School Reform Bill Awaits Governor's Signature

A school reform bill is close to becoming law. All that is needed is Gov. Pat Quinn’s signature, since the legislation passed the Illinois house and senate. The bill would change the way teachers are hired, fired and given tenure.

In early April, representatives from the Illinois Education Association and Advance Illinois made a presentation to the Naperville School District 203 Board of Education, touting the benefits of the legislation, which at the time had not yet been introduced to lawmakers.

Last Thursday, the Illinois House voted 112-1 to send the bill to Gov. Quinn, who has said he supports the measure, according to a report in The State Journal-Register.

“To see all stakeholder groups come together to help improve education in Illinois is very gratifying,” said Mark Mitrovich, .  “In the end, outstanding teachers, principals, and students will be the beneficiary of this piece of legislation.”

Among the reforms that would be implemented through the legislation:

• School board members would be required to have at least four hours of leadership training within one year of being elected to a board.
• The State Superintendent of Education could suspend, revoke, or limit an individual’s teaching certificate for incompetency.
• Teacher “seniority” would be replaced with a process that would evaluate teacher performance.
• Hiring and filling positions would be based on a variety of factors including: certifications, qualifications, merit and ability, and relevant experience.

Back in April, Robin Steans of Advance Illinois and Jim Reed, director of government relations for the Illinois Education Association presented information to the 203 board.

Both Steans and Reed said that there had been a lot of work that had gone into negotiating the proposed legislation and they said that both parties agreed on a majority of the reforms.

At that time Steans said: “We are way overdue to look at the evaluation systems for teachers and support staff. In many places the evaluation had become a rubber stamp.”