Public Act 103-0144
 
HB2160 EnrolledLRB103 30168 RJT 56596 b

    AN ACT concerning education.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section
5-1 as follows:
 
    (105 ILCS 5/5-1)  (from Ch. 122, par. 5-1)
    Sec. 5-1. County school units.
    (a) The territory in each county, exclusive of any school
district governed by any special act which requires the
district to appoint its own school treasurer, shall constitute
a county school unit. County school units of less than
2,000,000 inhabitants shall be known as Class I county school
units and the office of township trustees, where existing on
July 1, 1962, in such units shall be abolished on that date and
all books and records of such former township trustees shall
be forthwith thereafter transferred to the county board of
school trustees. County school units of 2,000,000 or more
inhabitants shall be known as Class II county school units and
shall retain the office of township trustees unless otherwise
provided in subsection (b) or (c).
    (b) Notwithstanding subsections (a) and (c), the school
board of any elementary school district having a fall, 1989
aggregate enrollment of at least 2,500 but less than 6,500
pupils and having boundaries that are coterminous with the
boundaries of a high school district, and the school board of
any high school district having a fall, 1989 aggregate
enrollment of at least 2,500 but less than 6,500 pupils and
having boundaries that are coterminous with the boundaries of
an elementary school district, may, whenever the territory of
such school district forms a part of a Class II county school
unit, by proper resolution withdraw such school district from
the jurisdiction and authority of the trustees of schools of
the township in which such school district is located and from
the jurisdiction and authority of the township treasurer in
such Class II county school unit; provided that the school
board of any such school district shall, upon the adoption and
passage of such resolution, thereupon elect or appoint its own
school treasurer as provided in Section 8-1. Upon the adoption
and passage of such resolution and the election or appointment
by the school board of its own school treasurer: (1) the
trustees of schools in such township shall no longer have or
exercise any powers and duties with respect to the school
district governed by such school board or with respect to the
school business, operations or assets of such school district;
and (2) all books and records of the township trustees
relating to the school business and affairs of such school
district shall be transferred and delivered to the school
board of such school district. Upon the effective date of this
amendatory Act of 1993, the legal title to, and all right,
title and interest formerly held by the township trustees in
any school buildings and school sites used and occupied by the
school board of such school district for school purposes, that
legal title, right, title and interest thereafter having been
transferred to and vested in the regional board of school
trustees under P.A. 87-473 until the abolition of that
regional board of school trustees by P.A. 87-969, shall be
deemed transferred by operation of law to and shall vest in the
school board of that school district.
    Notwithstanding subsections (a) and (c), the school boards
of Oak Park & River Forest District 200, Oak Park Elementary
School District 97, and River Forest School District 90 may,
by proper resolution, withdraw from the jurisdiction and
authority of the trustees of schools of Proviso and Cicero
Townships and the township treasurer, provided that the school
board shall, upon the adoption and passage of the resolution,
elect or appoint its own school treasurer as provided in
Section 8-1 of this Code. Upon the adoption and passage of the
resolution and the election or appointment by the school board
of its own school treasurer: (1) the trustees of schools in the
township or townships shall no longer have or exercise any
powers or duties with respect to the school district or with
respect to the school business, operations, or assets of the
school district; (2) all books and records of the trustees of
schools and all moneys, securities, loanable funds, and other
assets relating to the school business and affairs of the
school district shall be transferred and delivered to the
school board; and (3) all legal title to and all right, title,
and interest formerly held by the trustees of schools in any
common school lands, school buildings, or school sites used
and occupied by the school board and all rights of property and
causes of action pertaining to or constituting a part of the
common school lands, buildings, or sites shall be deemed
transferred by operation of law to and shall vest in the school
board.
    Notwithstanding subsections (a) and (c), the respective
school boards of Berwyn North School District 98, Berwyn South
School District 100, Cicero School District 99, and J.S.
Morton High School District 201 may, by proper resolution,
withdraw from the jurisdiction and authority of the trustees
of schools of Cicero Township and the township treasurer,
provided that the school board shall, upon the adoption and
passage of the resolution, elect or appoint its own school
treasurer as provided in Section 8-1 of this Code. Upon the
adoption and passage of the resolution and the election or
appointment by the school board of its own school treasurer:
(1) the trustees of schools in the township shall no longer
have or exercise any powers or duties with respect to the
school district or with respect to the school business,
operations, or assets of the school district; (2) all books
and records of the trustees of schools and all moneys,
securities, loanable funds, and other assets relating to the
school business and affairs of the school district shall be
transferred and delivered to the school board; and (3) all
legal title to and all right, title, and interest formerly
held by the trustees of schools in any common school lands,
school buildings, or school sites used and occupied by the
school board and all rights of property and causes of action
pertaining to or constituting a part of the common school
lands, buildings, or sites shall be deemed transferred by
operation of law to and shall vest in the school board.
    Notwithstanding subsections (a) and (c) of this Section
and upon final judgment, including the exhaustion of all
appeals or a settlement between all parties, regarding claims
set forth in the case of Township Trustees of Schools Township
38 North, Range 12 East v. Lyons Township High School District
No. 204 case N. 13 CH 23386 pending in 2018 in the Circuit
Court of Cook County, Illinois, County Department, Chancery
Division, and all related pending claims, the school board of
Lyons Township High School District 204 may commence, by
proper resolution, to withdraw from the jurisdiction and
authority of the trustees of schools of Lyons Township and the
township treasurer, provided that the school board shall, upon
the adoption and passage of the resolution, elect or appoint
its own school treasurer as provided in Section 8-1 of this
Code. Upon the adoption and passage of the resolution and the
election or appointment by the school board of its own school
treasurer commencing with the first day of the succeeding
fiscal year, but not prior to July 1, 2019: (1) the trustees of
schools in the township shall no longer have or exercise any
powers or duties with respect to the school district or with
respect to the school business, operations, or assets of the
school district; (2) all books and records of the trustees of
schools and all moneys, securities, loanable funds, and other
assets relating to the school business and affairs of the
school district shall be transferred and delivered to the
school board, allowing for a reasonable period of time not to
exceed 90 days to liquidate any pooled investments; and (3)
all legal title to and all right, title, and interest formerly
held by the trustees of schools in any common school lands,
school buildings, or school sites used and occupied by the
school board and all rights of property and causes of action
pertaining to or constituting a part of the common school
lands, buildings, or sites shall be deemed transferred by
operation of law to and shall vest in the school board. The
changes made to this Section by this amendatory Act of the
100th General Assembly are prospective only, starting from the
effective date of this amendatory Act of the 100th General
Assembly, and shall not affect any legal action pending on the
effective date of this amendatory Act of the 100th General
Assembly in the Illinois courts in which Lyons Township High
School District 204 is a listed party.
    Notwithstanding subsections (a) and (c), the school boards
of Glenbrook High School District 225, Northbrook Elementary
School District 27, Northbrook School District 28, Sunset
Ridge School District 29, Northbrook/Glenview School District
30, West Northfield School District 31, and Glenview Community
Consolidated School District 34 may, by proper resolution,
withdraw from the jurisdiction and authority of the trustees
of schools of Northfield and Maine Townships and the township
treasurer, provided that the school board shall, upon the
adoption and passage of the resolution, elect or appoint its
own school treasurer as provided in Section 8-1 of this Code.
Upon the adoption and passage of the resolution and the
election or appointment by the school board of its own school
treasurer: (1) the trustees of schools in the township or
townships shall no longer have or exercise any powers or
duties with respect to the school district or with respect to
the school business, operations, or assets of the school
district; (2) all books and records of the trustees of schools
and all moneys, securities, loanable funds, and other assets
relating to the school business and affairs of the school
district shall be transferred and delivered to the school
board; and (3) all legal title to and all right, title, and
interest formerly held by the trustees of schools in any
common school lands, school buildings, or school sites used
and occupied by the school board and all rights of property and
causes of action pertaining to or constituting a part of the
common school lands, buildings, or sites shall be deemed
transferred by operation of law to and shall vest in the school
board.
    (c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), the
offices of township treasurer and trustee of schools of any
township located in a Class II county school unit shall be
abolished as provided in this subsection if all of the
following conditions are met:
        (1) During the same 30 day period, each school board
    of each elementary and unit school district that is
    subject to the jurisdiction and authority of the township
    treasurer and trustees of schools of the township in which
    those offices are sought to be abolished gives written
    notice by certified mail, return receipt requested to the
    township treasurer and trustees of schools of that
    township of the date of a meeting of the school board, to
    be held not more than 90 nor less than 60 days after the
    date when the notice is given, at which meeting the school
    board is to consider and vote upon the question of whether
    there shall be submitted to the electors of the school
    district a proposition to abolish the offices of township
    treasurer and trustee of schools of that township. None of
    the notices given under this paragraph to the township
    treasurer and trustees of schools of a township shall be
    deemed sufficient or in compliance with the requirements
    of this paragraph unless all of those notices are given
    within the same 30 day period.
        (2) Each school board of each elementary and unit
    school district that is subject to the jurisdiction and
    authority of the township treasurer and trustees of
    schools of the township in which those offices are sought
    to be abolished, by the affirmative vote of at least 5
    members of the school board at a school board meeting of
    which notice is given as required by paragraph (1) of this
    subsection, adopts a resolution requiring the secretary of
    the school board to certify to the proper election
    authorities for submission to the electors of the school
    district at the next consolidated election in accordance
    with the general election law a proposition to abolish the
    offices of township treasurer and trustee of schools of
    that township. None of the resolutions adopted under this
    paragraph by any elementary or unit school districts that
    are subject to the jurisdiction and authority of the
    township treasurer and trustees of schools of the township
    in which those offices are sought to be abolished shall be
    deemed in compliance with the requirements of this
    paragraph or sufficient to authorize submission of the
    proposition to abolish those offices to a referendum of
    the electors in any such school district unless all of the
    school boards of all of the elementary and unit school
    districts that are subject to the jurisdiction and
    authority of the township treasurer and trustees of
    schools of that township adopt such a resolution in
    accordance with the provisions of this paragraph.
        (3) The school boards of all of the elementary and
    unit school districts that are subject to the jurisdiction
    and authority of the township treasurer and trustees of
    schools of the township in which those offices are sought
    to be abolished submit a proposition to abolish the
    offices of township treasurer and trustee of schools of
    that township to the electors of their respective school
    districts at the same consolidated election in accordance
    with the general election law, the ballot in each such
    district to be in substantially the following form:
    -------------------------------------------------------------
OFFICIAL BALLOT
            Shall the offices of township
            treasurer and                       YES
            trustee of                      -------------
            schools of Township .....           NO
            Range ..... be abolished?
    -------------------------------------------------------------
        (4) At the consolidated election at which the
    proposition to abolish the offices of township treasurer
    and trustee of schools of a township is submitted to the
    electors of each elementary and unit school district that
    is subject to the jurisdiction and authority of the
    township treasurer and trustee of schools of that
    township, a majority of the electors voting on the
    proposition in each such elementary and unit school
    district votes in favor of the proposition as submitted to
    them.
    If in each elementary and unit school district that is
subject to the jurisdiction and authority of the township
treasurer and trustees of schools of the township in which
those offices are sought to be abolished a majority of the
electors in each such district voting at the consolidated
election on the proposition to abolish the offices of township
treasurer and trustee of schools of that township votes in
favor of the proposition as submitted to them, the proposition
shall be deemed to have passed; but if in any such elementary
or unit school district a majority of the electors voting on
that proposition in that district fails to vote in favor of the
proposition as submitted to them, then notwithstanding the
vote of the electors in any other such elementary or unit
school district on that proposition the proposition shall not
be deemed to have passed in any of those elementary or unit
school districts, and the offices of township treasurer and
trustee of schools of the township in which those offices were
sought to be abolished shall not be abolished, unless in each
of those elementary and unit school districts remaining
subject to the jurisdiction and authority of the township
treasurer and trustees of schools of that township proceedings
are again initiated to abolish those offices and all of the
proceedings and conditions prescribed in paragraphs (1)
through (4) of this subsection are repeated and met in each of
those elementary and unit school districts.
    Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this Section
or any other provision of the School Code, the offices of
township treasurer and trustee of schools of a township that
has a population of less than 200,000 and that contains a unit
school district and is located in a Class II county school unit
shall also be abolished as provided in this subsection if all
of the conditions set forth in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of
this subsection are met and if the following additional
condition is met:
        The electors in all of the school districts subject to
    the jurisdiction and authority of the township treasurer
    and trustees of schools of the township in which those
    offices are sought to be abolished shall vote at the
    consolidated election on the proposition to abolish the
    offices of township treasurer and trustee of schools of
    that township. If a majority of the electors in all of the
    school districts combined voting on the proposition vote
    in favor of the proposition, then the proposition shall be
    deemed to have passed; but if a majority of the electors
    voting on the proposition in all of the school district
    fails to vote in favor of the proposition as submitted to
    them, then the proposition shall not be deemed to have
    passed and the offices of township treasurer and trustee
    of schools of the township in which those offices were
    sought to be abolished shall not be abolished, unless and
    until the proceedings detailed in paragraphs (1) through
    (3) of this subsection and the conditions set forth in
    this paragraph are met.
    If the proposition to abolish the offices of township
treasurer and trustee of schools of a township is deemed to
have passed at the consolidated election as provided in this
subsection, those offices shall be deemed abolished by
operation of law effective on January 1 of the calendar year
immediately following the calendar year in which that
consolidated election is held, provided that if after the
election, the trustees of schools by resolution elect to
abolish the offices of township treasurer and trustee of
schools effective on July 1 immediately following the
election, then the offices shall be abolished on July 1
immediately following the election. On the date that the
offices of township treasurer and trustee of schools of a
township are deemed abolished by operation of law, the school
board of each elementary and unit school district and the
school board of each high school district that is subject to
the jurisdiction and authority of the township treasurer and
trustees of schools of that township at the time those offices
are abolished: (i) shall appoint its own school treasurer as
provided in Section 8-1; and (ii) unless the term of the
contract of a township treasurer expires on the date that the
office of township treasurer is abolished, shall pay to the
former township treasurer its proportionate share of any
aggregate compensation that, were the office of township
treasurer not abolished at that time, would have been payable
to the former township treasurer after that date over the
remainder of the term of the contract of the former township
treasurer that began prior to but ends after that date. In
addition, on the date that the offices of township treasurer
and trustee of schools of a township are deemed abolished as
provided in this subsection, the school board of each
elementary school, high school and unit school district that
until that date is subject to the jurisdiction and authority
of the township treasurer and trustees of schools of that
township shall be deemed by operation of law to have agreed and
assumed to pay and, when determined, shall pay to the Illinois
Municipal Retirement Fund a proportionate share of the
unfunded liability existing in that Fund at the time these
offices are abolished in that calendar year for all annuities
or other benefits then or thereafter to become payable from
that Fund with respect to all periods of service performed
prior to that date as a participating employee in that Fund by
persons serving during those periods of service as a trustee
of schools, township treasurer or regular employee in the
office of the township treasurer of that township. That
unfunded liability shall be actuarially determined by the
board of trustees of the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund,
and the board of trustees shall thereupon notify each school
board required to pay a proportionate share of that unfunded
liability of the aggregate amount of the unfunded liability so
determined. The amount so paid to the Illinois Municipal
Retirement Fund by each of those school districts shall be
credited to the account of the township in that Fund. For each
elementary school, high school and unit school district under
the jurisdiction and authority of a township treasurer and
trustees of schools of a township in which those offices are
abolished as provided in this subsection, each such district's
proportionate share of the aggregate compensation payable to
the former township treasurer as provided in this paragraph
and each such district's proportionate share of the aggregate
amount of the unfunded liability payable to the Illinois
Municipal Retirement Fund as provided in this paragraph shall
be computed in accordance with the ratio that the number of
pupils in average daily attendance in each such district for
the school year last ending prior to the date on which the
offices of township treasurer and trustee of schools of that
township are abolished bears to the aggregate number of pupils
in average daily attendance in all of those districts as so
reported for that school year.
    Upon abolition of the offices of township treasurer and
trustee of schools of a township as provided in this
subsection: (i) the regional board of school trustees, in its
corporate capacity, shall be deemed the successor in interest
to the former trustees of schools of that township with
respect to the common school lands and township loanable funds
of the township; (ii) all right, title and interest existing
or vested in the former trustees of schools of that township in
the common school lands and township loanable funds of the
township, and all records, moneys, securities and other
assets, rights of property and causes of action pertaining to
or constituting a part of those common school lands or
township loanable funds, shall be transferred to and deemed
vested by operation of law in the regional board of school
trustees, which shall hold legal title to, manage and operate
all common school lands and township loanable funds of the
township, receive the rents, issues and profits therefrom, and
have and exercise with respect thereto the same powers and
duties as are provided by this Code to be exercised by regional
boards of school trustees when acting as township land
commissioners in counties having at least 220,000 but fewer
than 2,000,000 inhabitants; (iii) the regional board of school
trustees shall select to serve as its treasurer with respect
to the common school lands and township loanable funds of the
township a person from time to time also serving as the
appointed school treasurer of any school district that was
subject to the jurisdiction and authority of the township
treasurer and trustees of schools of that township at the time
those offices were abolished, and the person selected to also
serve as treasurer of the regional board of school trustees
shall have his compensation for services in that capacity
fixed by the regional board of school trustees, to be paid from
the township loanable funds, and shall make to the regional
board of school trustees the reports required to be made by
treasurers of township land commissioners, give bond as
required by treasurers of township land commissioners, and
perform the duties and exercise the powers of treasurers of
township land commissioners; (iv) the regional board of school
trustees shall designate in the manner provided by Section
8-7, insofar as applicable, a depositary for its treasurer,
and the proceeds of all rents, issues and profits from the
common school lands and township loanable funds of that
township shall be deposited and held in the account maintained
for those purposes with that depositary and shall be expended
and distributed therefrom as provided in Section 15-24 and
other applicable provisions of this Code; and (v) whenever
there is vested in the trustees of schools of a township at the
time that office is abolished under this subsection the legal
title to any school buildings or school sites used or occupied
for school purposes by any elementary school, high school or
unit school district subject to the jurisdiction and authority
of those trustees of school at the time that office is
abolished, the legal title to those school buildings and
school sites shall be deemed transferred by operation of law
to and invested in the school board of that school district, in
its corporate capacity under Section 10-22.35B of this Code,
the same to be held, sold, exchanged leased or otherwise
transferred in accordance with applicable provisions of this
Code.
    Notwithstanding Section 2-3.25g of this Code, a waiver of
a mandate established under this Section may not be requested.
(Source: P.A. 100-374, eff. 8-25-17; 100-921, eff. 8-17-18.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.

Effective Date: 6/30/2023