97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2011 and 2012
HB3148

 

Introduced 2/23/2011, by Rep. Brandon W. Phelps

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
105 ILCS 5/24-11  from Ch. 122, par. 24-11

    Amends the School Code. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning teacher tenure.


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A BILL FOR

 

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1    AN ACT concerning education.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section
524-11 as follows:
 
6    (105 ILCS 5/24-11)  (from Ch. 122, par. 24-11)
7    Sec. 24-11. Boards of Education - Boards of School
8Inspectors - Contractual continued service. As used in this and
9and the succeeding Sections of this Article:
10    "Teacher" means any or all school district employees
11regularly required to be certified under laws relating to the
12certification of teachers.
13    "Board" means board of directors, board of education, or
14board of school inspectors, as the case may be.
15    "School term" means that portion of the school year, July 1
16to the following June 30, when school is in actual session.
17    This Section and Sections 24-12 through 24-16 of this
18Article apply only to school districts having less than 500,000
19inhabitants.
20    Any teacher who has been employed in any district as a
21full-time teacher for a probationary period of 2 consecutive
22school terms shall enter upon contractual continued service
23unless given written notice of dismissal stating the specific

 

 

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1reason therefor, by certified mail, return receipt requested by
2the employing board at least 45 days before the end of such
3period; except that for a teacher who is first employed as a
4full-time teacher by a school district on or after January 1,
51998 and who has not before that date already entered upon
6contractual continued service in that district, the
7probationary period shall be 4 consecutive school terms before
8the teacher shall enter upon contractual continued service. For
9the purpose of determining contractual continued service, the
10first probationary year shall be any full-time employment from
11a date before November 1 through the end of the school year.
12If, however, a teacher who was first employed prior to January
131, 1998 has not had one school term of full-time teaching
14experience before the beginning of a probationary period of 2
15consecutive school terms, the employing board may at its option
16extend the probationary period for one additional school term
17by giving the teacher written notice by certified mail, return
18receipt requested, at least 45 days before the end of the
19second school term of the period of 2 consecutive school terms
20referred to above. This notice must state the reasons for the
21one year extension and must outline the corrective actions that
22the teacher must take to satisfactorily complete probation. The
23changes made by this amendatory Act of 1998 are declaratory of
24existing law.
25    Any full-time teacher who is not completing the last year
26of the probationary period described in the preceding

 

 

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1paragraph, or any teacher employed on a full-time basis not
2later than January 1 of the school term, shall receive written
3notice from the employing board at least 45 days before the end
4of any school term whether or not he will be re-employed for
5the following school term. If the board fails to give such
6notice, the employee shall be deemed reemployed, and not later
7than the close of the then current school term the board shall
8issue a regular contract to the employee as though the board
9had reemployed him in the usual manner.
10    Contractual continued service shall continue in effect the
11terms and provisions of the contract with the teacher during
12the last school term of the probationary period, subject to
13this Act and the lawful regulations of the employing board.
14This Section and succeeding Sections do not modify any existing
15power of the board except with respect to the procedure of the
16discharge of a teacher and reductions in salary as hereinafter
17provided. Contractual continued service status shall not
18restrict the power of the board to transfer a teacher to a
19position which the teacher is qualified to fill or to make such
20salary adjustments as it deems desirable, but unless reductions
21in salary are uniform or based upon some reasonable
22classification, any teacher whose salary is reduced shall be
23entitled to a notice and a hearing as hereinafter provided in
24the case of certain dismissals or removals.
25    The employment of any teacher in a program of a special
26education joint agreement established under Section 3-15.14,

 

 

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110-22.31 or 10-22.31a shall be under this and succeeding
2Sections of this Article. For purposes of attaining and
3maintaining contractual continued service and computing length
4of continuing service as referred to in this Section and
5Section 24-12, employment in a special educational joint
6program shall be deemed a continuation of all previous
7certificated employment of such teacher for such joint
8agreement whether the employer of the teacher was the joint
9agreement, the regional superintendent, or one of the
10participating districts in the joint agreement.
11    Any teacher employed after July 1, 1987 as a full-time
12teacher in a program of a special education joint agreement,
13whether the program is operated by the joint agreement or a
14member district on behalf of the joint agreement, for a
15probationary period of two consecutive years shall enter upon
16contractual continued service in all of the programs conducted
17by such joint agreement which the teacher is legally qualified
18to hold; except that for a teacher who is first employed on or
19after January 1, 1998 in a program of a special education joint
20agreement and who has not before that date already entered upon
21contractual continued service in all of the programs conducted
22by the joint agreement that the teacher is legally qualified to
23hold, the probationary period shall be 4 consecutive years
24before the teacher enters upon contractual continued service in
25all of those programs. In the event of a reduction in the
26number of programs or positions in the joint agreement, the

 

 

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1teacher on contractual continued service shall be eligible for
2employment in the joint agreement programs for which the
3teacher is legally qualified in order of greater length of
4continuing service in the joint agreement unless an alternative
5method of determining the sequence of dismissal is established
6in a collective bargaining agreement. In the event of the
7dissolution of a joint agreement, the teacher on contractual
8continued service who is legally qualified shall be assigned to
9any comparable position in a member district currently held by
10a teacher who has not entered upon contractual continued
11service or held by a teacher who has entered upon contractual
12continued service with shorter length of contractual continued
13service.
14    The governing board of the joint agreement, or the
15administrative district, if so authorized by the articles of
16agreement of the joint agreement, rather than the board of
17education of a school district, may carry out employment and
18termination actions including dismissals under this Section
19and Section 24-12.
20    For purposes of this and succeeding Sections of this
21Article, a program of a special educational joint agreement
22shall be defined as instructional, consultative, supervisory,
23administrative, diagnostic, and related services which are
24managed by the special educational joint agreement designed to
25service two or more districts which are members of the joint
26agreement.

 

 

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1    Each joint agreement shall be required to post by February
21, a list of all its employees in order of length of continuing
3service in the joint agreement, unless an alternative method of
4determining a sequence of dismissal is established in an
5applicable collective bargaining agreement.
6    The employment of any teacher in a special education
7program authorized by Section 14-1.01 through 14-14.01, or a
8joint educational program established under Section 10-22.31a,
9shall be under this and the succeeding Sections of this
10Article, and such employment shall be deemed a continuation of
11the previous employment of such teacher in any of the
12participating districts, regardless of the participation of
13other districts in the program. Any teacher employed as a
14full-time teacher in a special education program prior to
15September 23, 1987 in which 2 or more school districts
16participate for a probationary period of 2 consecutive years
17shall enter upon contractual continued service in each of the
18participating districts, subject to this and the succeeding
19Sections of this Article, and in the event of the termination
20of the program shall be eligible for any vacant position in any
21of such districts for which such teacher is qualified.
22(Source: P.A. 90-548, eff. 1-1-98; 90-653, eff. 7-29-98.)