What will happen if U-46 waivers to state rules are approved
A recent document provided to Elgin Teachers Association members sheds light on what changes Elgin Area School District U-46 plans to implement next fall if waivers from education mandates are granted by the state.
The school board Monday night voted unanimously to apply for three 5-year waivers from state rules governing bilingual class sizes, driver's education and teacher evaluation procedures.
Currently, state law caps bilingual classes at 90 percent of a district's average general education student-teacher ratio.
Drivers education students are required to log six hours of behind-the-wheel training during class. And teachers can be graded as "unsatisfactory," "satisfactory" and "excellent" on evaluations.
According to district lawyer Pat Broncato's memo of modifications, if the state approves the waiver requests this spring, U-46 would move to increase bilingual class sizes to that of the average student-teacher ratio in general education classes, now 25:1 for kindergarten through second grades and 28:1 for third through sixth grades.
The average class size for bilingual students, this year, is 21.6 students per teacher.
"The cost of complying with (the state board of education's) rules and regulations for bilingual education has annually exceeded the dollars allocated for bilingual education in School District U-46, and the further reduction in state funding for bilingual education makes it unduly burdensome to require the District to continue to comply with this particular ... regulation," the memo noted.
With 19.9 percent of students in the district new to English, the move is expected to save $500,000.
If the driver's education waiver request is approved, U-46 students would use driving simulators for a portion of the time, instead of just behind-the-wheel training.
The district also is seeking a waiver to replace the current teacher ratings with "unsatisfactory," "basic," "proficient" and "distinguished." The change, district officials say, would better work with U-46's new teacher evaluation system and "more accurately describe teacher performance."
Districts across the state routinely ask for waivers and modifications to the school code each year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education. Since 1995, there have been 5,751 requests. More than 5,100 have been approved.
Waivers for driver's education programs are frequent, but not a single Illinois district has applied for a change to English language class-size caps, state board spokeswoman Mary Fergus said.
Teachers union members have publicly backed the teacher evaluation waiver but opposed the bilingual and driver education waivers. No parents have spoken out against the changes, district spokesman Tony Sanders said.
Before Monday's meeting, district administrators removed three proposed waiver requests from board consideration.
The waivers would have allowed the district to: stop busing students who live less than 2 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.
Sanders said the waivers were removed after the district received comments from employee groups.
"We determined we should work more closely with our unions before we bring those to the board again," he said.
Officials also felt the likelihood of the other three waivers getting approved was not strong, Sanders said.
The next opportunity to consider the other three waivers, Sanders said, would be over the summer in advance of the General Assembly's veto session. "I don't believe they'll be brought back at this time," he said.