HB0813 Summary

• Amends the School Code Section 7-04 to replace township trustees and school boards with a hearing panel for proceedings involving boundary changes (detachment, annexation, division, dissolution) in educational service regions with 2,000,000 or more inhabitants.

• Establishes a 3-member hearing panel appointed by the chief administrative officer of the affected educational service center, with members selected from the center's governing board.

• Requires hearing panel members to have no residence, employment, or board service connection to the detaching, dissolving, or annexing school districts involved in the proceedings.

• Defines an "affected" educational service center as one containing any portion of territory being detached or dissolved, with jurisdiction for petitions filed based on which center has supervision over the greatest portion of the detaching or dissolving territory.

• Requires the chief administrative officer conducting the joint hearing to send certified transcripts to other affected educational service centers or regions.