Public Act 102-0854
 
SB3709 EnrolledLRB102 22596 CMG 31739 b


  
    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 
10-23.5 and 24-11 as follows:
 



    (105 ILCS 5/10-23.5)  (from Ch. 122, par. 10-23.5)



    Sec. 10-23.5. Educational support personnel employees. 
    (a) To employ such
educational support personnel employees 
as it deems advisable and to define
their employment duties; 
provided that residency within any school district
shall not 
be considered in determining the employment or the 
compensation of
any such employee, or whether to retain, 
promote, assign or transfer such
employee.  If an educational 
support personnel employee is removed or dismissed
or the 
hours he or she works are reduced as a result of a decision of 
the school board (i) to decrease the number of
educational 
support personnel employees employed by the board or (ii) to 
discontinue
some particular type of educational support 
service, written notice shall be
mailed to the employee and 
also given to the employee either by certified mail,
return 
receipt requested, or personal delivery with receipt, at least 
30 days before the employee is removed or dismissed or the 
hours he or she works are reduced, together with a statement of 
honorable dismissal and the reason
therefor if applicable.  
However, if a reduction in hours is due to an unforeseen 
reduction in the student population, then the written notice 
must be mailed and given to the employee at least 5 days before 
the hours are reduced. The employee with the shorter length of 
continuing service with the
district, within the respective 
category of position, shall be dismissed first
unless an 
alternative method of determining the sequence of dismissal is

established in a collective bargaining agreement or contract 
between the
board and any exclusive bargaining agent and 
except that this provision shall
not impair the operation of 
any affirmative action program in the district,
regardless of 
whether it exists by operation of law or is conducted on a

voluntary basis by the board.  If the board has any vacancies 
for the following
school term or within one calendar year from 
the beginning of the following
school term, the positions 
thereby becoming available within a specific
category of 
position shall be tendered to the employees so removed or 
dismissed
from that category or any other category of 
position, so far as they are qualified to hold such
positions.  
Each board shall, in consultation with any exclusive employee

representative or bargaining agent, each year establish a 
list, categorized
by positions, showing the length of 
continuing service of each full time
educational support 
personnel employee who is qualified to hold any such

positions, unless an alternative method of determining a 
sequence of dismissal
is established as
provided for in this 
Section, in which case a list shall be made in
accordance with 
the alternative method.  Copies of the list shall be

distributed to the exclusive employee representative or 
bargaining agent on
or before February 1 of each year.  
    If an educational support personnel employee is removed or 
dismissed as a result of a decision of the board to decrease 
the number of educational support personnel employed by the 
board or to discontinue some particular type of educational 
support service and he or she accepts the tender of a vacancy 
within one calendar year from the beginning of the following 
school term, then that employee shall maintain any rights 
accrued during his or her previous service with the school 
district.
    Where an educational support personnel
employee is 
dismissed by the board as a result of a
decrease in the number 
of employees or the discontinuance of the employee's
job, the 
employee shall be paid all earned compensation on or before 
the
next regular pay date following his or her last day of 
employment.

    The provisions of this amendatory Act of 1986 relating to 
residency
within any school district shall not apply to cities 
having a population
exceeding 500,000 inhabitants.

    (b) In the case of a new school district or districts 
formed in accordance with Article 11E of this Code, a school 
district or districts that annex all of the territory of one or 
more entire other school districts in accordance with Article 
7 of this Code, or a school district receiving students from a 
deactivated school facility in accordance with Section 
10-22.22b of this Code, or a special education cooperative 
that dissolves or reorganizes in accordance with Section 
10-22.31 of this Code, the employment of educational support 
personnel in the new, annexing, or receiving school district 
immediately following the reorganization shall be governed by 
this subsection (b).  Lists of the educational support 
personnel employed in the individual districts or special 
education cooperative for the school year immediately prior to 
the effective date of the new district or districts, 
annexation, or deactivation, dissolution, or reorganization 
shall be combined for the districts forming the new district 
or districts, for the annexed and annexing districts, or for 
the deactivating and receiving districts, or for the 
dissolving or reorganizing special education cooperative, as 
the case may be.  The combined list shall be categorized by 
positions, showing the length of continuing service of each 
full-time educational support personnel employee who is 
qualified to hold any such position.  If there are more 
full-time educational support personnel employees on the 
combined list than there are available positions in the new, 
annexing, or receiving school district, then the employing 
school board shall first remove or dismiss those educational 
support personnel employees with the shorter length of 
continuing service within the respective category of position, 
following the procedures outlined in subsection (a) of this 
Section. In the case of a special education cooperative that 
dissolves or reorganizes, the districts that are parties to 
the joint agreement shall follow the procedures outlined in 
subsection (a) of this Section.  The employment and position of 
each educational support personnel employee on the combined 
list not so removed or dismissed shall be transferred to the 
new, annexing, or receiving school board, and the new, 
annexing, or receiving school board is subject to this Code 
with respect to any educational support personnel employee so 
transferred as if the educational support personnel employee 
had been the new, annexing, or receiving board's employee 
during the time the educational support personnel employee was 
actually employed by the school board of the district from 
which the employment and position were transferred.
    The changes made by Public Act 95-148
 shall not apply to 
the formation of a new district or districts in accordance 
with Article 11E of this Code, the annexation of one or more 
entire districts in accordance with Article 7 of this Code, or 
the deactivation of a school facility in accordance with 
Section 10-22.22b of this Code effective on or before July 1, 
2007.

(Source: P.A. 101-46, eff. 7-12-19.)

 


    (105 ILCS 5/24-11)  (from Ch. 122, par. 24-11)




    Sec. 24-11. Boards of Education - Boards of School 
Inspectors -
Contractual continued service.  
    (a) As used in this and the succeeding
Sections of this 
Article:

    "Teacher" means any or all school district employees 
regularly required to be licensed
 under laws relating to the 
licensure of teachers.

    "Board" means board of directors, board of education, or 
board of school
inspectors, as the case may be.

    "School term" means that portion of the school year, July 
1 to the following
June 30, when school is in actual session.

    "Program" means a program of a special education joint 
agreement.
    "Program of a special education joint agreement" means 
instructional, consultative, supervisory, administrative, 
diagnostic, and related services that are managed by a special 
educational joint agreement designed to service 2 or more 
school districts that are members of the joint agreement.
    "PERA implementation date" means the implementation date 
of an evaluation system for teachers as specified by Section 
24A-2.5 of this Code for all schools within a school district 
or all programs of a special education joint agreement. 
    (b) This Section and Sections 24-12 through 24-16 of this 
Article apply only to
school districts having less than 
500,000 inhabitants.

    (c) Any teacher who is first employed as a full-time 
teacher in a school district or program prior to the PERA 
implementation date and who is employed in that district or 
program for
a probationary period of 4 consecutive school 
terms shall enter upon
contractual continued service in the 
district or in all of the programs that the teacher is legally 
qualified to hold, unless the teacher is given written notice 
of dismissal by certified mail, return receipt requested, by

the employing board at least 45 days before the end of any 
school term within such
period.
 
    (d)  For any teacher who is first employed as a full-time 
teacher in a school district or program on or after the PERA 
implementation date, the probationary period shall be one of 
the following periods, based upon the teacher's school terms 
of service and performance, before the teacher shall enter 
upon contractual continued service in the district or in all 
of the programs that the teacher is legally qualified to hold, 
unless the teacher is given written notice of dismissal by 
certified mail, return receipt requested, by the employing 
board at least 45 days before the end of any school term within 
such period:
        (1)  4 consecutive school terms of service in which the 
    teacher receives overall annual evaluation ratings of at 
    least "Proficient" in the last school term and at least 
    "Proficient" in either the second or third school term;
        (2)  3 consecutive school terms of service in which the 
    teacher receives 3 overall annual evaluations of 
    "Excellent"; or
        (3)  2 consecutive school terms of service in which the 
    teacher receives 2 overall annual evaluations of 
    "Excellent" service, but only if the teacher (i) 
    previously attained contractual continued service in a 
    different school district or program in this State, (ii) 
    voluntarily departed or was honorably dismissed from that 
    school district or program in the school term immediately 
    prior to the teacher's first school term of service 
    applicable to the attainment of contractual continued 
    service under this subdivision (3), and (iii) received, in 
    his or her 2 most recent overall annual or biennial 
    evaluations from the prior school district or program, 
    ratings of at least "Proficient", with both such ratings 
    occurring after the school district's or program's PERA 
    implementation date. For a teacher to attain contractual 
    continued service under this subdivision (3), the teacher 
    shall provide official copies of his or her 2 most recent 
    overall annual or biennial evaluations from the prior 
    school district or program to the new school district or 
    program within 60 days from the teacher's first day of 
    service with the new school district or program. The prior 
    school district or program must provide the teacher with 
    official copies of his or her 2 most recent overall annual 
    or biennial evaluations within 14 days after the teacher's 
    request. If a teacher has requested such official copies 
    prior to 45 days after the teacher's first day of service 
    with the new school district or program and the teacher's 
    prior school district or program fails to provide the 
    teacher with the official copies required under this 
    subdivision (3), then the time period for the teacher to 
    submit the official copies to his or her new school 
    district or program must be extended until 14 days after 
    receipt of such copies from the prior school district or 
    program. If the prior school district or program fails to 
    provide the teacher with the official copies required 
    under this subdivision (3) within 90 days from the 
    teacher's first day of service with the new school 
    district or program, then the new school district or 
    program shall rely upon the teacher's own copies of his or 
    her evaluations for purposes of this subdivision (3). 
    If the teacher does not receive overall annual evaluations 
of "Excellent" in the school terms necessary for eligibility 
to achieve accelerated contractual continued service in 
subdivisions (2) and (3) of this subsection (d), the teacher 
shall be eligible for contractual continued service pursuant 
to subdivision (1) of this subsection (d).  If, at the 
conclusion of 4 consecutive school terms of service that count 
toward attainment of contractual continued service, the 
teacher's performance does not qualify the teacher for 
contractual continued service under subdivision (1) of this 
subsection (d), then the teacher shall not enter upon 
contractual continued service and shall be dismissed.  If a 
performance evaluation is not conducted for any school term 
when such evaluation is required to be conducted under Section 
24A-5 of this Code, then the teacher's performance evaluation 
rating for such school term for purposes of determining the 
attainment of contractual continued service shall be deemed 
"Proficient", except that, during any time in which the 
Governor has declared a disaster due to a public health 
emergency pursuant to Section 7 of the Illinois Emergency 
Management Agency Act, this default to "Proficient" does not 
apply to any teacher who has entered into contractual 
continued service and who was deemed "Excellent" on his or her 
most recent evaluation. During any time in which the Governor 
has declared a disaster due to a public health emergency 
pursuant to Section 7 of the Illinois Emergency Management 
Agency Act and unless the school board and any exclusive 
bargaining representative have completed the performance 
rating for teachers or mutually agreed to an alternate 
performance rating, any teacher who has entered into 
contractual continued service, whose most recent evaluation 
was deemed "Excellent", and whose performance evaluation is 
not conducted when the evaluation is required to be conducted 
shall receive a teacher's performance rating deemed 
"Excellent".  A school board and any exclusive bargaining 
representative may mutually agree to an alternate performance 
rating for teachers not in contractual continued service 
during any time in which the Governor has declared a disaster 
due to a public health emergency pursuant to Section 7 of the 
Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act, as long as the 
agreement is in writing. 
    (e)  For the purposes of determining contractual continued 
service, a school term shall be counted only toward attainment 
of contractual continued service if the teacher actually 
teaches or is otherwise present and participating in the 
district's or program's educational program for 120 days or 
more, provided that the days of leave under the federal Family 
Medical Leave Act that the teacher is required to take until 
the end of the school term shall be considered days of teaching 
or participation in the district's or program's educational 
program.  A school term that is not counted toward attainment 
of contractual continued service shall not be considered a 
break in service for purposes of determining whether a teacher 
has been employed for 4 consecutive school terms, provided 
that the teacher actually teaches or is otherwise present and 
participating in the district's or program's educational 
program in the following school term.
    (f)  If the employing board determines to dismiss the 
teacher in the last year of the probationary period as 
provided in subsection (c) of this Section or subdivision (1) 
or (2) of subsection (d) of this Section, but not subdivision 
(3) of subsection (d) of this Section, the written notice of 
dismissal provided by the employing board must contain 
specific reasons for dismissal.   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 as provided in this 
Section and whose performance does not require dismissal after 
the fourth probationary year pursuant to subsection (d) of 
this Section shall be re-employed for the following school 
term. 


    (g) Contractual continued service shall continue in effect 
the terms and
provisions of the contract with the teacher 
during the last school term
of the probationary period, 
subject to this Act and the lawful
regulations of the 
employing board. This Section and succeeding Sections
do not 
modify any existing power of the board except with respect to 
the
procedure of the discharge of a teacher and reductions in 
salary as
hereinafter provided. Contractual continued service 
status shall not
restrict the power of the board to transfer a 
teacher to a position
which the teacher is qualified to fill or 
to make such salary
adjustments as it deems desirable, but 
unless reductions in salary are
uniform or based upon some 
reasonable classification, any teacher whose
salary is reduced 
shall be entitled to a notice and a hearing as
hereinafter 
provided in the case of certain dismissals or removals.

    (h)  If, by reason of any change in the boundaries of school 
districts, by reason of a special education cooperative 
reorganization or dissolution in accordance with Section 
10-22.31 of this Code, or by reason of the creation of a new 
school district, the position held by any teacher having a 
contractual continued service status is transferred from one 
board to the control of a new or different board, then the 
contractual continued service status of the teacher is not 
thereby lost, and such new or different board is subject to 
this Code with respect to the teacher in the same manner as if 
the teacher were its employee and had been its employee during 
the time the teacher was actually employed by the board from 
whose control the position was transferred. 
    (i) The employment of any teacher in a program of a special 
education joint
agreement established under Section 3-15.14, 
10-22.31 or 10-22.31a shall be governed by
 this and succeeding 
Sections of this Article.  For purposes of
attaining and 
maintaining contractual continued service and computing
length 
of continuing service as referred to in this Section and 
Section
24-12, employment in a special educational joint 
program shall be deemed a
continuation of all previous 
licensed employment of such teacher for
such joint agreement 
whether the employer of the teacher was the joint
agreement, 
the regional superintendent, or one of the participating

districts in the joint agreement.

    (j)  For any teacher employed after July 1, 1987 as a 
full-time teacher in a program of a special education joint 
agreement, whether the program is operated by the joint 
agreement or a member district on behalf of the joint 
agreement, in the event of a reduction in the number of 
programs or positions in the joint agreement in which the 
notice of dismissal is provided on or before the end of the 
2010-2011 school term, the teacher in contractual continued 
service is eligible for employment in the joint agreement 
programs for which the teacher is legally qualified in order 
of greater length of continuing service in the joint 
agreement, unless an alternative method of determining the 
sequence of dismissal is established in a collective 
bargaining agreement.  For any teacher employed after July 1, 
1987 as a full-time teacher in a program of a special education 
joint agreement, whether the program is operated by the joint 
agreement or a member district on behalf of the joint 
agreement, in the event of a reduction in the number of 
programs or positions in the joint agreement in which the 
notice of dismissal is provided during the 2011-2012 school 
term or a subsequent school term, the teacher shall be 
included on the honorable dismissal lists of all joint 
agreement programs for positions for which the teacher is 
qualified and is eligible for employment in such programs in 
accordance with subsections (b) and (c) of Section 24-12 of 
this Code and the applicable honorable dismissal policies of 
the joint agreement.
    (k)  For any teacher employed after July 1, 1987 as a 
full-time teacher in a program of a special education joint 
agreement, whether the program is operated by the joint 
agreement or a member district on behalf of the joint 
agreement, in the event of the dissolution of a joint 
agreement, in which the notice to teachers of the dissolution 
is provided during the 2010-2011 school term, the teacher in 
contractual continued service who is legally qualified shall 
be assigned to any comparable position in a member district 
currently held by a teacher who has not entered upon 
contractual continued service or held by a teacher who has 
entered upon contractual continued service with a shorter 
length of contractual continued service.  Any teacher employed 
after July 1, 1987 as a full-time teacher in a program of a 
special education joint agreement, whether the program is 
operated by the joint agreement or a member district on behalf 
of the joint agreement, in the event of the dissolution of a 
joint agreement in which the notice to teachers of the 
dissolution is provided during the 2011-2012 school term or a 
subsequent school term, the teacher who is qualified shall be 
included on the order of honorable dismissal lists of each 
member district and shall be assigned to any comparable 
position in any such district in accordance with subsections 
(b) and (c) of Section 24-12 of this Code and the applicable 
honorable dismissal policies of each member district. 

    (l) The governing board of the joint agreement, or the 
administrative
district, if so authorized by the articles of 
agreement of the joint
agreement, rather than the board of 
education of a school district, may
carry out employment and 
termination actions including dismissals under
this Section 
and Section 24-12.



    (m) The employment of any teacher in a special education 
program
authorized by Section 14-1.01 through 14-14.01, or a 
joint educational
program established under Section 10-22.31a, 
shall be under this and the
succeeding Sections of this 
Article, and such employment shall be deemed
a continuation of 
the previous employment of such teacher in any of the

participating districts, regardless of the participation of 
other
districts in the program. 
    (n) Any teacher employed as a full-time teacher in
a 
special education program prior to September 23, 1987 in which 
2 or
more school districts
participate for a probationary 
period of 2 consecutive years shall enter
upon contractual 
continued service in each of the participating
districts, 
subject to this and the succeeding Sections of this Article,

and, notwithstanding Section 24-1.5 of this Code, in the event 
of the termination of the program shall be eligible for
any 
vacant position in any of such districts for which such 
teacher is
qualified.

(Source: P.A. 101-643, eff. 6-18-20; 102-552, eff. 1-1-22.)

 

    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 
becoming law.