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Since the change in the law providing for school board candidate filings to be handled by the County Clerk rather than at the local school districts, the Cook County Clerk has been able to handle the volume of filings by using multiple sites in the suburbs, as well as the Clerk’s central office in Chicago. …

On September 20, 2018, the Illinois Supreme Court issued its much-anticipated decision in Oswald v. Hamer, a lawsuit challenging the facial constitutionality of Section 15-86 of the Property Tax Code, the nonprofit hospital property tax exemption legislation enacted by the General Assembly in 2012.   That section created a new test for tax exemptions -weighing…

This morning, the United States Supreme Court issued its anticipated decision regarding fair share agreements and the related deductions from the wages of public sector employees.  (Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31, et al.)  The Court determined that an “agency fee” or “closed shop” which compels payment to a…

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has released long awaited updated guidance on medication administration in schools which can be found at https://www.isbe.net/Documents/Guidance-on-Medication-June-2018.pdf The new guidance gives school districts 13 points to include in their school medication polices: (1)    a Registered Nurse (“RN”) should begin the process of reviewing any request to administer medication at school;…

On April 20, 2018, the U.S. Department of Education released a Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQ”) document relating to the privacy of student-identifying photographs and surveillance videos.  The FAQ, located here, addresses multiple aspects of the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”). As to whether photographs or videos could be considered “education records” or student records,…

Under the Illinois School Student Records Act (“ISSRA”), certain school student records information, called “directory information,” which includes student names, addresses and other information as identified by the Illinois State Board of Education (“ISBE”), can only be released in accordance with ISBE rules.  Under the ISBE rules, unless a parent requests that some or all…