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| [ Engrossed ] | [ Enrolled ] | [ Senate Amendment 001 ] |
90_SB0559
105 ILCS 5/24-12 from Ch. 122, par. 24-12
Amends the School Code. Provides that a person must have
a minimum of 5 years of experience in cases involving labor
and employment relations between educational employers and
educational employees or their collective bargaining
representatives in order to be included on State Board of
Education lists for service as a prospective hearing officer
in proceedings for the removal or dismissal for cause of
downstate teachers. Revises the procedure under which
hearing officers may be selected in such proceedings,
providing for a second list and for an alternative selection
procedure. Eliminates the $300 maximum per diem for a
hearing officer and also eliminates a requirement that the
hearing be public if either the teacher or school board
request. Requires a hearing officer to make a decision
within 30 days from the conclusion of the hearing, and adds
provisions relative to removal of a hearing officer from the
master list of hearing officers and for rehearing of a case
if a hearing officer fails to render a timely decision.
Effective immediately.
SRS90S0029KSsa
SRS90S0029KSsa
1 AN ACT to amend the School Code by changing Section
2 24-12.
3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
4 represented in the General Assembly:
5 Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing
6 Section 24-12 as follows:
7 (105 ILCS 5/24-12) (from Ch. 122, par. 24-12)
8 Sec. 24-12. Removal or dismissal of teachers in
9 contractual continued service. If a teacher in contractual
10 continued service is removed or dismissed as a result of a
11 decision of the board to decrease the number of teachers
12 employed by the board or to discontinue some particular type
13 of teaching service, written notice shall be mailed to the
14 teacher and also given the teacher either by certified mail,
15 return receipt requested or personal delivery with receipt at
16 least 60 days before the end of the school term, together
17 with a statement of honorable dismissal and the reason
18 therefor, and in all such cases the board shall first remove
19 or dismiss all teachers who have not entered upon contractual
20 continued service before removing or dismissing any teacher
21 who has entered upon contractual continued service and who is
22 legally qualified to hold a position currently held by a
23 teacher who has not entered upon contractual continued
24 service. As between teachers who have entered upon
25 contractual continued service, the teacher or teachers with
26 the shorter length of continuing service with the district
27 shall be dismissed first unless an alternative method of
28 determining the sequence of dismissal is established in a
29 collective bargaining agreement or contract between the board
30 and a professional faculty members' organization and except
31 that this provision shall not impair the operation of any
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1 affirmative action program in the district, regardless of
2 whether it exists by operation of law or is conducted on a
3 voluntary basis by the board. Any teacher dismissed as a
4 result of such decrease or discontinuance shall be paid all
5 earned compensation on or before the third business day
6 following the last day of pupil attendance in the regular
7 school term. If the board has any vacancies for the
8 following school term or within one calendar year from the
9 beginning of the following school term, the positions thereby
10 becoming available shall be tendered to the teachers so
11 removed or dismissed so far as they are legally qualified to
12 hold such positions; provided, however, that if the number of
13 honorable dismissal notices based on economic necessity
14 exceeds 15% of the number of full time equivalent positions
15 filled by certified employees (excluding principals and
16 administrative personnel) during the preceding school year,
17 then if the board has any vacancies for the following school
18 term or within 2 calendar years from the beginning of the
19 following school term, the positions so becoming available
20 shall be tendered to the teachers who were so notified and
21 removed or dismissed whenever they are legally qualified to
22 hold such positions. Each board shall, in consultation with
23 any exclusive employee representatives, each year establish a
24 list, categorized by positions, showing the length of
25 continuing service of each teacher who is qualified to hold
26 any such positions, unless an alternative method of
27 determining a sequence of dismissal is established as
28 provided for in this Section, in which case a list shall be
29 made in accordance with the alternative method. Copies of
30 the list shall be distributed to the exclusive employee
31 representative on or before February 1 of each year.
32 Whenever the number of honorable dismissal notices based upon
33 economic necessity exceeds 5, or 150% of the average number
34 of teachers honorably dismissed in the preceding 3 years,
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1 whichever is more, then the board also shall hold a public
2 hearing on the question of the dismissals. Following the
3 hearing and board review the action to approve any such
4 reduction shall require a majority vote of the board members.
5 If a dismissal or removal is sought for any other reason
6 or cause, including those under Section 10-22.4, the board
7 must first approve a motion containing specific charges by a
8 majority vote of all its members. Written notice of such
9 charges shall be served upon the teacher within 5 days of the
10 adoption of the motion. Such notice shall contain a bill of
11 particulars. No hearing upon the charges is required unless
12 the teacher within 10 days after receiving notice requests in
13 writing of the board that a hearing be scheduled, in which
14 case the board shall schedule a hearing on those charges
15 before a disinterested hearing officer on a date no less than
16 15 nor more than 30 days after the enactment of the motion.
17 The secretary of the school board shall forward a copy of the
18 notice to the State Board of Education. Within 5 days after
19 receiving this notice of hearing, the State Board of
20 Education shall provide a list of 5 prospective, impartial
21 hearing officers. Each person on the list must be accredited
22 by a national arbitration organization and have had a minimum
23 of 5 years of experience in cases involving labor and
24 employment relations matters between educational employers
25 and educational employees or their exclusive bargaining
26 representatives. No one on the list may be a resident of the
27 school district. The Board and the teacher or their legal
28 representatives within 3 days shall alternately strike one
29 name from the list until only one name remains. Unless
30 waived by the teacher, the teacher shall have the right to
31 proceed first with the striking. Within 3 days of receipt of
32 the first list provided by the State Board of Education, the
33 board and the teacher or their legal representatives shall
34 each have the right to reject all prospective hearing
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1 officers named on the first list and to require the State
2 Board of Education to provide a second list of 5 prospective,
3 impartial hearing officers, none of whom were named on the
4 first list. Within 5 days after receiving this request for a
5 second list, the State Board of Education shall provide the
6 second list of 5 prospective, impartial hearing officers.
7 The procedure for selecting a hearing officer from the second
8 list shall be the same as the procedure for the first list.
9 In the alternative to selecting a hearing officer from the
10 first or second list received from the State Board of
11 Education, the board and the teacher or their legal
12 representatives may mutually agree to select an impartial
13 hearing officer who is not on a list received from the State
14 Board of Education either by direct appointment by the
15 parties or by using procedures for the appointment of an
16 arbitrator established by the Federal Mediation and
17 Conciliation Service or the American Arbitration Association.
18 The parties shall notify the State Board of Education of
19 their intent to select a hearing officer using an alternative
20 procedure within 3 days of receipt of a list of prospective
21 hearing officers provided by the State Board of Education.
22 Any person selected by the parties under this alternative
23 procedure for the selection of a hearing officer shall not be
24 a resident of the school district and shall have the same
25 qualifications and authority as a hearing officer selected
26 from a list provided by the State Board of Education. The
27 State Board of Education shall promulgate uniform standards
28 and rules of procedure for such hearings. As to prehearing
29 discovery, such rules and regulations shall, at a minimum,
30 allow for: (1) discovery of names and addresses of persons
31 who may be called as expert witnesses at the hearing, the
32 omission of any such name to result in a preclusion of the
33 testimony of such witness in the absence of a showing of good
34 cause and the express permission of the hearing officer; (2)
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1 bills of particulars; (3) written interrogatories; and (4)
2 production of relevant documents. The per diem allowance for
3 the hearing officer shall be determined and paid by the State
4 Board of Education and may not exceed $300. The hearing
5 officer shall hold a hearing and render a final decision.
6 The hearing shall be public at the request of either the
7 teacher or the board. The teacher has the privilege of being
8 present at the hearing with counsel and of cross-examining
9 witnesses and may offer evidence and witnesses and present
10 defenses to the charges. The hearing officer may issue
11 subpoenas and subpoenas duces tecum requiring the attendance
12 of witnesses and, at the request of the teacher against whom
13 a charge is made or the board, shall issue such subpoenas,
14 but the hearing officer may limit the number of witnesses to
15 be subpoenaed in behalf of the teacher or the board to not
16 more than 10. All testimony at the hearing shall be taken
17 under oath administered by the hearing officer. The hearing
18 officer shall cause a record of the proceedings to be kept
19 and shall employ a competent reporter to take stenographic or
20 stenotype notes of all the testimony. The costs of the
21 reporter's attendance and services at the hearing shall be
22 paid by the State Board of Education. Either party desiring a
23 transcript of the hearing shall pay for the cost thereof. If
24 in the opinion of the board the interests of the school
25 require it, the board may suspend the teacher pending the
26 hearing, but if acquitted the teacher shall not suffer the
27 loss of any salary by reason of the suspension.
28 Before setting a hearing on charges stemming from causes
29 that are considered remediable, a board must give the teacher
30 reasonable warning in writing, stating specifically the
31 causes which, if not removed, may result in charges; however,
32 no such written warning shall be required if the causes have
33 been the subject of a remediation plan pursuant to Article
34 24A. No written warning shall be required for conduct on the
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1 part of the teacher which is criminal or which in any way
2 injures or endangers the health or safety of students as that
3 conduct is deemed irremediable. The hearing officer shall
4 consider and give weight to all of the teacher's evaluations
5 written pursuant to Article 24A. The hearing officer shall,
6 within 30 days from the conclusion of the hearing with
7 reasonable dispatch, make a decision as to whether or not the
8 teacher shall be dismissed and shall give a copy of the
9 decision to both the teacher and the school board. If the
10 hearing officer fails to render a decision within 30 days,
11 the State Board of Education shall communicate with the
12 hearing officer to determine the date that the parties can
13 reasonably expect to receive the decision. The State Board
14 of Education shall provide copies of all such communications
15 to the parties. In the event the hearing officer fails
16 without good cause to make a decision within the 30 day
17 period, the name of such hearing officer shall be struck for
18 a period of not less than 24 months from the master list of
19 hearing officers maintained by the State Board of Education.
20 The board shall not lose jurisdiction to discharge the
21 teacher if the hearing officer fails to render a decision
22 within the time specified in this Section. If a hearing
23 officer fails to render a decision within 3 months after the
24 hearing is declared closed, the State Board of Education
25 shall provide the parties with a new list of prospective,
26 impartial hearing officers, with the same qualifications
27 provided herein, one of whom shall be selected, as provided
28 in this Section, to review the record and render a decision.
29 The parties may mutually agree to select a hearing officer
30 pursuant to the alternative procedure, as provided in this
31 Section, to rehear the charges heard by the hearing officer
32 who failed to render a decision. The failure of a hearing
33 officer to render a decision within 3 months after the
34 hearing is declared closed, shall be grounds for removal of
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1 the hearing officer from the master list of hearing officers
2 maintained by the State Board of Education. The decision of
3 the hearing officer is final unless reviewed as provided in
4 Section 24-16 of this Act. In the event such review is
5 instituted, any costs of preparing and filing the record of
6 proceedings shall be paid by the board.
7 If a decision of the hearing officer is adjudicated upon
8 review or appeal in favor of the teacher, then the trial
9 court shall order reinstatement and shall determine the
10 amount for which the board is liable including but not
11 limited to loss of income and costs incurred therein.
12 Any teacher who is reinstated by any hearing or
13 adjudication brought under this Section shall be assigned by
14 the board to a position substantially similar to the one
15 which that teacher held prior to that teacher's suspension or
16 dismissal.
17 If, by reason of any change in the boundaries of school
18 districts, or by reason of the creation of a new school
19 district, the position held by any teacher having a
20 contractual continued service status is transferred from one
21 board to the control of a new or different board, the
22 contractual continued service status of such teacher is not
23 thereby lost, and such new or different board is subject to
24 this Act with respect to such teacher in the same manner as
25 if such teacher were its employee and had been its employee
26 during the time such teacher was actually employed by the
27 board from whose control the position was transferred.
28 (Source: P.A. 89-618, eff. 8-9-96.)
29 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
30 becoming a law.