Opinion ID: 3134872
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Board’s Authority to Lay Off Tenured Teachers

Text: Before the circuit court and the appellate court, the plaintiffs claimed that because the Board’s layoff power is limited by the “except as otherwise provided” language of section 34–18, and because section 34–85 provides “otherwise,” their layoffs are entirely unlawful and void. The appellate court formulated the issue as “whether the legislature intended sections 34–84 and 34–85 to be exceptions to the layoff provision provided in 34–18(31).” 325 Ill. App. 3d at 303. We agree with the appellate court’s conclusion that these two separate statutory provisions may both be given effect without violating the plain language of the statute or ignoring legislative intent. The Board had the power to lay off tenured teachers prior to the 1995 amendments. Indeed, it has long been established that among the unenumerated powers of the Board was the authority “to lay off employees in good faith for lack of work or purposes of economy.” Perlin v. Board of Education of the City of Chicago , 86 Ill. App. 3d 108, 112 (1980) (citing Kennedy v. City of Joliet , 380 Ill. 15 (1942), Thomas v. City of Chicago , 273 Ill. 479 (1916), and Fitzsimmons v. O’Neill , 214 Ill. 494 (1905)). Prior to 1995, limits on that power were set out in section 34–84, which permitted the Board, under certain circumstances, to designate teachers as “reserve teachers” (see 105 ILCS 5/34–1.1 (West 1994)) and to honorably terminate such teachers from service after 25 months (105 ILCS 5/34–84 (West 1994)). The 1995 amendments did not eliminate or reduce this power. Instead, by deleting the layoff provision from section 34–84 and adding section 34–18(31), the legislature gave the Board the authority to formulate and implement its own rules and procedures regarding layoffs rather than binding the Board to a legislatively mandated procedure. We, therefore, affirm that portion of the appellate court judgment holding that sections 34–84 and 34–85 do not exempt tenured teachers from layoff.