August 24, 2009

To the Honorable Members of the Illinois Senate,

96th General Assembly:

Today, I return Senate Bill 1391 with specific recommendations for change. I thank the sponsors for their hard work on this bill. I believe that we must work together to provide our students with appropriate support and to make sure that there are well defined guidelines for the people who counsel schoolchildren.

            This bill fails to provide those guidelines and contains too many ambiguities for it to be a meaningful solution.  For example, the bill does not contain safeguards to ensure that marital and family therapists have the appropriate training to work with children in an educational setting.   I believe a more comprehensive approach to these issues would be for members of the General Assembly to work closely with the State Board of Education.  Specifically, legislators should develop certification requirements so that the State Board of Education licenses only the highest-quality professionals to work with our children.  That is why I propose a task force where we can work together to reach positive results.

Therefore, pursuant to Article IV, Section 9(e) of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I hereby return Senate Bill 1391, entitled “AN ACT concerning education.”, with the following specific recommendations for change:

on line 9, by replacing “initiate rulemaking to provide” with “convene a task force of no less than 5 members appointed by the State Superintendent to develop”; and

on line 11, by replacing “These rules shall include” with “The task force shall review”; and

on line 12, by replacing “by” with “for”; and

on line 15, by replacing “the State Board of Education deems appropriate for” with “they relate to”.

With these changes, Senate Bill 1391 will have my approval.  I respectfully request your concurrence. 

Sincerely,

PAT QUINN

Governor