100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2017 and 2018
SB0705

 

Introduced 1/30/2017, by Sen. Andy Manar

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
110 ILCS 49/15

    Amends the Higher Education Veterans Service Act. Provides that a required survey and guidebook shall be made available on the homepage of a campus website or a veteran Internet link (instead of just the survey being made available on the homepage of the campus Internet link). Requires the survey to be sent to the Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, and State Comptroller. Requires each public college and university to make its best efforts to hire a veteran of the armed services as the Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student Services.


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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

 

 

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 Higher Education Veterans Service Act is
5amended by changing Section 15 as follows:
 
6    (110 ILCS 49/15)
7    Sec. 15. Survey; coordinator; best practices report; best
8efforts.
9    (a) All public colleges and universities shall, within 60
10days after the effective date of this Act, conduct a survey of
11the services and programs that are provided for veterans,
12active duty military personnel, and their families, at each of
13their respective campuses. This survey shall enumerate and
14fully describe the service or program that is available, the
15number of veterans or active duty personnel using the service
16or program, an estimated range for potential use within a
175-year and 10-year period, information on the location of the
18service or program, and how its administrators may be
19contacted. The survey shall indicate the manner or manners in
20which a student veteran may avail himself or herself of the
21program's services. This survey must be made available to all
22veterans matriculating at the college or university in the form
23of an orientation-related guidebook.

 

 

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1    Each public college and university shall make the survey
2and guidebook available on the homepage of the all campus
3website or veteran Internet links as soon as practical after
4the completion of the survey. Each As soon as possible after
5the completion of the survey, each public college and
6university shall provide a copy of its survey to the following:
7        (1) the Board of Higher Education;
8        (2) the Department of Veterans' Affairs;
9        (3) the President and Minority Leader of the Senate and
10    the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House of
11    Representatives; and
12        (4) the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of
13    State, State Treasurer, and State Comptroller.
14    (b) Each public college and university shall, at its
15discretion, (i) appoint, within 6 months after the effective
16date of this Act, an existing employee or (ii) hire a new
17employee to serve as a Coordinator of Veterans and Military
18Personnel Student Services on each campus of the college or
19university that has an onsite, daily, full-time student
20headcount above 1,000 students. Each public college and
21university shall make its best efforts to hire a veteran of the
22armed services as the Coordinator of Veterans and Military
23Personnel Student Services.
24    The Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student
25Services shall be an ombudsperson serving the specific needs of
26student veterans and military personnel and their families and

 

 

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1shall serve as an advocate before the administration of the
2college or university for the needs of student veterans. The
3college or university shall enable the Coordinator of Veterans
4and Military Personnel Student Services to communicate
5directly with the senior executive administration of the
6college or university periodically. The college or university
7shall retain unfettered discretion to determine the
8organizational management structure of its institution.
9    In addition to any responsibilities the college or
10university may assign, the Coordinator of Veterans and Military
11Personnel Student Services shall make its best efforts to
12create a centralized source for student veterans and military
13personnel to learn how to receive all benefit programs and
14services for which they are eligible.
15    Each college and university campus that is required to have
16a Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student
17Services shall regularly and conspicuously advertise the
18office location, phone number, and Internet access to the
19Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student
20Services, along with a brief summary of the manner in which he
21or she can assist student veterans. The advertisement shall
22include, but is not necessarily limited to, the following:
23        (1) advertisements on each campus' Internet home page;
24    and
25        (2) any promotional mailings for student application.
26    The Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student

 

 

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1Services shall facilitate other campus offices with the
2promotion of programs and services that are available.
3    (c) Upon receipt of all of the surveys under subsection (a)
4of this Section, the Board of Higher Education and the
5Department of Veterans' Affairs shall conduct a joint review of
6the surveys and post, on any Internet home page they may
7operate, a link to each survey as posted on the Internet
8website for the college or university. Upon receipt of all of
9the surveys, the Office of the Governor, through its military
10affairs advisors, shall similarly conduct a review of the
11surveys and post the surveys on its Internet website. Following
12its review of the surveys, the Office of the Governor shall
13submit an evaluation report to each college and university
14offering suggestions and insight on the conduct of student
15veteran-related policies and programs.
16    (d) The Board of Higher Education and the Department of
17Veterans' Affairs may issue a best practices report to
18highlight those programs and services that are most beneficial
19to veterans and active duty military personnel. The report
20shall contain a fiscal needs assessment in conjunction with any
21program recommendations.
22    (e) Each college and university campus that is required to
23have a Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student
24Services under subsection (b) of this Section shall make its
25best efforts to create academic and social programs and
26services for veterans and active duty military personnel that

 

 

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1will provide reasonable opportunities for academic performance
2and success.
3    Each public college and university shall make its best
4efforts to determine how its online educational curricula can
5be expanded or altered to serve the needs of student veterans
6and currently-deployed military, including a determination of
7whether and to what extent the public colleges and universities
8can share existing technologies to improve the online curricula
9of peer institutions, provided such efforts are both
10practically and economically feasible.
11(Source: P.A. 96-133, eff. 8-7-09.)