Waivers

(revised April 2012)

Application Deadlines for requests to be submitted to the General Assembly:*

bullet The postmark deadline for the Fall 2012 Waiver Report is Friday, August 17, 2012.

bullet The postmark deadline for the Spring 2013 Waiver Report is Friday, January 18, 2013.

*EXCEPTIONS:

bullet Applications for modifications of the School Code, or for waivers or modifications of the State Board’s administrative rules are not subject to the postmark deadlines for waivers of the School Code. However, in all cases approvals for any of these requests must be granted before the request can be implemented.

Please Note: The process for applying for a modification of the School Code, a waiver of State Board rules, or a modification of State Board rules is exactly the same process as the one used in applying for a waiver of a School Code mandate.

If you have any questions about the type of request you will be submitting, please call the Rules and Waivers division at (217) 782-5270, or email them at waivers@isbe.net.



Waivers and modifications no longer needed for legal school holiday requests, most parent-teacher conference schedules



Holiday modifications

Since 1998 the State Board of Education (ISBE) has recommended that Section 24-2 of the School Code be changed to accommodate the needs of districts and other applicants to use legal school holidays for other purposes without having to submit a modification request to and obtain the approval of ISBE. With the enactment of Public Act 96-640 these changes can now be made at the local level with no need to use the waiver/modification law. P.A. 96-640 was enacted on August 24, 2009, and takes effect immediately. This Act provides that a school board or other eligible entity is authorized to hold school or schedule teachers’ institutes, parent-teacher conferences, or staff development activities (including school improvement and inservice training) on the following legal school holidays:

The school board or other applicant is authorized to take these actions provided that (1) the person/persons honored by the holiday are recognized through instructional activities conducted on that day or, if the day is not used for student attendance, on the first school day preceding or following that day; and (2) the entity choosing to exercise this authority first holds a public hearing about the proposal. The school board or other applicant shall provide notice preceding the public hearing to both educators and parents, setting forth the time, date, and place of the hearing; describing the proposal; and indicating that testimony from educators and parents will be taken about the proposal during the public hearing. Again, there is no longer a need to then submit these materials to ISBE for approval.

Applicants should also note that Public Act 96-0084, which took effect on July 27, 2009, requires that a school holding any kind of event at the school on November 11, Veterans’ Day, must include a moment of silence at that event to recognize veterans of foreign wars. The public act can be viewed at: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=096-0084&GA=096

Please note that holiday modifications currently in effect are not altered by P.A. 96-640. Such modifications will remain in effect until they expire.

Instructions for coding the public school calendar will be available soon.

Parent-teacher conference waivers

For several years the State Board also has recommended that Section 18-8.05(F)(2)(d)(1) of the School Code be amended to allow applicants more flexible scheduling options for parent-teacher conferences without the need to submit a waiver request. Public Act 96-640 changes the School Code to allow a school district or other eligible entities to count as a full-day, parent-teacher conference, any of the following configurations:

If an applicant wants to employ a full-day conference configuration not covered by the language above, the applicant will need to submit a waiver to the General Assembly for its consideration.

As a reminder, full-day parent-teacher conference days cannot be considered for computing average daily attendance.

Please note that waivers for parent-teacher conferences currently in effect are not altered by P.A. 96-640. Such waivers will remain in effect until they expire.

Here is the link to P.A. 96-640: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=096-0640&GA=096

If you have any questions on the new law, contact the Rules and Waivers Division at (217) 782-5270 or by e-mail at waivers@isbe.net.

Getting Started

Before starting the waiver process, each applicant should carefully review requirements outlined in the “Overview for Waiver Process” found at http://www.isbe.net/isbewaivers/html/overview.htm.

Any application not meeting all of the requirements of the law will not be considered and will be returned to the applicant as ineligible.

Use the documents below to understand the waiver process and prepare a complete application. Simply click on the hyperlink below to go to the desired web page. If you have any questions, please contact the Rules and Waivers Division at (217) 782-5270 or by email at Waivers.