August 25, 2011
To the Honorable
Members of the
Illinois House of
Representatives,
97th
General Assembly:
I
hereby return House Bill 190 with specific recommendations for change.
I am committed to ensuring a
quality education for children throughout Illinois. House Bill 190 will help
reach children who have dropped out of school as well as those students who
come from under-performing or overcrowded schools. This legislation will allow
for at least 5 charter schools in the Chicago area to be devoted to re-enrolled
dropouts and at least 5 charter schools in the Chicago area to be devoted to
students from low-performing or overcrowded schools.
I commend the sponsors for their
work on this bill. While I am very supportive of the idea of focusing charter
schools on the most disadvantaged and under-performing of our children, I
believe that further clarity will allow the State to most appropriately target
our resources. In order to further clarify which students are able to enroll in
these charter schools, I recommend that the bill explicitly define the children
who are at risk of dropping out. Additionally, in an effort to preserve the
original intent laid out for these charter schools, I recommend that the
legislation explicitly grant priority admission to those students who have dropped
out.
Therefore,
pursuant to Article IV, Section 9(e) of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I
hereby return House Bill 190, entitled “AN ACT concerning education.”, with the
following specific recommendations for change:
on page 2, line 7, by replacing
“dropouts or students at risk of dropping out” with “dropouts and/or
students 16 or 15 years old at risk of dropping out”; and
on page 4, lines 12 and 13, by
replacing “dropouts or students at risk of dropping out” with “dropouts and/or
students 16 or 15 years old at risk of dropping out”; and
on page 4, line 16, after the
period, by adding “ “Priority admission” for charter schools exclusively
devoted to re-enrolled dropouts or students at risk of dropping out means a
minimum of 90% of students enrolled shall be high school dropouts.”; and
on page 5, line 22, after the
period, by adding “ “Students at risk of dropping out” means students 16 or
15 years old in a public school in a district organized under Article 34 of
this Code that enrolls students in any grades 9-12 who have been absent at
least 90 school attendance days of the previous 180 school attendance days.”.
With these changes, House Bill 190 will
have my approval. I respectfully request your concurrence.
Sincerely,
PAT QUINN
Governor
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