U-46 hopes rule waivers will save money

Hoping to shrink a $53.5 million budget gap, Elgin Area School District U-46 will seek waivers from state rules governing driver's education, bilingual classes and teacher evaluations.

The U-46 school board voted unanimously to apply for the waivers following a public hearing on the matter Monday night.

While district leaders haven't said exactly what changes they will recommend if the waivers are granted, officials said Monday the waivers would give the district more flexibility in complying with unfunded state mandates.

"The deficit that we're facing will not by fixed without some pain," board President Ken Kaczynski said. "We have to continue to look for what's appropriate and what protects the mission of the school district."

The driver's education waiver would exempt the district from state rules requiring student drivers to log six hours of behind-the-wheel training. Instead, U-46 would have the option of using a driving simulator for part of that time.

The bilingual waiver would allow the district to have bilingual classes that are as large as general education classes, saving the district an estimated $500,000. Current state rules require smaller class sizes for English language learners.

The district also is seeking a waiver to allow it to change the procedure the district currently uses to evaluate certified teachers. The change would replace the current teacher ratings of "unsatisfactory," "satisfactory" and "excellent," with "unsatisfactory," "basic," "proficient" and "distinguished."

About 100 people attended Monday's public hearing, although only representatives of the district's teachers union spoke, backing the teacher evaluation waiver and opposing waivers for bilingual and driver's education.

Before the meeting, district administrators removed three proposed waiver requests from board consideration.

The waivers would have allowed the district to stop bussing students who live less than two miles from a school; hire contractors that don't offer benefits comparable to district unions and reduce hours for support staff without issuing formal notice.

The requests approved by the board on Monday will be submitted to the Illinois State Board of Education. The Illinois General Assembly is set to take action on the waivers this spring.

Waivers: Administrators nix three other requests before meeting