HB3945ham001 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Rep. Monique D. Davis

Filed: 3/31/2014

09800HB3945ham001 LRB098 15511 NHT 57528 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 3945

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 3945 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 5. The School Code is amended by adding Section 34-18.43a as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/34-18.43a new)

Sec. 34-18.43a. Moratorium on school closings, consolidations, turnarounds, and phase-outs.

(a) The General Assembly recognizes all of the following:

(1) The Illinois Constitution indicates that a "fundamental goal of the People of the State is the educational development of all persons to the limits of their capacities".

(2) Quality educational facilities are essential for fostering the maximum educational development of all persons through their educational experience from prekindergarten through high school.

(3) The public school is a major institution in communities that offers resources and opportunities for many stakeholders, including not only families with children who seek and deserve a quality education, but also the entire community that seeks educational improvement.

(4) The equitable and efficient use of available facilities-related resources among different schools, among racial, ethnic, income, and disability groups, and among various types of schools is essential to maximize the development of quality educational facilities for all children, youth, and adults.

(5) The closing or opening of schools, as well as school repairs, school additions, school phase-outs, school consolidations, school turnarounds, and school boundary changes, often have profound impacts on education in a community. These decisions should be carried out only according to clear system-wide criteria and with the genuine involvement of local school councils, parents, educators, and the community in decision making.

(6) The General Assembly has previously stated that it intended to make the individual school in the school district the essential unit for educational governance and improvement and to place the primary responsibility for school governance and improvement in the hands of parents, teachers, and community residents at each school. A facility policy must be consistent with these principles.

(7) The school district has failed to address the needs of schools placed on academic probation and failed to adhere to the requirements of this Code and established policies regarding the closure, consolidation, turnaround, and phase-out of its schools.

(b) Because of the finality of school closings, consolidations, turnarounds, and phase-outs and their wide-reaching effects, there shall be a moratorium on these actions in the school district beginning on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 98th General Assembly, subject to any new set of requirements adopted by the General Assembly. During this moratorium period, the district shall establish policies that address and remedy the academic performance of schools in which Illinois Standards Achievement Test scores reflect students performing at or below 75%. These policies must establish clear criteria or processes for establishing criteria for making school facility decisions and include clear criteria for setting priorities with respect to school openings, school closings, school consolidations, school turnarounds, school phase-outs, school construction, school repairs, school modernizations, school boundary changes, and other related school facility decisions, including the encouragement of multiple community uses for school space.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.".