Bill Text: IL HB2846 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Employment of Teachers Article of the School Code. Makes changes to the probationary periods pertaining to attaining contractual continued service. For the first probationary period, requires the teacher to be employed for 3 (rather than 4) consecutive school terms of service in which the teacher receives overall annual evaluation ratings of at least "Proficient" in the second and third school terms (rather than overall annual evaluation ratings of at least "Proficient" in the last school term and at least "Proficient" in either the second or third school term). For the second probationary period, requires the teacher to serve for 2 (rather than 3) consecutive school terms of service in which the teacher receives 2 (rather than 3) overall annual evaluations of "Excellent". Effective July 1, 2023.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2023-03-10 - Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB2846 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HB2846-Introduced.html

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103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2023 and 2024 HB2846 Introduced , by Rep. Dave Vella SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
105 ILCS 5/24-11 from Ch. 122, par. 24-11
Amends the Employment of Teachers Article of the School Code. Makes changes to the probationary periods pertaining to attaining contractual continued service. For the first probationary period, requires the teacher to be employed for 3 (rather than 4) consecutive school terms of service in which the teacher receives overall annual evaluation ratings of at least "Proficient" in the second and third school terms (rather than overall annual evaluation ratings of at least "Proficient" in the last school term and at least "Proficient" in either the second or third school term). For the second probationary period, requires the teacher to serve for 2 (rather than 3) consecutive school terms of service in which the teacher receives 2 (rather than 3) overall annual evaluations of "Excellent". Effective July 1, 2023.
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning education.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section
24-11 as follows:
(105 ILCS 5/24-11) (from Ch. 122, par. 24-11)
Sec. 24-11. Boards of Education - Boards of School
Inspectors - Contractual continued service.
(a) As used in this and the succeeding Sections of this
Article:
"Teacher" means any or all school district employees
regularly required to be licensed under laws relating to the
licensure of teachers.
"Board" means board of directors, board of education, or
board of school inspectors, as the case may be.
"School term" means that portion of the school year, July
1 to the following June 30, when school is in actual session.
"Program" means a program of a special education joint
agreement.
"Program of a special education joint agreement" means
instructional, consultative, supervisory, administrative,
diagnostic, and related services that are managed by a special
educational joint agreement designed to service 2 or more

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school districts that are members of the joint agreement.
"PERA implementation date" means the implementation date
of an evaluation system for teachers as specified by Section
24A-2.5 of this Code for all schools within a school district
or all programs of a special education joint agreement.
(b) This Section and Sections 24-12 through 24-16 of this
Article apply only to school districts having less than
500,000 inhabitants.
(c) Any teacher who is first employed as a full-time
teacher in a school district or program prior to the PERA
implementation date and who is employed in that district or
program for a probationary period of 4 consecutive school
terms shall enter upon contractual continued service in the
district or in all of the programs that the teacher is legally
qualified to hold, unless the teacher is given written notice
of dismissal by certified mail, return receipt requested, by
the employing board at least 45 days before the end of any
school term within such period.
(d) For any teacher who is first employed as a full-time
teacher in a school district or program on or after the PERA
implementation date, the probationary period shall be one of
the following periods, based upon the teacher's school terms
of service and performance, before the teacher shall enter
upon contractual continued service in the district or in all
of the programs that the teacher is legally qualified to hold,
unless the teacher is given written notice of dismissal by

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certified mail, return receipt requested, by the employing
board at least 45 days before the end of any school term within
such period:
(1) 3 4 consecutive school terms of service in which
the teacher receives overall annual evaluation ratings of
at least "Proficient" in the last school term and at least
"Proficient" in either the second and or third school
terms term;
(2) 2 3 consecutive school terms of service in which
the teacher receives 2 3 overall annual evaluations of
"Excellent"; or
(3) 2 consecutive school terms of service in which the
teacher receives 2 overall annual evaluations of
"Excellent" service, but only if the teacher (i)
previously attained contractual continued service in a
different school district or program in this State, (ii)
voluntarily departed or was honorably dismissed from that
school district or program in the school term immediately
prior to the teacher's first school term of service
applicable to the attainment of contractual continued
service under this subdivision (3), and (iii) received, in
his or her 2 most recent overall annual or biennial
evaluations from the prior school district or program,
ratings of at least "Proficient", with both such ratings
occurring after the school district's or program's PERA
implementation date. For a teacher to attain contractual

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continued service under this subdivision (3), the teacher
shall provide official copies of his or her 2 most recent
overall annual or biennial evaluations from the prior
school district or program to the new school district or
program within 60 days from the teacher's first day of
service with the new school district or program. The prior
school district or program must provide the teacher with
official copies of his or her 2 most recent overall annual
or biennial evaluations within 14 days after the teacher's
request. If a teacher has requested such official copies
prior to 45 days after the teacher's first day of service
with the new school district or program and the teacher's
prior school district or program fails to provide the
teacher with the official copies required under this
subdivision (3), then the time period for the teacher to
submit the official copies to his or her new school
district or program must be extended until 14 days after
receipt of such copies from the prior school district or
program. If the prior school district or program fails to
provide the teacher with the official copies required
under this subdivision (3) within 90 days from the
teacher's first day of service with the new school
district or program, then the new school district or
program shall rely upon the teacher's own copies of his or
her evaluations for purposes of this subdivision (3).
If the teacher does not receive overall annual evaluations

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of "Excellent" in the school terms necessary for eligibility
to achieve accelerated contractual continued service in
subdivisions (2) and (3) of this subsection (d), the teacher
shall be eligible for contractual continued service pursuant
to subdivision (1) of this subsection (d). If, at the
conclusion of 4 consecutive school terms of service that count
toward attainment of contractual continued service, the
teacher's performance does not qualify the teacher for
contractual continued service under subdivision (1) of this
subsection (d), then the teacher shall not enter upon
contractual continued service and shall be dismissed. If a
performance evaluation is not conducted for any school term
when such evaluation is required to be conducted under Section
24A-5 of this Code, then the teacher's performance evaluation
rating for such school term for purposes of determining the
attainment of contractual continued service shall be deemed
"Proficient", except that, during any time in which the
Governor has declared a disaster due to a public health
emergency pursuant to Section 7 of the Illinois Emergency
Management Agency Act, this default to "Proficient" does not
apply to any teacher who has entered into contractual
continued service and who was deemed "Excellent" on his or her
most recent evaluation. During any time in which the Governor
has declared a disaster due to a public health emergency
pursuant to Section 7 of the Illinois Emergency Management
Agency Act and unless the school board and any exclusive

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bargaining representative have completed the performance
rating for teachers or mutually agreed to an alternate
performance rating, any teacher who has entered into
contractual continued service, whose most recent evaluation
was deemed "Excellent", and whose performance evaluation is
not conducted when the evaluation is required to be conducted
shall receive a teacher's performance rating deemed
"Excellent". A school board and any exclusive bargaining
representative may mutually agree to an alternate performance
rating for teachers not in contractual continued service
during any time in which the Governor has declared a disaster
due to a public health emergency pursuant to Section 7 of the
Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act, as long as the
agreement is in writing.
(e) For the purposes of determining contractual continued
service, a school term shall be counted only toward attainment
of contractual continued service if the teacher actually
teaches or is otherwise present and participating in the
district's or program's educational program for 120 days or
more, provided that the days of leave under the federal Family
Medical Leave Act that the teacher is required to take until
the end of the school term shall be considered days of teaching
or participation in the district's or program's educational
program. A school term that is not counted toward attainment
of contractual continued service shall not be considered a
break in service for purposes of determining whether a teacher

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has been employed for 4 consecutive school terms, provided
that the teacher actually teaches or is otherwise present and
participating in the district's or program's educational
program in the following school term.
(f) If the employing board determines to dismiss the
teacher in the last year of the probationary period as
provided in subsection (c) of this Section or subdivision (1)
or (2) of subsection (d) of this Section, but not subdivision
(3) of subsection (d) of this Section, the written notice of
dismissal provided by the employing board must contain
specific reasons for dismissal. Any full-time teacher who does
not receive written notice from the employing board at least
45 days before the end of any school term as provided in this
Section and whose performance does not require dismissal after
the fourth probationary year pursuant to subsection (d) of
this Section shall be re-employed for the following school
term.
(g) Contractual continued service shall continue in effect
the terms and provisions of the contract with the teacher
during the last school term of the probationary period,
subject to this Act and the lawful regulations of the
employing board. This Section and succeeding Sections do not
modify any existing power of the board except with respect to
the procedure of the discharge of a teacher and reductions in
salary as hereinafter provided. Contractual continued service
status shall not restrict the power of the board to transfer a

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teacher to a position which the teacher is qualified to fill or
to make such salary adjustments as it deems desirable, but
unless reductions in salary are uniform or based upon some
reasonable classification, any teacher whose salary is reduced
shall be entitled to a notice and a hearing as hereinafter
provided in the case of certain dismissals or removals.
(h) If, by reason of any change in the boundaries of school
districts, by reason of a special education cooperative
reorganization or dissolution in accordance with Section
10-22.31 of this Code, or by reason of the creation of a new
school district, the position held by any teacher having a
contractual continued service status is transferred from one
board to the control of a new or different board, then the
contractual continued service status of the teacher is not
thereby lost, and such new or different board is subject to
this Code with respect to the teacher in the same manner as if
the teacher were its employee and had been its employee during
the time the teacher was actually employed by the board from
whose control the position was transferred.
(i) The employment of any teacher in a program of a special
education joint agreement established under Section 3-15.14,
10-22.31 or 10-22.31a shall be governed by this and succeeding
Sections of this Article. For purposes of attaining and
maintaining contractual continued service and computing length
of continuing service as referred to in this Section and
Section 24-12, employment in a special educational joint

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program shall be deemed a continuation of all previous
licensed employment of such teacher for such joint agreement
whether the employer of the teacher was the joint agreement,
the regional superintendent, or one of the participating
districts in the joint agreement.
(j) For any teacher employed after July 1, 1987 as a
full-time teacher in a program of a special education joint
agreement, whether the program is operated by the joint
agreement or a member district on behalf of the joint
agreement, in the event of a reduction in the number of
programs or positions in the joint agreement in which the
notice of dismissal is provided on or before the end of the
2010-2011 school term, the teacher in contractual continued
service is eligible for employment in the joint agreement
programs for which the teacher is legally qualified in order
of greater length of continuing service in the joint
agreement, unless an alternative method of determining the
sequence of dismissal is established in a collective
bargaining agreement. For any teacher employed after July 1,
1987 as a full-time teacher in a program of a special education
joint agreement, whether the program is operated by the joint
agreement or a member district on behalf of the joint
agreement, in the event of a reduction in the number of
programs or positions in the joint agreement in which the
notice of dismissal is provided during the 2011-2012 school
term or a subsequent school term, the teacher shall be

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included on the honorable dismissal lists of all joint
agreement programs for positions for which the teacher is
qualified and is eligible for employment in such programs in
accordance with subsections (b) and (c) of Section 24-12 of
this Code and the applicable honorable dismissal policies of
the joint agreement.
(k) For any teacher employed after July 1, 1987 as a
full-time teacher in a program of a special education joint
agreement, whether the program is operated by the joint
agreement or a member district on behalf of the joint
agreement, in the event of the dissolution of a joint
agreement, in which the notice to teachers of the dissolution
is provided during the 2010-2011 school term, the teacher in
contractual continued service who is legally qualified shall
be assigned to any comparable position in a member district
currently held by a teacher who has not entered upon
contractual continued service or held by a teacher who has
entered upon contractual continued service with a shorter
length of contractual continued service. Any teacher employed
after July 1, 1987 as a full-time teacher in a program of a
special education joint agreement, whether the program is
operated by the joint agreement or a member district on behalf
of the joint agreement, in the event of the dissolution of a
joint agreement in which the notice to teachers of the
dissolution is provided during the 2011-2012 school term or a
subsequent school term, the teacher who is qualified shall be

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included on the order of honorable dismissal lists of each
member district and shall be assigned to any comparable
position in any such district in accordance with subsections
(b) and (c) of Section 24-12 of this Code and the applicable
honorable dismissal policies of each member district.
(l) The governing board of the joint agreement, or the
administrative district, if so authorized by the articles of
agreement of the joint agreement, rather than the board of
education of a school district, may carry out employment and
termination actions including dismissals under this Section
and Section 24-12.
(m) The employment of any teacher in a special education
program authorized by Section 14-1.01 through 14-14.01, or a
joint educational program established under Section 10-22.31a,
shall be under this and the succeeding Sections of this
Article, and such employment shall be deemed a continuation of
the previous employment of such teacher in any of the
participating districts, regardless of the participation of
other districts in the program.
(n) Any teacher employed as a full-time teacher in a
special education program prior to September 23, 1987 in which
2 or more school districts participate for a probationary
period of 2 consecutive years shall enter upon contractual
continued service in each of the participating districts,
subject to this and the succeeding Sections of this Article,
and, notwithstanding Section 24-1.5 of this Code, in the event

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of the termination of the program shall be eligible for any
vacant position in any of such districts for which such
teacher is qualified.
(Source: P.A. 101-643, eff. 6-18-20; 102-552, eff. 1-1-22;
102-854, eff. 5-13-22.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1,
2023.