Leadership Matters - April 2013

Classrooms First Commission initiatives result in consolidation legislation

The reorganization method for “coop high schools” has been altered to allow unit or high school districts to reorganize if each of the districts has a high school enrollment of fewer than 600 students. The same previous requirement of these districts being contiguous also was dropped from this legislation. Therefore, non-contiguous districts can now utilize the cooperative high school reorganization method. Probably the most important change is in the dissolution method of reorganization. Currently, if a district has a population of fewer than 5,000 residents, the Board of Education can petition the Regional Board of Trustees, or by a citizen petition with a majority of signatures, to dissolve the district. In dissolution, the Regional Board of Trustees is empowered to annex all or part of the district to a neighboring district(s) in its own discretion. This is the only reorganization method in which there is no vote of the populace and this “automatic feature” can only be overridden with a citizen petition opposing the

The first reorganization bill to reach the legislature based upon the Classroom First Commission has come forth with the sponsorship of the Lieutenant Governor and the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). The two parallel bills with the same wording are Senate Bill 1877, sponsored by Sen. Andy Manar (D- Bunker Hill), and House Bill 2267, sponsored by Rep. Jehan Gordon (D- Peoria).

Dr. Bill Phillips IASA Field

Services Director

Keep in mind that the essential features of this new legislation still are not mandatory and require the consent and approval of the populace or the school board. The intent seems to be a widening of reorganization options for districts by removing some of the existing requirements and including an enrollment factor for the “automatic dissolution” of a district that voluntarily chooses this method of reorganization.

dissolution received within 45 days by the Regional Board of School Trustees with a majority of signatures of district residents. The new feature of this legislation now includes an enrollment factor of 750. This legislation would allow this automatic form of dissolution, which would not

These bills have a lot of traction and should pass through the legislature without much opposition. Essentially, these bills give districts more options to choose from, and change a few time-honored procedures and requirements. For example, requiring districts to be contiguous, or touching at some point on a common

include a vote of the populace, to be utilized by a district with a student population of fewer than 750 students. This change would still include the possibility of overriding the board petition with a petition of a majority of district voters opposing this dissolution. Another item in the bill related to reorganization is to allow for a delayed reorganization date in certain circumstances when a new facility is required until construction funding is available. This would allow reorganizations needing a new facility to hold a referendum vote, but delay the effective date of the reorganization until construction funding is available for a period of up to five years. A delayed reorganization is often in the best interests of districts considering reorganization due to the considerable number of issues that districts need to work through in the process of merging school districts.

boundary, has been eliminated by this legislation. Districts may utilize annexation, which is controlled by the Regional Board of Trustees, or combination, which is controlled by the Regional Office of Education (ROE) and the State Superintendent, to reorganize with several caveats. Elementary, high school and unit districts all are included in this legislation. The first requirement is that district offices for districts reorganizing must be within 30 miles of each other. This distance restriction seems reasonable even though it seems that districts reorganizing at that distance may have transportation and logistical issues to solve. The other requirement is that all districts that are contiguous with the districts utilizing this method of reorganization but are not interested in participating in the reorganization must document their non-interest through a vote of its school board and then inform the Regional Board of Trustees by letter containing approved minutes that record the school board vote.

16