Hopefully an unusually cool and wet summer has left us all refreshed, ready, and excited to begin the new school year. With this issue, we welcome you back to what promises to be another year of challenges facing all Illinois school districts.
We look forward to working together with our statewide client family in meeting those challenges and keeping all of our readers up to date through the Extra Mile. This issue celebrates the second anniversary of launching the new electronic format of the Extra Mile.
Attached with this issue is a handy form for you to use to receive the email edition, or you can simply visit www.hlerk.com to sign up. Recipients of the email edition receive breaking legal developments up to two weeks before the hard copy.
As we enter the new school year, school districts continue to face the ongoing state financial crisis as the Illinois legislature’s efforts to address “pension reform” are tied up in the courts. While “sequestration” of federal moneys has ended, Congress has adjourned without passing legislation on education funding or reauthorization of the two major federal education laws, IDEA and No Child Left Behind. HLERK is hard at work with your professional organization, the National School Boards Association in preparing for IDEA reauthorization which may occur after the November elections.
And, of course, school districts, like most employers, will be facing implementation issues under the Affordable Care Act as the Obama administration adjusts the effective dates for key provisions of the law and judicial challenges to various provisions of the law proliferate.
In this remarkably complex and ever changing legal environment, HLERK is looking forward to continuing to serve your professional organizations at the local, state, and national level. First and foremost are the IASA conferences, The Year in Review: The Highlights and Lowlights of Illinois School Law 2014. Online registration is open at www.iasaedu.org.
Dates and Locations are:
October 1, 2014 — O’Fallon
October 14, 2014 — Peoria
October 22, 2014 — Oak Brook
IASA expects each location to close based on overwhelming demand, please register early to assure your attendance at these vital conferences. Each program features the famed “stump the lawyer” Q&A so take your best shot at your favorite HLERK attorney!
Bennett Rodick, recipient of the Vuillemot Award for Educational Leadership, joinedMichelle Todd at the Illinois Alliance of Administrators of Special Education’s Executive Board meeting in Springfield on August 6th as part of the ISBE Special Education Director’s Conference. HLERK’s Legal Update to the Executive Board is available at www.iaase.org. That same day found Rob Swain joining ISBE’s Chief Legal Counsel, Nicki Bazer at the Loyola University Chicago’s Education and Policy Law Institute and Illinois State Board of Education’s School Discipline Workshop.
Michelle, Bennett, and a variety of HLERK attorneys will be in attendance at the IAASE’s Executive Board meeting and Fall Conference on September 24-26. HLERK will, as always, co-sponsor the Conference’s Rush Hour Social. Visitwww.iaase.org for information and registration. HLERK thanks IAASE’s President-Elect Dr. Lea Anne Frost for organizing what promises to be a remarkable conference. HLERK is privileged to have served as IAASE’s legal counsel since the organization’s inception.
October will find HLERK again co-sponsoring the Lake County Superintendent’sLeadership Conference at beautiful Eagle Ridge Resort in Galena. Registration remains open but please register soon in order to assure yourself attendance. HLERK will hold a reception for Conference attendees. Visit www.lcsupts.org for information and registration.
In November, HLERK will have its usual prominent presence at the IASB/IASA/IASBO Joint Conference in Chicago. HLERK clients and friends will soon receive a “save the date” memo for a very special reception the Friday evening of the Joint Conference.
All of us at HLERK wish you an educationally successful and fulfilling year free from legal concerns. It is our fervent hope and desire that our on-going mission of service to the educational community assists you in meeting that goal.
Thanks for reading the Extra Mile.
