SB 981 - Prospective Education Reform

BILL HIGHLIGHTS: Would amend the Revised School Code to:
• Create Schools of Excellence (new kind of charter school).*
• Allow two statewide cyber schools.
• Establish administrator certification and alternative administrator certification.*
• Require that teacher and administrator evaluation be linked to student growth.*
• Require merit pay.*
• Modify the Algebra II requirement for high school graduation.*
• Require charter school contract renewal to be based on student achievement.*
• Allow charter school enrollment priority for certain charter schools.
• Require closure of a charter school if it is in lowest achieving 5% of all public schools and phase w of restructuring sanctions under the No Child Left Behind Act.
• Pre-Labor Day school start and mandatory kindergarten are NOT included.
• Add very mild language about tenure.

BILL CONTENT:

Schools of Excellence:
• Approximately 32 Schools of Excellence could open. These would be existing high-performing charter schools that "convert" from traditional charters under the current cap to become "School of Excellence" charters.
• For every designated School of Excellence, a new charter contract would become available under the current cap. Charters that replace Schools of Excellence would have to be located in a school district with a graduation rate lower than 75%.
• Another 10 contracts for Schools of Excellence could be issued by January 1, 2015 if 50% of the new schools are high schools and they are located in a school district with less than 75% graduation rate.
• K-8 SoEs must meet criteria of 90% MEAP proficient OR 70% proficient and 50% free/reduced lunch.
• High school SoEs must meet criteria of 80% graduation rate, 80% attendance rate, and 80% post-secondary enrollment rate.

Cyber Schools
• Two statewide cyber Schools of Excellence could open with initial enrollment of 400 each.
• Each cyber school may expand to 1000 pupils in subsequent years, as long as 50% of the added pupil population are recovered dropouts. Homeschool students could not attend a cyber school.

Administrator Certification/Alternative Certification
• Would require a certification process for school administrators. Current administrators would be grandfathered in; new administrators hired after the bill's effective date would be required to enroll in a certification program within 6 months of employment, and would have 3 years to complete the certification requirements, or be dismissed. The State Superintendent would be responsible for establishing the rules, procedures and endorsements for administrator certification. An administrator certificate would be valid for 5 years, at which time it would have to be renewed.
• Would require the department to "recognize alternative pathways" to administrator certification, based on experience or alternative preparation, as approved by the State Board of Education.


Teacher/Administrator Evaluation
• Would require a school district, charter school or ISD to implement for all teachers and administrators an annual performance evaluation system that would evaluate performance in a way that uses student growth data as a "significant factor." The evaluation would have to be used to determine the effectiveness of teachers and administrators, while ensuring that they are given ample opportunity for improvement, and to inform decisions regarding promotion, retention, and development of teacher and school administrators.

Merit Pay
• Would require a school district, charter school or ISD to implement for all teachers and administrators an annual performance evaluation system that would evalute peformance in a way that uses student growth data as a significant factor in determining compensation and additional compensation.
• If a collective bargaining agreement is in effect that prevents compliance, the above requirement would not apply until that agreement expires.

Algebra II Modification
• Clarifies that the Algebra II requirement for high school graduation may be satisfied through a Career Technical Education (CTE) course.
• This language was pulled from SB 698 (Kuipers), which passed the Senate 36-0 on 8/19/09.

Charter School Provisions
• Would require charter school contract renewal to be based on student achievement.
• Allow charter school enrollment priority for:
o Siblings of pupils;
o Transfers from other charters who have an agreement with the enrolling charter.
• Allow the State Superintendent to close a charter school if it is in the lowest achieving 5% of the state and phase 2 of restructuring sanctions under No Child Left Behind.