Bill Text: IL SB1340 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: Amends the Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness Act. Removes a provision requiring the State Superintendent of Education to limit each annual cohort of the Act's pilot program to (i) for the first 2 annual cohorts, no more than 12 school districts and (ii) for any subsequent annual cohort, no more than 15 school districts. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2021-01-13 - Session Sine Die [SB1340 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2019-SB1340-Introduced.html


101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2019 and 2020
SB1340

Introduced 2/7/2019, by Sen. Jil Tracy

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
110 ILCS 148/25

Amends the Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness Act. Removes a provision requiring the State Superintendent of Education to limit each annual cohort of the Act's pilot program to (i) for the first 2 annual cohorts, no more than 12 school districts and (ii) for any subsequent annual cohort, no more than 15 school districts. Effective immediately.
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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

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1 AN ACT concerning education.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 5. The Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness Act is
5amended by changing Section 25 as follows:
6 (110 ILCS 148/25)
7 Sec. 25. Competency-based, high school graduation
8requirements pilot program eligibility and application
9process.
10 (a) The pilot program established under Section 20 of this
11Act shall be administered by the State Superintendent of
12Education in 2 phases: (i) an initial application and selection
13process phase, and (ii) a subsequent phase for full development
14and implementation of a detailed plan for a competency-based
15learning system for high school graduation requirements.
16 (b) For the initial phase under clause (i) of subsection
17(a) of this Section, the State Superintendent of Education
18shall develop and issue a pilot program application that
19requires:
20 (1) demonstration of commitment from the school
21 district superintendent; the president of the school board
22 of the district; teachers within the school district who
23 will be involved with the pilot program implementation; a

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1 community college partner; and a higher education
2 institution other than a community college;
3 (2) an indication of which of the year and course
4 graduation requirements set forth in Section 27-22 of the
5 School Code the school district wishes to replace with a
6 competency-based learning system;
7 (3) a general description of the school district's plan
8 for implementing a competency-based learning system for
9 high school graduation requirements, including how the
10 plan addresses the requirements of Section 20 of this Act
11 and this Section;
12 (4) the school district's prior professional
13 development and stakeholder engagement efforts that will
14 support its successful development and implementation of a
15 competency-based learning system, including, without
16 limitation, prior implementation of professional
17 development systems for major district instructional
18 initiatives; and
19 (5) identification of any waivers or modifications of
20 State law or rules for implementation of the proposed plan.
21 The demonstration of commitment from teachers as required
22by paragraph (1) of this subsection (b) must include a
23description of how teachers have been engaged throughout the
24application development process. If the school district has an
25exclusive bargaining representative of its teachers and the
26president of the exclusive bargaining representative does not

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1submit a statement of commitment for the application, the
2school district must submit either a statement by the president
3of the position of the exclusive bargaining representative on
4the application or a description of the school district's good
5faith efforts to obtain such a statement.
6 (c) Subject to subsection (g) of this Section, the State
7Superintendent of Education shall select school districts
8meeting the requirements set forth in this Section to
9participate in the pilot program based on the quality of the
10proposed plan, the strength of the local commitments,
11including, without limitation, teachers within the school
12district who will be involved in the program's implementation
13and postsecondary institution partnerships, and demonstration
14of prior professional development and stakeholder engagement
15efforts that will support the proposed system's successful
16implementation. The State Superintendent of Education, in
17selecting the participating school districts, shall also
18consider the diversity of school district types and sizes, the
19diversity of geographic representation from across the State,
20and the diversity of plan approaches (such as approaches that
21involve one subject only, multiple subjects, and the types of
22subjects).
23 (d) School districts selected to participate in the pilot
24program shall receive technical assistance coordinated by the
25State Superintendent of Education to develop a full pilot
26program implementation plan. The State Superintendent of

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1Education shall have discretion to remove a school district
2from the pilot program during this period if the school
3district does not submit a full pilot program implementation
4plan that meets the State Superintendent of Education's
5specifications.
6 (e) School districts shall, as part of the development of
7their application and participation in the competency-based
8learning system pilot program, establish and maintain a
9standing planning and implementation committee that includes
10representation from administrators and teachers, including
11teachers who will be involved in the competency-based learning
12system's implementation. The teacher representatives shall be
13selected by teachers or, where applicable, the exclusive
14bargaining representative of its teachers, and the number of
15teacher representatives shall be at least equal to
16administrator representatives, unless otherwise agreed to by
17the teachers or, where applicable, the exclusive bargaining
18representative of its teachers. The standing planning and
19implementation committee shall develop reports that shall be
20included within the initial application, the full pilot program
21plan, and any subsequent annual submissions to the State
22Superintendent of Education as part of the assessment and
23evaluation of the program. The reports shall describe the
24members' assessment of the school district's plan or
25implementation, as applicable, of the school district's
26competency-based learning system and any recommendations for

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1modifications or improvements to the system. If the committee
2does not reach consensus on the report, the administrator
3members shall submit the report and the teacher members may
4provide a position statement that must be included with the
5report submitted to the State Superintendent of Education.
6 (f) Notwithstanding any other provisions of the School Code
7or any other law of this State to the contrary, school
8districts participating in the pilot program may petition the
9State Superintendent of Education for a waiver or modification
10of the mandates of the School Code or of the administrative
11rules adopted by ISBE in order to support the implementation of
12the school district's proposed competency-based learning
13system. However, no waiver shall be granted under this
14subsection (f) relating to State assessments, accountability
15requirements, teacher tenure or seniority, teacher or
16principal evaluations, or learning standards or that removes
17legal protections or supports intended for the protection of
18children or a particular category of students, such as students
19with disabilities or English learners. Any waiver or
20modification of teacher educator licensure requirements to
21permit instruction by non-educators or educators without an
22appropriate license must ensure that an appropriately licensed
23teacher and the provider of instruction partner in order to
24verify the method for assessing competency of mastery and
25verify whether a student has demonstrated mastery. All requests
26must be jointly signed by the school district superintendent

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1and the president of the school board and must describe the
2position of teachers within the school district that will be
3involved in the competency-based learning system's
4implementation on the application. If the school district has
5an exclusive bargaining representative of its teachers and the
6president of the exclusive bargaining representative does not
7submit a statement of support for the application, the school
8district must submit either a statement by the president that
9describes the position of the exclusive bargaining
10representative on the application or a description of the
11school district's good faith efforts to obtain such a
12statement. The State Superintendent of Education shall approve
13a waiver or modification request meeting the requirements of
14this subsection (f) if the State Superintendent of Education
15determines the request is reasonably necessary to support the
16implementation of the school district's proposed
17competency-based learning system, and the request shall not
18diminish the overall support of teachers within the school
19district involved with the system's implementation as
20demonstrated in the school district's initial application to
21participate in the pilot program. An approved request shall
22take effect in accordance with the timeline set forth in the
23school district's application, and an approved waiver or
24modification shall remain in effect for so long as the school
25district participates in the pilot program established by this
26Act. The State Superintendent of Education's approval of a

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1school district plan for implementation of competency-based,
2high school graduation requirements shall serve as a waiver or
3modification of any conflicting requirements of Section 27-22
4of the School Code. School districts participating in the pilot
5program may additionally pursue waivers and modifications
6pursuant to Section 2-3.25g of the School Code.
7 (g) For purposes of this subsection (g), "annual cohort"
8means the group of school districts selected by the State
9Superintendent of Education to participate in the pilot program
10during an annual application and selection process. The State
11Superintendent of Education shall limit each annual cohort of
12the pilot program as follows: the first 2 annual cohorts shall
13be limited to no more than 12 school districts, and any
14subsequent annual cohort shall be limited to no more than 15
15school districts. A school district may submit only one
16application for each annual cohort of the pilot program. The
17application of a school district having a population exceeding
18500,000 inhabitants may not include more than 6 schools. The
19expansion of a school district's competency-based learning
20system to a new school or new subject area identified in
21Section 27-22 of the School Code shall require a new
22application by the school district.
23 School districts may collaboratively apply to participate
24in the pilot program. Notwithstanding any other provision of
25this subsection (g), the application of a collaborative of
26districts shall be counted as one district application in the

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1annual cohort selection process. In the application of a
2collaborative of districts, each district participating in the
3collaborative shall comply with the requirements outlined in
4subsection (b) of this Section as if applying as an individual
5district. The districts participating in the collaborative may
6establish and maintain a standing planning and implementation
7committee individually or collaboratively. If a collaborative
8of districts decides at a later date to participate as
9individual districts in the pilot program, the districts shall
10submit to the State Superintendent of Education a revised
11implementation plan that outlines the changes to their original
12plan and , the individual district applications from these
13districts shall be considered as separate district
14applications, and none of these districts may be counted as one
15of the districts that are already part of the cohort
16limitation.
17(Source: P.A. 99-674, eff. 7-29-16; 100-599, eff. 6-29-18.)
18 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
19becoming law.
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