Here are some of my views on HB 1216 and SB 2134. I went to Rep. Sente's Coffee in Vernon Hills Saturday morning and I attended Senator Garrett's Forum on April 4.
HB 1216- Rep. Sente confirmed at the coffee on Saturday that forced consolidation seems to be off the table but that her committee's job to study consolidation is still alive and well. She tried to emphasize that her co-sponsored bill is a study bill and that the only thing that will come from it is recommendations. The House and Senate would need to accept the recommendations, and then after an acceptance (or rejection) a new bill would have to be written for any action (i.e., actualconsolidation) to take place.
SB2134 I am not sure how Senator Garrett's SB 2134 bill works with/against Sente's/Chapa LaVia's 1216 bill. Garrett said it is a compromise bill. It would encourage districts to share resources in areas such as transportation, maintenance, personnel (business office, superintendent office, curriculum, testing, staff development, grant writing, instructional programs, etc) in a way that would save money and in turn put the money back into classrooms/student learning. It would require that districts report to/document their efforts (annually?) to their ROE. This bill is currently being redrafted/amended and should be finished by the end of the week.
Paula Sterner
Oak Grove School Board Member
No comments:
Post a Comment