|
UNFUNDED OR UNDERFUNDED MANDATES
Compiled for SCOPE by Ed Wahl
The following is a list of mandates for public schools. Either the State of Illinois or the Federal government mandates these requirements. SCOPE understands that many of the mandates are a necessary part of what should be done in the field of education but it is imperative that the community is aware of how extensive the list has become. Furthermore, despite an Illinois law requiring that the legislature not pass any new mandates which are not fully funded, whenever it wishes to do so, it simply designates the new mandate as “exempt” from that law, adding it to the list of things that must be paid from local property taxes.
Mandates List:
Public schools in the State of Illinois must teach the following:
- provide a standards-based instructional program in math, reading, social studies, fine arts, science, writing and other areas specified by ISBE. All schools must also teach: good nutrition; CPR; first-aid; drug/alcohol/tobacco abuse prevention; civic responsibility; sex education; bicycle/pedestrian/bus safety; daily physical fitness; consumer education; humanness and individual responsibility; good health care and AIDS prevention; driver training; principles of free enterprise; manners and etiquette; vocational training; economic awareness; Holocaust history/Black history/Women’s history; management of money, property and resources; and pride in work.
In addition, Illinois Public Schools must also:
- Give specialized instruction for the hard of hearing, the blind, and the neurologically impaired in the “least restrictive environment”.
- Teach gifted students
- Conduct eye testing
- Give inoculations
- Provide pregnancy counseling
- Instill morals, ethics, and values while avoiding any mention of religion
- Search for and exclude all items defined as weapons
- Help students develop political awareness and know-how
- Dispense surplus milk and other commodities
- Perform job placement, provide career information and develop work skills
- Provide counseling and psychological services for grief and conflict assistance
- Assist with bilingual language development and assistance in translation for non-English speaking students
- Counsel delinquents
- Provide transportation
- Follow due process
- Protect student privacy
- Provide computer literacy
- Eliminate sexual discrimination and harassment for students and staff
- Prohibit smoking anywhere on school grounds
- Assist in bladder control
- Develop the ability to reason
- Provide suicide counseling
- Maintain birth information and age certification data
- Close school for selected ethnic and national holidays
- Maintain often extremely costly programs to manage or remove asbestos, lead and pesticides – including notices to the community.
- Foster integration
- Ensure civil rights and racial tolerance
- Detect and report child abuse
- Eradicate head lice, scabies and other diseases
- Assist in charity fundraising
- Serve hot lunch and breakfast
- Develop an appreciation of other people and cultures
- Build patriotism and loyalty to the ideals of democracy
- Build respect for the worth and dignity of the individual
- Involve parents in the creation and review of student discipline policies
- Promote an understanding of the heritage of our country
- Train all staff and provide protection from blood-borne diseases
- Provide individual tutors for students who are hospitalized or recovering at home
- Abide by conflicting state and federal accounting standards
- Develop curiosity and a thirst for learning
- Develop skills in the use of leisure time
- Build a feeling of self-worth or self-respect
- Meet all life safety code provision for school facilities
- Retain student records for 60 years
- Administer ISAT and IGAP tests in accordance with ever-changing rules
- Account to the penny for the spending of federal funds
- Pay for criminal background investigations for all staff
|
