Full Text of HJR0074 96th General Assembly
HJ0074eng 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 74
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| WHEREAS, The State of Illinois and the federal government | 3 |
| have the authority to legislate costly and complex changes to | 4 |
| elementary and secondary education; and
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| WHEREAS, The State and federal government frequently | 6 |
| advance mandates that are either not funded or under-funded and | 7 |
| without specific evidence of the need for such mandate; and
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| WHEREAS, These unfunded or under-funded mandates are | 9 |
| policies that require school district action but do not provide | 10 |
| adequate monetary or instructional resources to implement, | 11 |
| seriously undermining the ability of school districts to focus | 12 |
| their limited resources on appropriate educational activities; | 13 |
| and
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| WHEREAS, Compliance with new mandates places the financial | 15 |
| responsibility of implementing State mandates onto the local | 16 |
| taxpayers, which has resulted in a shift of percentage funding | 17 |
| from the State, from 37.8% in 2000 to 34.6% in 2008; and
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| WHEREAS, In the past 17 years, 105 unfunded or under-funded | 19 |
| education bills have become law; and
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| WHEREAS, Specifically, in 2009 alone, the General Assembly |
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| passed 74 education bills to the Governor, 19 of which, or, | 2 |
| nearly 26% were new unfunded or under-funded mandates on school | 3 |
| districts; and | 4 |
| WHEREAS, The most costly under-funded mandates on school | 5 |
| districts are special education services, which in 1975 the | 6 |
| federal government pledged to incrementally fund up to 40% of | 7 |
| the states' excess cost of the mandated programs, but never | 8 |
| upheld its commitment; and | 9 |
| WHEREAS, The 2008 Illinois State Board of Education School | 10 |
| Districts' Special Education and Expenditures and Receipts | 11 |
| Report showed that local school districts have to fill a $900 | 12 |
| million gap in annual special education funding that is beyond | 13 |
| their special education tax levy because of inadequate State | 14 |
| and federal funding to meet the special education mandate; and | 15 |
| WHEREAS, Either legislating unfunded or under-funded | 16 |
| mandates must end or more effort should be made to follow the | 17 |
| dictates of the Illinois State Mandates Act to make the | 18 |
| necessary appropriations for the incurred costs attributable | 19 |
| to all state mandates that are directed to school districts; | 20 |
| therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 22 |
| NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE |
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| SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that a Blue Ribbon Committee on | 2 |
| Elementary and Secondary Education Mandates be established | 3 |
| within the State Board of Education to review state mandates on | 4 |
| school districts to determine whether the mandates (1) are | 5 |
| necessary for the health and safety of students in compliance | 6 |
| with federal laws, (2) are essential to the academic integrity | 7 |
| of Illinois public school systems, (3) exceed federal | 8 |
| requirements, or (4) superfluous to the core academic programs | 9 |
| of Illinois school districts; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That the Committee shall include members from | 11 |
| organizations representing the interests of school | 12 |
| administrators, school board members, teacher unions, regional | 13 |
| superintendents, vocational education, the business community, | 14 |
| and State Board of Education personnel, and others as deemed | 15 |
| necessary by the Committee; and be it further | 16 |
| RESOLVED, That the Committee shall make recommendations to | 17 |
| the General Assembly on the elimination of unnecessary and | 18 |
| costly mandates in the School Code and the Administrative Code | 19 |
| by May 1, 2010.
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