each page of the circulated petition shall include the full prayer of the petition, and each signature contained therein shall match the official signature and address of the registered voters as recorded in the office of the election authority having jurisdiction over the county. Each petitioner shall also record the date of his signing. Each page of the petition shall be signed by a circulator who has witnessed the signature of each petitioner on that page. The length of time for signatures to be valid, before filing of the petition, shall not exceed 6 months.

Where there is only one school building in an approved operating district, the building and building site may not be included in any detachment proceeding unless petitioned by two-thirds of the registered voters within the entire district wherein the school is located.

(b) Any elementary or high school district with 100 or more of its students residing upon territory located entirely within a military base or installation operated and maintained by the government of the United States, or any unit school district or any combination of the above mentioned districts with 300 or more of its students residing upon territory located entirely within a military base or installation operated and maintained by the government of the United States, shall, upon the filing with the regional board of school trustees of a petition adopted by resolution of the board of education or a petition signed by a majority of the registered voters residing upon such military base or installation, have all of the territory lying entirely within such military base or installation detached from such school district, and a new school district comprised of such territory shall be created. The petition shall be filed with and decided solely by the regional board of school trustees of the region in which the regional superintendent of schools has supervision of the school district affected. The regional board of school trustees shall have no authority to deny the detachment and creation of a new school district requested in a proper petition filed under this subsection. This subsection shall apply only to those school districts having a population of not fewer than 1,000 and not more than 500,000 residents, as ascertained by any special or general census.

The new school district shall tuition its students to the same districts that its students were previously attending and the districts from which the new district was detached shall continue to educate the students from the new district, until the federal government provides other arrangements. The federal government shall pay for the education of such children as required by Section 6 of Public Law 81-874.

If a school district created under this subsection (b) has not elected a school board and has not become operational within 2 years after the date of detachment, then this district is automatically dissolved and the territory of this district reverts to the school district from which the territory was detached or any successor district thereto. Any school district created under this subsection (b) on or before September 1, 1996 that has not elected a school board and has not been operational since September 1, 1996 is automatically dissolved on the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1999, and on this date the territory of this district reverts to the school district from which the territory was detached. For the automatic dissolution of a school district created under this subsection (b), the regional superintendent of schools who has supervision of the school district from which the territory was detached shall certify to the regional board of school trustees that the school district created under this subsection (b) has been automatically dissolved.

(Source: P.A. 90-459, eff. 8-17-97; 91-460, eff. 8-6-99.)