Illinois General Assembly - Bill Status for SB0224

Replaces everything after the enacting clause. Amends the School Code. With respect to a petition for a proposed change of school district boundaries, provides that the regional board of school trustees or regional boards of school trustees in cases of a joint hearing shall hear evidence as to the effect detachment will have on the school needs and conditions of the territory in the area within and adjacent thereto and shall determine whether it is to the best interests of the schools of the area and the direct educational welfare (instead of educational welfare) of the pupils that such change in boundaries be granted. Provides that in the instance of a change of boundaries through detachment, (1) when considering the effect the detachment will have on the direct educational welfare of the pupils, the regional board or regional boards shall consider a comparison of the school report cards for the schools of the affected districts and the school district report cards for the affected districts only if there is no more than a 3% difference in the minority, low socio-economic, and non-English speaking student populations of the relevant schools of the districts; (2) the community of interest of the petitioners and their children and the effect detachment will have on the whole child may be considered only if the regional board or regional boards first determine that there would be a significant direct educational benefit to the petitioners' children if the change in boundaries were allowed; (3) the regional board or regional boards may consider the difference in the distances from the petitioning area to the current schools and the petitioned-for schools only if the difference is no less than 10 miles shorter to one of the petitioned-for corresponding current grade centers than it is to the corresponding current grade center; (4) the regional board or regional boards may not grant a petition if doing so will increase the percentage of minority, low socio-economic, or non-English speaking students at the school or the district from which the petitioning territory will be detached and will decrease the percentage of those students at the school or district to which the territory will be annexed; and (5) the regional board or regional boards may not consider whether changing the boundaries will increase the property values of the petitioners' property. Makes changes concerning the assumption of bonded indebtedness and financial obligations to the Capital Development Board and the tax rate for bonded indebtedness in cases in which the boundaries of a school district are changed by the attachment or detachment of territory.

Replaces everything after the enacting clause. Reinserts the contents of the engrossed bill with the following changes: With respect to detachment, makes changes to provide that when petitioners cite an annexing district attendance center or centers in the petition or during testimony, the regional board of school trustees or the regional boards of school trustees may consider the difference in the distances from the detaching area to the current attendance centers and the cited annexing district attendance centers only if the difference is no less than 10 miles shorter to one of the cited annexing district attendance centers than it is to the corresponding current attendance center. Makes changes to provide that the regional board of school trustees or the regional boards of school trustees may not grant a petition if doing so will increase the percentage of minority or low-income students or English learners by more than 3% at the attendance center where students in the detaching territory currently attend, provided that if the percentage of any one of those groups also decreases at that attendance center, the regional board or boards may grant the petition upon consideration of other factors. Removes provisions providing that the annexing school district shall be liable for its financial obligations to the Capital Development Board. Makes other changes.

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