LM January 2017

2017 brings hope and trepidation

As the calendar flips to 2017, those of us in public education view the new year with equal parts hope and trepidation. The hope is based on the fact that things can’t get much worse (can they?) in terms of the political impasse in Illinois. Also somewhat encouraging is the fact that Senate Democrats and Republicans agreed on a “grand bargain” package that includes tax hikes, pension reform, a two-year property tax freeze, unfunded mandate relief, and term limits. Who knows how that framework will fly in the House or with the governor. The stark reality is that our state will continue to deteriorate if the political leaders fail to reach a compromise that produces a budget and new revenues to help counter the daily fiscal hemorrhaging that is occurring.

Message from the Executive Director Dr. Brent Clark

Even against that backdrop, some good things are happening. Governor Bruce Rauner on January 6 signed into law Senate Bill 2912 (now Public Act 99-0920) , a measure that has the potential to help alleviate the critical shortage of substitute teachers in our state. Streamlining the licensure process and reciprocity with other states was one of the goals of Vision 20/20 and we appreciate the support of co-sponsors retiring Sen. Dave Luechtefeld (R-Okawville) and Rep. Fred Crespo (D-Hoffman Estates) as well as Governor Rauner signing the bill into law. The new law creates a one-year grace period for retired teachers with lapsed licenses to immediately begin substitute teaching while they bring their license into good standing. It also allows educators who retire in mid- cycle of their license renewal to become substitute teachers instead of having their licenses lapse as they did before SB 2912 became law.

Additionally, this new law creates a provisional in-state endorsement to allow one additional year to pass the edTPA while continuing to be able to teach if the candidates have met all other requirements. Finally, SB 2912 cuts the license fee for substitute teachers in half, from $100 to $50. All of these provisions should help increase the pool of teachers and substitute teachers while maintaining our state’s high teaching standards in the classroom. SB 2912 also contains provisions for reciprocity across state lines, which should help deepen the candidate pool, especially for school districts in the border counties in Illinois—and 40 of our 102 counties are border counties. With the signing of SB 2912,

the process for educators licensed in other states will be streamlined, enabling ISBE to grant licenses based on comparable out-of-state licenses and also applying content-area tests from other states for out-of-state licensees seeking an Illinois license. I know of one case in the Metro East area where a school district found the perfect candidate—a principal in a St. Louis school, right across the Mississippi River—for a principal’s position but could not hire the person because he received his license in Missouri. Even though this person had excellent education, background and experience, the school district could not wait as long as it would have taken for the candidate to complete the process to get an Illinois license. This new law will alleviate that sort of problem by applying common sense to the situation and recognizing comparable out-of-state licenses for teachers and other educators.

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