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

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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

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

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

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

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Education shall have discretion to remove a school district
from the pilot program during this period if the school
district does not submit a full pilot program implementation
plan that meets the State Superintendent of Education's
specifications.
(e) School districts shall, as part of the development of
their application and participation in the competency-based
learning system pilot program, establish and maintain a
standing planning and implementation committee that includes
representation from administrators and teachers, including
teachers who will be involved in the competency-based learning
system's implementation. The teacher representatives shall be
selected by teachers or, where applicable, the exclusive
bargaining representative of its teachers, and the number of
teacher representatives shall be at least equal to
administrator representatives, unless otherwise agreed to by
the teachers or, where applicable, the exclusive bargaining
representative of its teachers. The standing planning and
implementation committee shall develop reports that shall be
included within the initial application, the full pilot program
plan, and any subsequent annual submissions to the State
Superintendent of Education as part of the assessment and
evaluation of the program. The reports shall describe the
members' assessment of the school district's plan or
implementation, as applicable, of the school district's
competency-based learning system and any recommendations for

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

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and the president of the school board and must describe the
position of teachers within the school district that will be
involved in the competency-based learning system's
implementation on the application. If the school district has
an exclusive bargaining representative of its teachers and the
president of the exclusive bargaining representative does not
submit a statement of support for the application, the school
district must submit either a statement by the president that
describes the position of the exclusive bargaining
representative on the application or a description of the
school district's good faith efforts to obtain such a
statement. The State Superintendent of Education shall approve
a waiver or modification request meeting the requirements of
this subsection (f) if the State Superintendent of Education
determines the request is reasonably necessary to support the
implementation of the school district's proposed
competency-based learning system, and the request shall not
diminish the overall support of teachers within the school
district involved with the system's implementation as
demonstrated in the school district's initial application to
participate in the pilot program. An approved request shall
take effect in accordance with the timeline set forth in the
school district's application, and an approved waiver or
modification shall remain in effect for so long as the school
district participates in the pilot program established by this
Act. The State Superintendent of Education's approval of a

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school district plan for implementation of competency-based,
high school graduation requirements shall serve as a waiver or
modification of any conflicting requirements of Section 27-22
of the School Code. School districts participating in the pilot
program may additionally pursue waivers and modifications
pursuant to Section 2-3.25g of the School Code.
(g) For purposes of this subsection (g), "annual cohort"
means the group of school districts selected by the State
Superintendent of Education to participate in the pilot program
during an annual application and selection process. The State
Superintendent of Education shall limit each annual cohort of
the pilot program as follows: the first 2 annual cohorts shall
be limited to no more than 12 school districts, and any
subsequent annual cohort shall be limited to no more than 15
school districts. A school district may submit only one
application for each annual cohort of the pilot program. The
application of a school district having a population exceeding
500,000 inhabitants may not include more than 6 schools. The
expansion of a school district's competency-based learning
system to a new school or new subject area identified in
Section 27-22 of the School Code shall require a new
application by the school district.
School districts may collaboratively apply to participate
in the pilot program. Notwithstanding any other provision of
this subsection (g), the application of a collaborative of
districts shall be counted as one district application in the

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