102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2021 and 2022
SB3981

 

Introduced 1/21/2022, by Sen. Elgie R. Sims, Jr.

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
105 ILCS 5/24-11  from Ch. 122, par. 24-11

    Amends the School Code. Provides that if an employing board determines to dismiss a teacher during the probationary period (instead of in the last year of a specified probationary period), the employing board must provide a written notice for dismissal with specific reasons for dismissal. Provides that any full-time teacher who does not receive written notice from the employing board at least 45 days before the end of any school term and whose performance does not require dismissal (instead of whose performance does not require dismissal after the fourth probationary year) shall be re-employed for the following school term. Effective immediately.


LRB102 24248 RJT 33479 b

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

SB3981LRB102 24248 RJT 33479 b

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 School Code is amended by changing Section
524-11 as follows:
 
6    (105 ILCS 5/24-11)  (from Ch. 122, par. 24-11)
7    Sec. 24-11. Boards of Education - Boards of School
8Inspectors - Contractual continued service.
9    (a) As used in this and the succeeding Sections of this
10Article:
11    "Teacher" means any or all school district employees
12regularly required to be licensed under laws relating to the
13licensure of teachers.
14    "Board" means board of directors, board of education, or
15board of school inspectors, as the case may be.
16    "School term" means that portion of the school year, July
171 to the following June 30, when school is in actual session.
18    "Program" means a program of a special education joint
19agreement.
20    "Program of a special education joint agreement" means
21instructional, consultative, supervisory, administrative,
22diagnostic, and related services that are managed by a special
23educational joint agreement designed to service 2 or more

 

 

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1school districts that are members of the joint agreement.
2    "PERA implementation date" means the implementation date
3of an evaluation system for teachers as specified by Section
424A-2.5 of this Code for all schools within a school district
5or all programs of a special education joint agreement.
6    (b) This Section and Sections 24-12 through 24-16 of this
7Article apply only to school districts having less than
8500,000 inhabitants.
9    (c) Any teacher who is first employed as a full-time
10teacher in a school district or program prior to the PERA
11implementation date and who is employed in that district or
12program for a probationary period of 4 consecutive school
13terms shall enter upon contractual continued service in the
14district or in all of the programs that the teacher is legally
15qualified to hold, unless the teacher is given written notice
16of dismissal by certified mail, return receipt requested, by
17the employing board at least 45 days before the end of any
18school term within such period.
19    (d) For any teacher who is first employed as a full-time
20teacher in a school district or program on or after the PERA
21implementation date, the probationary period shall be one of
22the following periods, based upon the teacher's school terms
23of service and performance, before the teacher shall enter
24upon contractual continued service in the district or in all
25of the programs that the teacher is legally qualified to hold,
26unless the teacher is given written notice of dismissal by

 

 

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1certified mail, return receipt requested, by the employing
2board at least 45 days before the end of any school term within
3such period:
4        (1) 4 consecutive school terms of service in which the
5    teacher receives overall annual evaluation ratings of at
6    least "Proficient" in the last school term and at least
7    "Proficient" in either the second or third school term;
8        (2) 3 consecutive school terms of service in which the
9    teacher receives 3 overall annual evaluations of
10    "Excellent"; or
11        (3) 2 consecutive school terms of service in which the
12    teacher receives 2 overall annual evaluations of
13    "Excellent" service, but only if the teacher (i)
14    previously attained contractual continued service in a
15    different school district or program in this State, (ii)
16    voluntarily departed or was honorably dismissed from that
17    school district or program in the school term immediately
18    prior to the teacher's first school term of service
19    applicable to the attainment of contractual continued
20    service under this subdivision (3), and (iii) received, in
21    his or her 2 most recent overall annual or biennial
22    evaluations from the prior school district or program,
23    ratings of at least "Proficient", with both such ratings
24    occurring after the school district's or program's PERA
25    implementation date. For a teacher to attain contractual
26    continued service under this subdivision (3), the teacher

 

 

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1    shall provide official copies of his or her 2 most recent
2    overall annual or biennial evaluations from the prior
3    school district or program to the new school district or
4    program within 60 days from the teacher's first day of
5    service with the new school district or program. The prior
6    school district or program must provide the teacher with
7    official copies of his or her 2 most recent overall annual
8    or biennial evaluations within 14 days after the teacher's
9    request. If a teacher has requested such official copies
10    prior to 45 days after the teacher's first day of service
11    with the new school district or program and the teacher's
12    prior school district or program fails to provide the
13    teacher with the official copies required under this
14    subdivision (3), then the time period for the teacher to
15    submit the official copies to his or her new school
16    district or program must be extended until 14 days after
17    receipt of such copies from the prior school district or
18    program. If the prior school district or program fails to
19    provide the teacher with the official copies required
20    under this subdivision (3) within 90 days from the
21    teacher's first day of service with the new school
22    district or program, then the new school district or
23    program shall rely upon the teacher's own copies of his or
24    her evaluations for purposes of this subdivision (3).
25    If the teacher does not receive overall annual evaluations
26of "Excellent" in the school terms necessary for eligibility

 

 

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1to achieve accelerated contractual continued service in
2subdivisions (2) and (3) of this subsection (d), the teacher
3shall be eligible for contractual continued service pursuant
4to subdivision (1) of this subsection (d). If, at the
5conclusion of 4 consecutive school terms of service that count
6toward attainment of contractual continued service, the
7teacher's performance does not qualify the teacher for
8contractual continued service under subdivision (1) of this
9subsection (d), then the teacher shall not enter upon
10contractual continued service and shall be dismissed. If a
11performance evaluation is not conducted for any school term
12when such evaluation is required to be conducted under Section
1324A-5 of this Code, then the teacher's performance evaluation
14rating for such school term for purposes of determining the
15attainment of contractual continued service shall be deemed
16"Proficient", except that, during any time in which the
17Governor has declared a disaster due to a public health
18emergency pursuant to Section 7 of the Illinois Emergency
19Management Agency Act, this default to "Proficient" does not
20apply to any teacher who has entered into contractual
21continued service and who was deemed "Excellent" on his or her
22most recent evaluation. During any time in which the Governor
23has declared a disaster due to a public health emergency
24pursuant to Section 7 of the Illinois Emergency Management
25Agency Act and unless the school board and any exclusive
26bargaining representative have completed the performance

 

 

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1rating for teachers or mutually agreed to an alternate
2performance rating, any teacher who has entered into
3contractual continued service, whose most recent evaluation
4was deemed "Excellent", and whose performance evaluation is
5not conducted when the evaluation is required to be conducted
6shall receive a teacher's performance rating deemed
7"Excellent". A school board and any exclusive bargaining
8representative may mutually agree to an alternate performance
9rating for teachers not in contractual continued service
10during any time in which the Governor has declared a disaster
11due to a public health emergency pursuant to Section 7 of the
12Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act, as long as the
13agreement is in writing.
14    (e) For the purposes of determining contractual continued
15service, a school term shall be counted only toward attainment
16of contractual continued service if the teacher actually
17teaches or is otherwise present and participating in the
18district's or program's educational program for 120 days or
19more, provided that the days of leave under the federal Family
20Medical Leave Act that the teacher is required to take until
21the end of the school term shall be considered days of teaching
22or participation in the district's or program's educational
23program. A school term that is not counted toward attainment
24of contractual continued service shall not be considered a
25break in service for purposes of determining whether a teacher
26has been employed for 4 consecutive school terms, provided

 

 

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1that the teacher actually teaches or is otherwise present and
2participating in the district's or program's educational
3program in the following school term.
4    (f) If the employing board determines to dismiss the
5teacher during in the last year of the probationary period as
6provided in subsection (c) of this Section or subdivision (1)
7or (2) of subsection (d) of this Section, but not subdivision
8(3) of subsection (d) of this Section, the written notice of
9dismissal provided by the employing board must contain
10specific reasons for dismissal. Any full-time teacher who does
11not receive written notice from the employing board at least
1245 days before the end of any school term as provided in this
13Section and whose performance does not require dismissal after
14the fourth probationary year pursuant to subsection (d) of
15this Section shall be re-employed for the following school
16term.
17    (g) Contractual continued service shall continue in effect
18the terms and provisions of the contract with the teacher
19during the last school term of the probationary period,
20subject to this Act and the lawful regulations of the
21employing board. This Section and succeeding Sections do not
22modify any existing power of the board except with respect to
23the procedure of the discharge of a teacher and reductions in
24salary as hereinafter provided. Contractual continued service
25status shall not restrict the power of the board to transfer a
26teacher to a position which the teacher is qualified to fill or

 

 

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1to make such salary adjustments as it deems desirable, but
2unless reductions in salary are uniform or based upon some
3reasonable classification, any teacher whose salary is reduced
4shall be entitled to a notice and a hearing as hereinafter
5provided in the case of certain dismissals or removals.
6    (h) If, by reason of any change in the boundaries of school
7districts or by reason of the creation of a new school
8district, the position held by any teacher having a
9contractual continued service status is transferred from one
10board to the control of a new or different board, then the
11contractual continued service status of the teacher is not
12thereby lost, and such new or different board is subject to
13this Code with respect to the teacher in the same manner as if
14the teacher were its employee and had been its employee during
15the time the teacher was actually employed by the board from
16whose control the position was transferred.
17    (i) The employment of any teacher in a program of a special
18education joint agreement established under Section 3-15.14,
1910-22.31 or 10-22.31a shall be governed by this and succeeding
20Sections of this Article. For purposes of attaining and
21maintaining contractual continued service and computing length
22of continuing service as referred to in this Section and
23Section 24-12, employment in a special educational joint
24program shall be deemed a continuation of all previous
25licensed employment of such teacher for such joint agreement
26whether the employer of the teacher was the joint agreement,

 

 

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1the regional superintendent, or one of the participating
2districts in the joint agreement.
3    (j) For any teacher employed after July 1, 1987 as a
4full-time teacher in a program of a special education joint
5agreement, whether the program is operated by the joint
6agreement or a member district on behalf of the joint
7agreement, in the event of a reduction in the number of
8programs or positions in the joint agreement in which the
9notice of dismissal is provided on or before the end of the
102010-2011 school term, the teacher in contractual continued
11service is eligible for employment in the joint agreement
12programs for which the teacher is legally qualified in order
13of greater length of continuing service in the joint
14agreement, unless an alternative method of determining the
15sequence of dismissal is established in a collective
16bargaining agreement. For any teacher employed after July 1,
171987 as a full-time teacher in a program of a special education
18joint agreement, whether the program is operated by the joint
19agreement or a member district on behalf of the joint
20agreement, in the event of a reduction in the number of
21programs or positions in the joint agreement in which the
22notice of dismissal is provided during the 2011-2012 school
23term or a subsequent school term, the teacher shall be
24included on the honorable dismissal lists of all joint
25agreement programs for positions for which the teacher is
26qualified and is eligible for employment in such programs in

 

 

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1accordance with subsections (b) and (c) of Section 24-12 of
2this Code and the applicable honorable dismissal policies of
3the joint agreement.
4    (k) For any teacher employed after July 1, 1987 as a
5full-time teacher in a program of a special education joint
6agreement, whether the program is operated by the joint
7agreement or a member district on behalf of the joint
8agreement, in the event of the dissolution of a joint
9agreement, in which the notice to teachers of the dissolution
10is provided during the 2010-2011 school term, the teacher in
11contractual continued service who is legally qualified shall
12be assigned to any comparable position in a member district
13currently held by a teacher who has not entered upon
14contractual continued service or held by a teacher who has
15entered upon contractual continued service with a shorter
16length of contractual continued service. Any teacher employed
17after July 1, 1987 as a full-time teacher in a program of a
18special education joint agreement, whether the program is
19operated by the joint agreement or a member district on behalf
20of the joint agreement, in the event of the dissolution of a
21joint agreement in which the notice to teachers of the
22dissolution is provided during the 2011-2012 school term or a
23subsequent school term, the teacher who is qualified shall be
24included on the order of honorable dismissal lists of each
25member district and shall be assigned to any comparable
26position in any such district in accordance with subsections

 

 

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1(b) and (c) of Section 24-12 of this Code and the applicable
2honorable dismissal policies of each member district.
3    (l) The governing board of the joint agreement, or the
4administrative district, if so authorized by the articles of
5agreement of the joint agreement, rather than the board of
6education of a school district, may carry out employment and
7termination actions including dismissals under this Section
8and Section 24-12.
9    (m) The employment of any teacher in a special education
10program authorized by Section 14-1.01 through 14-14.01, or a
11joint educational program established under Section 10-22.31a,
12shall be under this and the succeeding Sections of this
13Article, and such employment shall be deemed a continuation of
14the previous employment of such teacher in any of the
15participating districts, regardless of the participation of
16other districts in the program.
17    (n) Any teacher employed as a full-time teacher in a
18special education program prior to September 23, 1987 in which
192 or more school districts participate for a probationary
20period of 2 consecutive years shall enter upon contractual
21continued service in each of the participating districts,
22subject to this and the succeeding Sections of this Article,
23and, notwithstanding Section 24-1.5 of this Code, in the event
24of the termination of the program shall be eligible for any
25vacant position in any of such districts for which such
26teacher is qualified.

 

 

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1(Source: P.A. 101-643, eff. 6-18-20; 102-552, eff. 1-1-22.)
 
2    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
3becoming law.