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92_SB2156 LRB9215875NTmb 1 AN ACT concerning teachers. 2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 3 represented in the General Assembly: 4 Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the 5 Veteran Teachers to Schools in Need Act. 6 Section 5. Findings and declarations. The General 7 Assembly finds and declares the following: 8 (1) There is a growing shortage of high-quality, 9 certified veteran classroom teachers who remain teaching 10 at low-performing, high-needs schools. 11 (2) Teachers often leave positions at these schools 12 in exchange for higher paying positions at other schools, 13 or they choose to leave the teaching profession 14 altogether. These low-performing, high-needs schools 15 often cannot afford to pay teachers an adequate salary 16 and, therefore, cannot afford to offer these teachers 17 financial incentives to stay. 18 (3) These schools are often marked by a high number 19 of low-income students. 20 (4) Out of all students in Illinois' classrooms, 21 these students are most in need of high-quality, 22 dedicated teachers. 23 (5) Incentives to encourage veteran teachers to 24 teach in these low-performing, high-needs schools are 25 appropriate to ensure that all of Illinois' students 26 receive a quality education so that they may become 27 productive citizens of this State. 28 Section 10. Definitions. In this Act: 29 "High quality, veteran teacher of exemplary ability" is a 30 teacher that meets the teacher qualifications listed in -2- LRB9215875NTmb 1 Section 15 of this Act. 2 "Local contribution" means the average annual salary 3 currently paid by the school district to teachers at the 4 low-performing, high-needs school with experience 5 commensurate with that which a high-quality, veteran teacher 6 of exemplary ability possesses. 7 "Low-performing, high-needs school" means a public school 8 in this State that may exhibit any of the following 9 characteristics, without limitation: 10 (1) The school is listed on the State Board of 11 Education's Academic Watch List or Early Academic Warning 12 List. 13 (2) The school has a high rate of drug use, crime, 14 or low-income students. 15 (3) The school is defined as a high-need, 16 hard-to-staff school by the State Board of Education. 17 "Program" means the Veteran Teachers to Schools in Need 18 Program. 19 "State contribution" means an annual salary supplement 20 paid by the State, as determined under Section 20 of this 21 Act. 22 Section 15. Creation of Program; participant 23 qualifications. The Veteran Teachers to Schools in Need 24 Program is established to encourage high-quality, veteran 25 teachers of exemplary ability to teach at low-performing, 26 high-needs schools by offering these teachers incentives. A 27 teacher may participate in the Program if the teacher meets 28 all of the following qualifications: 29 (1) The teacher has at least 5 years of teaching 30 experience as a certified teacher. 31 (2) The teacher is of high quality and exhibits 32 exemplary ability. High quality and exemplary ability may 33 be demonstrated by any of the following, without -3- LRB9215875NTmb 1 limitation: 2 (A) Consistent "excellent" ratings on 3 evaluations conducted pursuant to Article 24A of the 4 School Code. 5 (B) National Board for Professional Teaching 6 Standards certification. 7 (C) Recognition of superior teaching 8 excellence demonstrated by the receipt of teaching 9 awards or honors, including without limitation 10 "Teacher of the Year" awards. 11 Section 20. Annual salary supplement. Beginning with the 12 2002-2003 school year, a teacher participating in the Program 13 may apply for a salary supplement each school year from the 14 State Board of Education if that teacher begins teaching at 15 or, if currently employed, remains teaching at a 16 low-performing, high-needs school. The salary supplement 17 shall be paid to the teacher on a prorated basis as part of 18 the teacher's annual salary payment plan, beginning with the 19 first pay period of the school year. The salary supplement 20 shall be determined as follows: 21 (1) If the participating teacher is currently 22 teaching at a school that is not a low-performing, 23 high-needs school, but will be leaving that position to 24 teach at such a school as a participant in the Program, 25 the State contribution shall be the teacher's salary at 26 the time of application plus 10% of that salary, minus 27 the local contribution. 28 (2) If the participating teacher is currently 29 teaching at a low-performing, high-needs school and will 30 continue to teach at that school, the State contribution 31 shall be 10% of the teacher's salary at the time of 32 application. 33 The State contribution shall be in addition to the local -4- LRB9215875NTmb 1 contribution. The school district that employs the teacher 2 must pay the local contribution to the teacher. 3 Section 25. Increases in pay. A teacher participating in 4 the Program shall receive increases in pay at the same rate 5 that other teachers at the low-performing, high-needs school 6 with a commensurate amount of experience receive, as per any 7 collective bargaining agreement applicable to teachers at 8 that school. Pay raises shall be paid by the school district 9 in addition to the local contribution. The State contribution 10 shall not increase, but may be decreased to the extent that 11 the school district, voluntarily or through collective 12 bargaining, increases the local contribution. 13 Section 30. Participation obligation. Teachers 14 participating in the Program shall, at a minimum, be 15 obligated to participate in the Program for a period of 3 16 school years. Teachers failing to fulfill this 3-year 17 commitment shall return any State contribution received to 18 the State, but shall not be held liable to return any local 19 contributions or pay raises to the school district. 20 Section 35. Waiver of residency requirements. 21 Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, a teacher 22 participating in the Program shall not be bound by any school 23 district or city residency requirements regarding employment 24 at the low-performing, high-needs school, provided that 25 during participation in the Program the teacher maintains a 26 residence that is not more than 60 miles away from the 27 boundary of the school district or city, whichever is 28 applicable. 29 Section 40. Evaluation. After 3 school years of 30 participation in the Program and every 3 school years of -5- LRB9215875NTmb 1 continued participation thereafter, a participant shall 2 undergo an evaluation by the school of his or her continued 3 performance as a high-quality, veteran teacher of exemplary 4 ability. The State Board of Education shall determine 5 appropriate evaluation criteria and shall determine 6 performance characteristics that are to be deemed 7 "satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory". 8 A participant rated satisfactory may continue 9 participation in the Program, but after the first 3 years of 10 participation the teacher shall be deemed to have fulfilled 11 his or her minimum participation obligation under Section 30 12 of this Act and may leave the Program at any time. 13 A participant rated unsatisfactory shall enter a 14 probationary period for a time of not less than 6 months, at 15 which time he or she shall undergo a re-evaluation. This 16 probationary period shall not be indicated on the teacher's 17 record of employment and shall be exclusively held as a 18 record of his or her participation in the Program. Inability 19 to improve to a satisfactory rating after this probationary 20 period shall result in termination from the Program. 21 Terminated participants shall continue to receive the local 22 contribution portion of their salary and may continue to be 23 employed at the school, as determined by the school in 24 cooperation with and abiding by any collective bargaining 25 agreements. Terminated participants are not required to 26 return any State contributions received. 27 Section 45. Program evaluation. Beginning at the end of 28 the 2005 school year and at the end of each school year 29 thereafter, the State Board of Education shall conduct an 30 annual evaluation of the Program. A report on each evaluation 31 shall be submitted to the General Assembly and shall document 32 whether and the extent to which the Program has contributed 33 to pupil performance and teacher retention at low-performing, -6- LRB9215875NTmb 1 high-needs schools. 2 Section 50. Funding. Funding for the Program is subject 3 to annual appropriation made by the General Assembly for that 4 purpose. However, if the State fails to appropriate funds 5 sufficient to maintain a teacher's salary supplement under 6 Section 20 of this Act at any time during the teacher's 7 3-year participation obligation under Section 30 of this Act, 8 the teacher's participation obligation shall be considered 9 fulfilled. In addition, the State shall pay a lump sum, 10 one-time payment to the teacher that shall be equal to the 11 amount of the State contribution that the teacher would have 12 received during the remainder of that teacher's 3-year 13 participation obligation. 14 Section 90. Rules. The State Board of Education shall 15 adopt any rules consistent with the requirements of this Act 16 that are necessary to implement and administer the Program. 17 Section 905. Repeal. This Act is repealed on July 1, 18 2008. 19 Section 910. The Illinois Pension Code is amended by 20 adding Sections 16-133.6 and 17-116.7 as follows: 21 (40 ILCS 5/16-133.6 new) 22 Sec. 16-133.6. Early retirement incentive for 23 participants in the Veteran Teachers to Schools in Need 24 Program. 25 (a) For the purposes of this Section: 26 "Act" means the Veteran Teachers to Schools in Need Act. 27 "Program participant" means a teacher who is either (i) 28 an active participant in the Veteran Teachers to Schools in 29 Need Program created under the Veteran Teachers to Schools in -7- LRB9215875NTmb 1 Need Act, or (ii) a former participant in that program whose 2 participation was terminated due to the State's failure to 3 appropriate sufficient moneys as provided in Section 50 of 4 the Act, for the remaining portion of the initial 3-year 5 participation obligation. 6 "Salary supplement" means the salary supplement paid by 7 the State to a program participant under Section 20 of the 8 Act; it includes any lump sum paid to the program participant 9 by the State under Section 50 of the Act. 10 (b) Any salary supplement received by a program 11 participant for which employee contributions have been paid 12 to the System shall be included in the computation of salary 13 and final average salary for the purposes of this Article and 14 Article 20, unless the program participant is required to 15 repay that salary supplement to the State under Section 30 of 16 the Act. 17 Employee contributions to the System shall be withheld by 18 the State from the salary supplement and paid by the State to 19 the System in the same manner as employee contributions to 20 the System are withheld from salary and paid to the System on 21 behalf of teachers who are State employees. The receipt of a 22 salary supplement by a program participant does not, however, 23 make that program participant an employee of the State. 24 No separate employer contribution is required at the time 25 of payment of the salary supplement, but the resulting 26 liability shall be considered in the calculation of the 27 required State contribution under Section 16-158. 28 (c) A former program participant who is required to 29 repay the salary supplement to the State under Section 30 of 30 the Act forfeits the employee contributions paid to the 31 System with respect to that salary supplement. Neither the 32 former program participant nor his or her survivor, 33 beneficiary, or estate is entitled to a refund of those 34 forfeited employee contributions. -8- LRB9215875NTmb 1 (d) Upon completion of the first 3 school years of 2 participation in the program with a satisfactory rating, a 3 program participant is entitled to 3 years of age enhancement 4 under this Section. Upon completion of each additional 5 school year of participation in the program with a 6 satisfactory rating, a program participant is entitled to one 7 additional year of age enhancement under this Section, up to 8 a total of 6 years of age enhancement under this Section. 9 For each year of age enhancement established under this 10 Section, the program participant shall be deemed one year 11 older than he or she actually is, beginning at the time of 12 retirement. The age enhancement established under this 13 Section may be used for all purposes under this Article 14 (including calculation of a proportionate annuity payable by 15 this System under the Retirement Systems Reciprocal Act), 16 except for purposes of a reversionary annuity under Section 17 16-136, the retirement annuity calculated under Section 18 16-133(a)(A), the required distributions under Section 19 16-142.3, and the determination of eligibility for and the 20 computation of benefits under Section 16-133.2 of this 21 Article. Age enhancement established under this Section 22 shall not, however, be used in determining benefits payable 23 under other Articles of this Code under the Retirement 24 Systems Reciprocal Act. 25 (40 ILCS 5/17-116.7 new) 26 Sec. 17-116.7. Early retirement incentive for 27 participants in the Veteran Teachers to Schools in Need 28 Program. 29 (a) For the purposes of this Section: 30 "Act" means the Veteran Teachers to Schools in Need Act. 31 "Program participant" means a teacher who is either (i) 32 an active participant in the Veteran Teachers to Schools in 33 Need Program created under the Veteran Teachers to Schools in -9- LRB9215875NTmb 1 Need Act, or (ii) a former participant in that program whose 2 participation was terminated due to the State's failure to 3 appropriate sufficient moneys as provided in Section 50 of 4 the Act, for the remaining portion of the initial 3-year 5 participation obligation. 6 "Salary supplement" means the salary supplement paid by 7 the State to a program participant under Section 20 of the 8 Act; it includes any lump sum paid to the program participant 9 by the State under Section 50 of the Act. 10 (b) Any salary supplement received by a program 11 participant for which employee contributions have been paid 12 to the Fund shall be included in the computation of salary 13 and average salary for the purposes of this Article and 14 Article 20, unless the program participant is required to 15 repay that salary supplement to the State under Section 30 of 16 the Act. 17 Employee contributions to the Fund shall be withheld by 18 the State from the salary supplement and paid by the State to 19 the Fund in the same manner as employee contributions to the 20 Article 16 retirement system are withheld from salary and 21 paid to the Article 16 retirement system on behalf of 22 teachers under that retirement system who are State 23 employees. The receipt of a salary supplement by a program 24 participant does not, however, make that program participant 25 an employee of the State. 26 No separate employer contribution is required at the time 27 of payment of the salary supplement, but the resulting 28 liability shall be considered by the General Assembly in the 29 calculation of the annual State contribution to the Fund 30 under Section 17-127. 31 (c) A former program participant who is required to 32 repay the salary supplement to the State under Section 30 of 33 the Act forfeits the employee contributions paid to the Fund 34 with respect to that salary supplement. Neither the former -10- LRB9215875NTmb 1 program participant nor his or her survivor, beneficiary, or 2 estate is entitled to a refund of those forfeited employee 3 contributions. 4 (d) Upon completion of the first 3 school years of 5 participation in the program with a satisfactory rating, a 6 program participant is entitled to 3 years of age enhancement 7 under this Section. Upon completion of each additional 8 school year of participation in the program with a 9 satisfactory rating, a program participant is entitled to one 10 additional year of age enhancement under this Section, up to 11 a total of 6 years of age enhancement under this Section. 12 For each year of age enhancement established under this 13 Section, the program participant shall be deemed one year 14 older than he or she actually is, beginning at the time of 15 retirement. The age enhancement established under this 16 Section may be used for all purposes under this Article 17 (including calculation of a proportionate annuity payable by 18 this Fund under the Retirement Systems Reciprocal Act), 19 except for purposes of a reversionary annuity under Section 20 17-120 and distributions required by federal law on account 21 of age. Age enhancement established under this Section shall 22 not, however, be used in determining benefits payable under 23 other Articles of this Code under the Retirement Systems 24 Reciprocal Act. 25 Section 920. The State Mandates Act is amended by adding 26 Section 8.26 as follows: 27 (30 ILCS 805/8.26 new) 28 Sec. 8.26. Exempt mandate. Notwithstanding Sections 6 29 and 8 of this Act, no reimbursement by the State is required 30 for the implementation of any mandate created by this 31 amendatory Act of the 92nd General Assembly. -11- LRB9215875NTmb 1 Section 999. Effective date. This Act takes effect on 2 July 1, 2002.