This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

UPDATE: Illinois House Approves Education Bill

Senate Bill 7 now goes to Governor Quinn for his signature.

Update 5/12:

The Illinois House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 7 (SB7) on Thursday by a vote of 112-1-1.

The bill proposes changes to state's education system that will affect the weight given to teachers with seniority at the time of dismissal. It also touches on performance evaluations, classroom monitoring and power to strike.

Find out what's happening in Highland Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

SB 7 now heads to Governor Pat Quinn for his signature.

Earlier:

Find out what's happening in Highland Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

After nearly three months of negotiations, Illinois senators unanimously passed Senate Bill (SB) 7 recently and sent it for consideration in the House.

The bill proposes changes to state's education system that will affect the weight given to teachers with seniority at the time of dismissal. It also touches on performance evaluations, classroom monitoring and power to strike.

For Chicago Public Schools, the bill proposes longer school days for students.

Jessica Handy, policy director for Stand for Children in Illinois, said the performance-based layoffs are a critical piece of the bill, which would require schools to no longer look at a teacher’s seniority in deciding who to terminate.

Instead, when schools assess what positions need to be filled, teachers’ performance records will be the driving factor and seniority will be used as a tiebreaker should there be any dispute, she said.

Handy's organization has worked to improve the quality of education for children in public schools and has been involved in SB7 negotiations. 

“I think we like the bill because it’s going to place more emphasis on teacher evaluations,” said  School Board Vice President .

Sandlow said the district has a seniority list of all teachers that would be used to determine dismissals under the current rules.

“Teacher dismissals in the past are extremely expensive, cumbersome process,” Handy said.  “Senate Bill 7 streamlines that process, all [parties involved] would benefit from tightening of timeline.”

Sandlow views the new parameters proposed under SB7 as a big benefit for the students.

“Right now, we evaluate tenured staff every other year, and there are some questions how it will play out if it actually passes,” she said.

Sandlow explained that another feature of SB7 would allow a teacher’s tenure status to be transferrable instead of him or her having to restart each time a move is made to a different district. Also, teachers have to wait four years before being put on the tenure track, but it could be lowered to three years under the legislation.

SB7 also cuts down on the possibility of teacher strikes in Illinois. The bill would enable boards of education or teacher’s unions to opt into a 90-day fact-finding period and then require a 30-day waiting period before a strike could begin.

Sandlow said teachers striking is not an issue in Highland Park, noting that District 113, comprising Highland Park and Deerfield high schools, is the only non-union high school system in the state.

House lawmakers are in the process of reading through SB7 and will discuss it in the coming days.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?