The Illinois Senate passed SB7 unanimously in April, 57 to 0. Last Thursday, the bill also passed House nearly unanimously (112 for, 1 abstaining and 1 against). The Bill now goes to Governor Quinn’s desk for signature.
SB 7 was developed during months of discussions involving a wide variety of education stakeholders including the Illinois Educators Association, the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the Chicago Teachers Union, along with school administrators, the state board of education, lawmakers and others, including the education reform groups Stand for Children and Advance Illinois.
The bill ties teacher tenure and dismissal to performance in the classroom, rather than experience, and makes it more difficult for teachers to strike. The new law would maintain the existing rights of teachers while addressing the most contentious issues in education—seniority, tenure, dismissal, strikes, and longer school days. Specifically, the bill accomplishes the following:
Streamlines the dismissal process for ineffective teachers by allowing the state school superintendent to suspend or revoke a teacher’s certificate after two unsatisfactory ratings in a seven-year period. Currently, in the Chicago Public Schools, it can take up to 27 steps to dismiss an ineffective teacher.
Reduces the length of time necessary for school boards to dismiss tenured teachers who consistently perform poorly. In performance-related dismissals, the district must involve a second evaluator in the remediation and post-evaluation process.
Shifts the focus of the human capital system from seniority to performance. A teacher’s subject specialty, performance, and ability will be considered when layoffs are necessary, and seniority will be used only as a tiebreaker. The law would signify the end to the “last in, first out” policy of firing the newest teachers first in Illinois.
Tranforms tenure. Teachers will no longer automatically receive tenure after four years in the classroom. In order to earn tenure, teachers will need to earn two “proficient” or “excellent” evaluation scores during the last three years of a four-year probationary period. If new teachers receive these ratings within their first three years, they can receive tenure in only three years. Tenure status becomes portable for teachers who transfer to another school district.
Preserves teachers’ right to strike but makes striking more difficult in Chicago, where more students would be affected. The bill requires negotiation and public disclosure of bargaining positions before a union launches a strike, and 75% of all Chicago Teacher Union members would need to vote to strike (up from the current requirement of 50%).
Allows the Chicago Board of Education to unilaterally lengthen the school day or year and retains the right for the Chicago Teachers Union to collectively bargain over pay and benefits for the extended hours.
It is expected that there will be a second bill (called a “trailer bill” because it follows and is linked to another piece of legislation, in this case SB7) that will address the concerns raised by unions about language which was inserted at the last hour. With the trailer bill and renewed union support for this legislation, Illinois will have passed a landmark educator human capital law with widespread support among stakeholder groups.
For a fact sheet related to the bill, please see http://www.stand.org/Document.Doc?id=3057
