New law tweaks teacher remediation process, criteria for school districts in financial difficulty

Effective August 4, 2010, a new law signed by Governor Quinn provides that school districts shall request the applicable regional office of education, rather than the Illinois State Board of Education, to participate as a consulting teacher in the teacher remediation process when no individual employed at the district meets the necessary criteria.

Senate Bill 3681, now Public Act 96-1423, amended Section 24A-5 of the School Code, which requires districts to design a remediation plan to correct deficiencies after a tenured teacher receives a rating of “unsatisfactory” in his or her evaluation, provided the deficiencies are remediable. The deadline for designing the remediation plan has been changed from 30 days to 30 school days.

The Section requires a consulting teacher to participate in the remediation plan along with the evaluator who rated the teacher as “unsatisfactory.” The consulting teacher must have at least five years of teaching experience and a reasonable familiarity with the assignment of the teacher being evaluated. The consulting teacher also must have received a rating of “excellent” in his or her most recent evaluation.

If no teachers in the District meet the necessary requirements, the District shall request and the applicable regional office of education shall supply a teacher who meets the criteria.

In addition, the bill amended Section 1A-8 of the School Code, governing assistance to school districts in financial difficulties. The Section allows the State Superintendent to certify that a school district is in financial difficulty when it is likely to fail to fully meet the payroll or debt services payments when due. The State Superintendent may require such districts to develop, adopt and submit a financial plan within 45 days after certification of financial difficulty.

Other changes in the bill include: Removing the requirement to include educational support personnel in the annual salary and benefit survey for school districts with less then 1,000 students; setting October 1, 2012 as ISBE’s deadline to publicly report all teacher preparation programs in the state; and altering the requirements for tracking transfer students.