FOREST PARK PUBLI C SCH OOL DI STRI CT 91

TO: FROM: SUBJECT: DATE: CC:

JEAN LOTUS, EDITOR, FOREST PARK REVIEW LOU CAVALLO, SUPERINTENDENT SUMMARY OF LEGAL PROCEDURES FOR HIGH SCHOOL OPTIONS 11/ 5/ 2013

Attached you will find two memos from the law firm of Scariano, H imes and Petrarca that detail the legal procedures necessary for detaching from District 209 and forming a unit district or attaching to another high school district. Upon receiving the memos from the attorney, thought was given to how this information would be provided to the community and to whether or not this would be addressed by the board. After careful consideration, it was determined that we should simply provide the information to the community to provide factual information about an education issue of interest to the community. This issue, however, is not a District 91 Board of Education issue and no discussion or action is planned. This information is provided solely for the purpose of providing factual information on a topic that is of high interest in the community. N o recommendation is being made by me or by District 91 regarding these options. A. The first memo describes the process for detaching and forming a unit district (District 91 would become a pre K 12 district). With this option, the petitioning party would need to be successful with the petitioning, be issued an affirmative decision from the West Cook I ntermediate Service Center Board, obtain approval from the State Superintendent and make it through the likely court review. I f successful with those steps, a subsequent referendum would need to be passed by all of the District 209 territory. Since the District 91 territory represents 15% of the equalized assessed valuation of District 209 (more than 8%), the referendum would have to be passed by a majority of voters from the entire District 209 territory. B. The second option is to detach from District 209 and annex to another district that is congruent with Forest Park. The options for Forest Park are Oak Park River Forest District 200, Morton District 201 or RiversideBrookfield District 208. I n the memos from the law firm, District 200 is used as an example. The first step would require obtaining a petition. There are three petitioning options to choose from: 1) A petitioning committee of ten would need to petition the voters in Forest Park (the territory to be detached) and obtain a two-thirds vote on the petition; 2) The petitioning committee of ten would need to get approval from the boards of education of District 209 and the

annexing high school district; or 3) The petitioning committee would need to get approval from a majority of the voters in all of District 209 territory and the entire annexing high school district territory. I f the petitioning committee was successful in getting a majority vote on the petition, the Proviso Township Trustees of Schools would hear the petition, as well as the board of education from the high school district to which annexation is being sought. The Proviso Township Trustees of Schools is not the District 209 Board of Education. Both boards would conduct a joint hearing and then vote separately. I f either board does not approve the petition with a majority vote, then the petition is not approved. I f either board does not approve the petition, the decision can be appealed to the Cook County Circuit Court. I n the attached memo from Scariano, H imes and Petrarca, the grounds for granting the petition are outlined. The petitioning committee would need to consider which argument for detachment and annexation is most likely to be successful if the interested party wishes to pursue this option. Either option, if successful, would compel a higher tax rate for the citizens of Forest Park.

SCARIANO, HIMES AND PETRARCA

ATTORNEYS AT LAW CHARTERED

October 14, 2013

TWO PRUDENTIAL PLAZA, SUITE 3100 180 NORTH STETSON CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60601-6702 312-565-3100.800-820-3101 FACSIMILE 312-565-0000 WWWEDLAWYER.COM

Dr. Louis Cavallo Superintendent of Schools Forest Park Public School District No. 91 424 DesPlaines Avenue Forest Park, IL 60130 Re:
Procedure for Forming a Unit School District

Dear Dr. Cavallo: You have inquired about whether the area that comprises Forest Park School District No. 91 ("Territory") can be converted into a unit school district. Section 11E-25 of the School Code provides that any contiguous and compact territory that is not already part of a unit school district can be organized into a unit school district. The following is a description of the process for creating a unit school district.
I. Petition Requirements

Pursuant to Section llE-35 of the School Code, a petition has to be filed with the Regional Superintendent of Schools. Since the Office of the Cook County Regional Superintendent of Schools has been abolished, Section 2-3.62 of the School Code provides that the Cook County Educational Service Centers shall perform the duties and responsibilities of the Regional Superintendent. The area of the Territory is under the jurisdiction of the West Suburban Cook Intermediate Service Center ("West Cook Service Center"). There are two ways to initiate a petition. The petition has to be signed by at least 50 voters of the Territory or it has to be approved by the Boards of Education of District No. 209 as well as that of your District. It is unlikely that the Board of Education of District No. 209 would approve a petition. The petition has to request that the question of forming a unit district be submitted to a referendum vote. The petition may, but does not have to, request that a school board be elected at the same election and/or request that the issuance of bonds also be voted upon at the election. The petition has to state the maximum tax rates for the new unit district and how assets and liabilities from District No. 209 will be allocated. The petition also has to name a committee of ten petitioners who can act on behalf of all of the petitioners.

Dr. Louis Cavallo October 14, 2013 Page 2

The petition is reviewed by the West Cook Service Center to determine whether it meets the statutory requirements and whether the signatures of the petitioners are those of registered voters who reside in the Territory. The West Suburban Service Center has to inform the Committee of Ten as to whether the petition is proper. If it determines that the petition is not proper it must specify the defects and make recommendations on how to cure the defects. The Committee ofTen may amend the petition to cure any defects.
II. Notice Requirements

The West Suburban Service Center must publish a notice in a newspaper that is distributed within the Territory advising that a petition has been filed and that a hearing will be conducted. The notice also has to advise residents that there will be a referendum if the petition is approved. If board members will be elected at the same time or a proposition to sell bonds will be considered at the election the notice has to provide information regarding those also. The notice has to be published once a week for three successive weeks.
III. Hearing

The West Suburban Service Center has to conduct a hearing on the petition within 15 days of when the last notice is published. Prior to the hearing the Committee of Ten has to submit maps showing the area involved and any other information the Committee feels is pertinent. At the hearing, the Committee of Ten must present evidence of the school needs and conditions of the area covered by the petition and the ability of the proposed unit district to meet State standards of recognition. They must also present a proposal for the division of the funds and assets of District No. 209 and a description of the maximum tax rates the proposed district will be authorized to levy. Any resident of your District or District No. 209 and any representative of either District can testify at the hearing. In ruling on the petition, the West Suburban Service Center is to consider the best interests of the schools of the area, the school needs and conditions of the affected schools, the division of funds and assets that will result and the best interests and the educational welfare of the pupils of both Districts. The West Suburban Service Center has to issue a decision within 14 days after the conclusion of the hearing.

Dr. Louis Cavallo October 14, 2013 Page 3 After the West Suburban Service Center rules on the petition, it must send the hearing record to the State Superintendent of Education, who must review the hearing record and consider the same things that the West Suburban Service Center had to consider. The State Superintendent must approve or deny the petition within 21 days of receiving the hearing record. He must state the basis for a denial in writing.

IV.

Court Review

The School Boards of the District or District No. 209, any petitioner, or any resident of the Territory who appeared at the hearing may appeal the State Superintendent's decision to the Circuit Court of Cook County within 35 calendar days of when a copy ofthe decision was served on them. The filing of a complaint to review the State Superintendent's decision operates as a stay on any further proceedings to form a unit district.
V. Referendum

If the petition is approved by the State Superintendent, or subsequently by a court if the State Superintendent's decision is reviewed, a referendum as described above will be conducted. A referendum to form a unit district is approved if a majority of the registered voters from the Territory who vote on it approve it. However, a majority of voters from District No. 209 also has to approve the referendum if a) the Territory is at least 25% of the total land area of District No. 209, b) more than 8% of District No. 209's enrollment comes from the Territory, or, c) more than 8% of the equalized assessed valuation of District No. 209 is from the Territory. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding the process for forming a unit school district. Very truly yours, SCARIANO, HIMES AND PETRARCA, CHTD.

ALAN M. MULLINS AMM/ksm cc: Justino D. Petrarca, Esq.
g:\common\sd0\sd09lc\ltr\cavallo 10-7-13.doc

SCARIANO, HIMES AND PETRARCA

ATTORNEYS AT LAW CHARTERED

October 14, 2013

TWO PRUDENTIAL PLAZA, SUITE 3100 180 NORTH STETSON CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60601-6702 312-565-3100.800-820-3101 FACSIMILE 312-565-0000 WWW.EDLAWYER.COM

Dr. Louis Cavallo Superintendent of Schools Forest Park Public School District No. 91 424 DesPlaines Avenue Forest Park, IL 60130 Re:

Procedure for Detaching the Territory of School District No. 91 from Proviso Township High School District No. 209 and Annexing It to Oak Park/River Forest High School District No. 200

Dear Dr. Cavallo: You have inquired about the procedure for detaching the territory covered by Forest Park School District No. 91 ("Territory") from Proviso Township High School District No. 209 and annexing it to Oak Park/River Forest High School District No. 200. The following is a description of the different components of the detachment/annexation process.

I.

The Boards That Would Consider A Detachment Petition

Prior to the abolishment of the Cook County Regional Board of School Trustees, a petition to detach the Territory from District No. 209 and annex it to District No. 200 would have been heard by the Regional Board. Because the Regional Board has been abolished, Section 704 of the School Code provides that detachment petitions in Cook County are heard by the Trustees of Schools of the township in which any school district that would be affected by the petition is located. The Territory is located in Proviso Township so the Proviso Township Trustees of Schools would hear the petition. The petition would seek annexation to District No. 200 so the Township Trustees responsible for that District would also hear the petition. However, a specral prov1s10n was written into Section 5-1 of the School Code that allowed the Board of Education of District No. 200 to withdraw from the jurisdiction of the Cicero Township School Trustees. Section 7-04 of the School Code provides that in that situation the Board of Education of District No. 200 shall also hear the petition.

Dr. Louis Cavallo October 14,2013 Page 2 The Proviso Township Trustees and the District No. 200 Board of Education would conduct a joint hearing on the petition but would vote on it separately. A majority of the Trustees and a majority of the Board of Education each have to approve the petition for it to be granted. The petition is not approved if a majority of either the Trustees or the Board of Education do not approve it even if when the number of Trustees and Board members are added the petition received a majority of the votes cast. The first question is whether the Trustees or the Board of Education would deny the petition for political reasons.
II. The Petition

Pursuant to Section 7-2 of the School Code, there are three forms of a detachment petition. By agreement, a petition can be approved by the Boards of Education of District No. 209 and District No. 200. That is probably unlikely, so a petition would have to be signed by a majority of the voters from each District No. 209 and District No. 200, or more likely, signed by two-thirds of the voters residing in the Territory. A committee of ten of the petitioners must be named to act on behalf of all of the petitioners. The petition is filed with the Proviso Trustees and a certified copy of it has to be filed with the District No. 200 Board of Education.

III.

Grounds for Granting the Petition

There are a number of technical requirements that must be met and the District should have no problem meeting them. Beyond those, the standard for granting a petition is whether the overall benefit to District No. 200 and the Territory will outweigh the resulting detriment to District No. 209. Typically, there are three major issues in school detachment hearings. First, the school district that will lose the territory usually argues that it will be harmed by the loss of tax revenue. However, for that argument to have any success, the loss of revenue must be substantial in comparison to the tax revenue received by District No. 209, and District No. 209 has to be levying at is maximum rate. Usually, the biggest issue in detachment hearings is whether the students from the detachment area will receive some educational benefit from attending the annexing school district that they do not receive from their current school district. The best evidence of that shows that the school district to which annexation is sought offers an educational program, courses or services that the school the students currently attend does not offer. Most times the petitioners compare the State report cards of the two schools and argue that since the annexing school has a higher percentage of students who meet or exceed State standards, students from the detaching area will receive a better education there. However, it is difficult to support that argument unless the student populations of the two schools are very similar. Usually the school the petitioners want to detach from has a higher percentage of at-risk or another class of students who do not perform as well on standardized tests as other students and that, not the quality of the educational program, explains the lower percentage of students who meet State standards.

Dr. Louis Cavallo October 14, 2013 Page 3

The third issue is whether the students from the detachment area have a community of interest with the area that includes the annexing school district so that attending school at the annexing school district would improve their community of interest. Under this theory, the petitioners have to show most of the students' non-school activities, such as little league, soccer, Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts, music lessons, ballet, etc. occur in an area that includes the school district to which they seek annexation. The community of interest also includes where the students attend church. The petitioners have to show more than where the student's community of interest is located; they have to show there are activities or interests in which students would like to participate but cannot because of where they attend school and that they would participate in those activities or interests if they attend the annexing district.

IV.

Appeal of the Decision

The decisions of the Trustees and the Board of Education of District No. 200 can be appealed by any resident of the Territory who appears at the hearing, any petitioner, or the Boards of Education of District No. 209 or District No. 200. The decisions can be appealed by filing a complaint for Administrative Review with the Cook County Circuit Court. The entire detachment process, from gathering petitions to getting a decision from a circuit court on administrative review typically takes somewhere around two years. The circuit court decision can be appealed to an appellate court, which would add approximately a year and a half to the process. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding the detachment process. Very truly yours, SCARIANO, HIMES AND PETRARCA, CHTD.

AMM/ksm cc: Justino D. Petrarca, Esq.
g:\wp51 \common\sd0\sd091 c\ltr\cavallo I 0-2-13.doc

ALAN M. MULLINS