Friday, August 8, 2008
State School News Service To The Rescue Special session a bridge to nowhere
By Jim Broadway, Publisher
State School News Service
 
The special session Gov. Rod Blagojevich called next week will result in this: Legislators will get paid for days they'd have been in Springfield anyway to attend political events at the Illinois State Fair.
 
Blagojevich wants legislators to take another stab at passing a capital program - a scaled-back plan that does not require gambling expansion - on Tuesday. Chance for success: Almost zero.
 
His Wednesday agenda is "education funding," a chance to advance SB 2288, the "tax-swap" dream of Sen. James Meeks. Chance of success: Zero.
 
The governor now wants a $25 billion capital plan to build schools, roads, bridges and transit facilities. It would be funded through a partial lease of the state Lottery. The House has rejected that funding stream in the past and is likely to do so again.
 
Blagojevich opposes SB 2288, promising to veto any bill that raises the income tax. His special session call is said to be a concession to the Senate minority bloc. His motive may be to force a pre-election vote on the bill as a way of killing it once and for all.
 
'Rewrite to Do Right': The governor's action of this week with the most potential for impact - chaos, mostly - is his announcement that he will "rewrite" bills passed by the legislature, by amendatory veto, to "make them better for the people of our state."
 
He is pushing House Speaker Michael Madigan's hot buttons. Madigan, a drafter of the Constitution, has long held that amendatory vetoes are solely for the purpose of correcting technical flaws in legislation, not to let the executive branch write bills.
 
'Rewrite' imperils 'ethics reform' bill
 
"The legislative, executive and judicial branches are separate. No branch shall exercise powers properly belonging to another." - 1970 Illinois Constitution.
 
Madigan has long upheld Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution (quoted above)  simply by ignoring AVs that go beyond the intent of Article IV, Section 9 (e),that of allowing a bill to be cured of technical flaws without forcing legislators to start over with a new piece of legislation. But if an amendatory veto is merely ignored, the bill itself just dies.
 
An example of legislation the governor's plan would jeopardize is HB 824, which would end "pay to play" (state contracts in exchange for political campaign donations). The bill passed both the Senate and House unanimously and was sent to the governor June 30, but he has not yet signed it.
 
[While HB 824 has awaited his signature, a report by the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform showed the governor has received over $280,000 in political contributions for 2008 that would be in violation of the bill's prohibition of campaign gifts from holders of $50,000-plus state contracts.]
 
The governor has said he want to "improve" the bill by amendatory veto. If so - and if Madigan remains consistent in refusing to allow a governor to draft legislation (or if the House votes to override and the Senate does not) - the bill will die. That would seem to be Blagojevich's goal. Pinning the blame on the Speaker would be, for him, icing on the cake.
 
This week's rhetoric at the Capitol will be hotter than the weather at the State Fair. Keep an eye on Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) and his resolution to launch an impeachment of Blagojevich.
 
No educators on children's commission
 
Currently, 214 bills await action by the governor. He can sign or veto them or - as he suggested with his "Rewrite to Do Right" program - he can return bills with recommendations for change. He has 60 days to act on a bill or it simply will become law without his input. That almost never happens.
 
Bills affecting schools and children (and the day the 60-day clock began ticking) include the following:
 
HB 4456 (June 6) creates the first Commission on Children in 22 years. Interestingly, although its goals are to be heavily education, none of its 35 members are defined in the bill as requiring public education backgrounds. The State Superintendent would be an ex-officio member, but he is the only member of the commission representing education.
 
The commission is to develop a strategic plan with five outcome goals, including education completion, workforce development and civic engagement. In all cases, an education reference is made but nothing is in the bill to involve educators in the process.
 
The Department of Human Services will administer the commission. By the time you read this, the time for action by the governor will have arrived.
 
SB 2042 (June 17) revises current law on special education non-resident students, on how and by whom costs are to be paid to a residential facility and how they are to be reimbursed.
 
HB 4309 (June 18) permits a school district to close one or more buildings due to conditions beyond its control "prior to providing any instruction" and still claim GSA reimbursement for up to two days, based on the average attendance of the three days prior to the unexpected closure of the building(s).
 
HB 4522 (June 18) guarantees full GSA funding in a fiscal year by dividing funding into 22 payments and making two each month from August through June. This would eliminate the uncertainty relating to the "23rd and 24th payments" which the governor may (but does not have to) "expedite" into June.
 
SB 2387 (June 20) adds "home ownership (including the basic process of obtaining a mortgage and the concept of fixed and adjustable-rate mortgages, subprime loans and predatory lending)" to a list of units of instruction to be included in the consumer education mandate for grades 9 through 12.
 
HB 4252 (June 27) requires school district officials to report to prospective employing districts on any child abuse suspicions reported to the Department of Children and Family Services about a current or former employee seeking a job with the inquiring district - except when the DCFS has given notice that the suspicions were found to be without merit. Tort immunity for such reporting is included.
 
SB 2487 (June 27) makes numerous revisions to the statute on school district consolidation. Most seem to be relatively minor, but any districts considering a merger would be advised to review it.
 
SB 2512 (June 27) requires a unit of instruction on "Internet safety" to be administered every year to 3rd to 12th grade students, beginning 2009-2010.
 
SB 2685 (June 27) requires, beginning 2009-2010, that teachers' institutes include instruction on "prevalent student chronic health conditions."
 
HB 1141 (June 30) defines a "hard-to-staff" school as one ranking in the top 5% statewide in teacher attrition over a 5-year period and revises the law in relation to incentives for teachers and principals to work full-time in such schools.
 
The same bill also includes provisions relating to a district's responsibility to pay the costs of placing a student with an IEP in a residential facility.
 
HB 1334 (June 30) awards 200 "Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois" grants as incentives for teaching candidates to continue commitments to teaching in shortage subjects and in hard-to-staff schools.
 
HB 5077 (June 30) removes the $10 million limit on the ISBE's allocation to the "technology immersion pilot" program. (Legislators appropriated $5 million for FY 2009, but the governor vetoed all of it out.)


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