HB0209 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB097 02956 NHT 42980 b

97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2011 and 2012
HB0209

Introduced 01/21/11, by Rep. Kenneth Dunkin

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

105 ILCS 5/34-3.3
105 ILCS 5/34-6	from Ch. 122, par. 34-6

Amends the Chicago School District Article of the School Code. Requires a chief executive officer and a general superintendent of schools to have a Master of Education degree and hold a current teaching certificate issued under the School Code.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT

A BILL FOR

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 Sections 34-3.3 and 34-6 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/34-3.3)

Sec. 34-3.3. Chicago School Reform Board of Trustees; powers and duties; chief operating, fiscal, educational, and purchasing officers. The General Assembly finds that an education crisis exists in the Chicago Public Schools and that a 5-member Chicago School Reform Board of Trustees shall be established for a 4 year period to bring educational and financial stability to the system. The Trustees and their chief executive officer are empowered and directed to: (i) increase the quality of educational services in the Chicago Public Schools; (ii) reduce the cost of non-educational services and implement cost-saving measures including the privatization of services where deemed appropriate; (iii) develop a long-term financial plan that to the maximum extent possible reflects a balanced budget for each year; (iv) streamline and strengthen the management of the system, including a responsible school-based budgeting process, in order to refocus resources on student achievement; (v) ensure ongoing academic improvement in schools through the establishment of an Academic Accountability Council and a strong school improvement and recognition process; (vi) enact policies and procedures that ensure the system runs in an ethical as well as efficient manner; (vii) establish within 60 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1995, develop, and implement a process for the selection of a local school council advisory board for the Trustees in which those individuals active on Local School Councils serve an advisory role to the Trustees; (viii) establish any organizational structures, including regional offices, that it deems necessary to ensure the efficient and effective operation of the system; and (ix) provide for such other local school council advisory bodies as the Trustees deem appropriate to function in an advisory capacity to any other organizations or offices established by the Trustees under clause (viii) of this Section.

(a) Unless otherwise provided in this Article, the Trustees shall have all powers and duties exercised and performed by the Chicago Board of Education at the time the terms of its members are abolished as provided in subsection (a) of Section 34-3.

(b) The Mayor shall appoint a chief executive officer who shall be a person of recognized administrative ability and management experience, who shall be responsible for the management of the system, and who shall have all other powers and duties of the general superintendent as set forth in this Article 34. The chief executive officer shall make recommendations to the Trustees with respect to contracts, policies, and procedures. Beginning on July 1, 2012, a chief executive officer must have a Master of Education degree and hold a current teaching certificate issued under Article 21 of this Code, and failure to hold a current teaching certificate constitutes a resignation from and creates a vacancy in the office.

(c) The chief executive officer shall appoint, with the approval of the Trustees, a chief operating officer, a chief fiscal officer, a chief educational officer, and a chief purchasing officer to serve until June 30, 1999. These officers shall be assigned duties and responsibilities by the chief executive officer. The chief operating officer, the chief fiscal officer, the chief educational officer, and the chief purchasing officer may be granted authority to hire a specific number of employees to assist in meeting immediate responsibilities. The chief executive officer may remove any officer, subject to the approval of the Trustees. Conditions of employment for such personnel shall not be subject to the provisions of Section 34-85.

(d) Upon the expiration on June 30, 1999 of the terms of office of the chief executive, operating, fiscal, educational, and purchasing officers appointed under this Section and the appointment of a new Chicago Board of Education under subsection (b) of Section 34-3, the board may retain, reorganize, or abolish any or all of those offices and appoint qualified successors to fill any of those offices that it does not abolish.

(e) The Trustees shall report to the State Superintendent of Education with respect to its performance, the nature of the reforms which it has instituted, the effect those reforms have had in the operation of the central administrative office and in the performance of pupils, staff, and members of the local school councils at the several attendance centers within the district, and such other matters as the Trustees deem necessary to help assure continuing improvement in the public school system of the district. The reports shall be public documents and shall be made annually, beginning with the school year that commences in 1995 and concluding in the school year beginning in 1999.

(Source: P.A. 89-15, eff. 5-30-95.)

(105 ILCS 5/34-6) (from Ch. 122, par. 34-6)

Sec. 34-6. Superintendent of schools. After June 30, 1999, the board may, by a vote of a majority of its full membership, appoint a general superintendent of schools to serve pursuant to a performance-based contract for a term ending on June 30th of the third calendar year after his or her appointment. He shall be the chief administrative officer of the board and shall have charge and control, subject to the approval of the board and to other provisions of this Article, of all departments and the employees therein of public schools, except the law department. He shall negotiate contracts with all labor organizations which are exclusive representatives of educational employees employed under the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act. All contracts shall be subject to approval of the Board of Education. The board may conduct a national search for a general superintendent. An incumbent general superintendent may not be precluded from being included in such national search. Persons appointed pursuant to this Section shall be exempt from the provisions and requirements of Sections 21-1, 21-1a and 21-7.1. However, the contract of any general superintendent of schools entered into after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly shall require that the general superintendent have a Master of Education degree and hold a current teaching certificate issued under Article 21 of this Code and that the failure to hold a current teaching certificate constitutes a resignation from and creates a vacancy in that position.

(Source: P.A. 89-15, eff. 5-30-95.)