Practice News

In the latest ISBA Education Law newsletter, authors describe a pair of U.S. Supreme Court cases from last term in which students prevailed over their local school districts. In Forest Grove School District v. T.A., the high court held that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act lets parents recover the cost putting their child in private school even though the student didn't previously receive special ed through the public school. "It is now clear that whether or not a child has been identified as eligible for special education services, IDEA’s provisions can afford parents an opportunity to seek recovery of their costs in placing their child in a private school by claiming that the public school district failed to provide their child with a free, appropriate public education and that the private school is providing an appropriate specialized program and services," wrote Mary Kay Klimesh in her article about the case. And in Safford Unified School District v. Redding, the Court found that a strip search of a 13-year-old girl violated the Fourth Amendment. "The lesson here," writes Phil Milsk, "is that strip and body cavity searches in the schools should be used only in the rarest of occasions when there is reasonable suspicion to believe that a student is actually hiding contraband in their clothing or body cavities." Read his full summary and analysis.

From the Supreme Court: The Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism broke new ground during 2008 with a watershed lawyer-to-lawyer mentoring program for new attorneys in the 17th Judicial Circuit. That is one highlight of the Commission's annual report, approved this week by the Illinois Supreme Court during its September term. The full report will be disseminated widely across the state to members of the bench, the bar and to legal organizations. The pilot mentoring program in collaboration with the 17thCircuit, which includes Winnebago and Boone counties, pairs every newly admitted lawyer with a more experienced lawyer for a year-long structured apprenticeship. Under the leadership of Chief Judge Janet Holmgren, the 17th Judicial Circuit also has created a Peer Review Council composed of members of the Winnebago and Boone County Bar Associations to review complaints against lawyers and judges whose behavior violates the voluntary code of conduct, Statement of Professional Aspirations, adopted by that legal community the prior year.

Gov. Pat Quinn announced Wednesday he is restoring $16 million to the budget of the Illinois Supreme Court to aid probationary services in the state, which had been cut 44 percent in the current budget. Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas R. Fitzgerald expressed gratitude to the governor. Earlier this month, the Chief Justice had written to the Governor, urging restoration of funds for the sake of public safety. He and Administrative Director Cynthia Y. Cobbs of the Illinois Courts also had met with the Governor's chief of staff to discuss restoration of funds. "I am grateful to the Governor for the consideration he has given to restoring badly needed funds for statewide probation services," the Chief Justice said. "The partial restoration will help probation officers around the state in supervising the thousands of defendants placed on probation each year."

Public Act 96-555 increases the fee for any entity or lobbyist that wishes to lobby in Springfield from $350 to $1,000. Not-for-profits that are Sec. 501(c)(3) corporations were increased from $150 to $1,000. Quite a hit for State Farm, the Red Cross and the United Way, ISBA, or anyone else before being allowed to petition our own government.