District holiday-pay records
FOIA responses, payroll guidance, employee calendars, collective-bargaining agreements, board materials, and other public documents.
Open the district records pageA public-information project for Illinois school employees
When school closes for a holiday, should an Educational Support Personnel (ESP) employee lose the pay?
Illinois law now expressly includes educational support personnel in its school-holiday protections. This site is building the public record of how districts are interpreting—and applying—that language to academic-year employees.
01 / THE QUESTION
The language changed.
The implementation is uneven.
Public Act 103-0395 amended Section 24-2 of the Illinois School Code, effective January 1, 2024, to expressly name educational support personnel in provisions concerning legal school holidays and deductions from time or compensation.
For many academic-year ESPs—cooks, paraprofessionals, secretaries, custodians, bus drivers, and others—the practical question is whether a holiday that falls inside their normal work calendar must be paid. District practices, contract language, calendars, payroll records, and legal interpretations can help illuminate the answer.
02 / THE PUBLIC RECORD
Follow the evidence district by district.
We are collecting primary documents that show what districts pay, what they say, and how their policies changed after PA 103-0395.
District practices
Side-by-side evidence showing whether academic-year ESPs receive holiday pay and how that compensation is calculated.
Contracts & policies
Publicly available CBAs, handbooks, payroll procedures, board policies, and memoranda that address paid holidays.
Source-first publishing
Claims will link back to the underlying record whenever possible, so readers can examine the evidence themselves.
03 / FOIA TOOLKIT
Ask your district.
Share what you learn.
The Illinois Freedom of Information Act gives the public a way to request existing government records. Our starter request asks for records showing how a district handles holiday pay for academic-year educational support personnel.
Download sample FOIA requestPlain text · Edit the bracketed fields before sending
1
Customize
Add your name, district, and preferred contact information.
2
Submit
Send it to the district’s designated FOIA officer and retain a copy.
3
Preserve
Keep the response, attachments, dates, and any follow-up correspondence together.
4
Contribute
A secure submission method will be added as the records repository grows.
FOIA tips
Submit the request electronically.
Paste the full request into the email body whenever possible rather than sending it only as an attachment. Use the FOIA officer’s published email address and a clear subject line such as “FOIA Request - ESP Holiday Pay.”
Request records, not answers.
FOIA generally requires production of existing records. Ask for “records sufficient to show” the information you need instead of asking the district to explain its practices or create a summary.
Keep the request narrow.
Limit the subject, timeframe, and number of record categories. Avoid broad requests for all emails, drafts, or employee-level records unless they are genuinely necessary.
Request electronic delivery.
Ask for records by email or download link in their existing electronic format. Permit the district to provide direct links to records already available on its website.
Exclude unnecessary information.
State that you do not need personal identifying information, individual payroll records, duplicate copies, drafts, or other unrelated materials.
Ask about costs first.
Request an itemized estimate and approval before the district incurs any chargeable costs.
Save everything.
Keep the sent email, confirmation of receipt, responses, attachments, supplied links, extension notices, and any denial.
Track the response deadline.
A public body ordinarily has five business days to respond to a noncommercial request and may claim one additional five-business-day extension under qualifying circumstances.
Follow up on missing items.
Compare the response with each numbered request item. If something is missing, ask whether no record was located, the record was withheld, or production remains pending.
Know where to find help.
Review the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, 5 ILCS 140 and the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor. A Request for Review generally must be filed within 60 calendar days of the denial or alleged violation.
04 / ANALYSIS & DEVELOPMENTS
The arguments behind the records.
This project will track competing interpretations, administrative guidance, legislative developments, relevant decisions, and unresolved questions.
What counts as a deduction?
How does Section 24-2 apply when an hourly employee’s annual calendar or pay structure simply omits the holiday?
“Would have otherwise been scheduled”
What evidence determines whether an academic-year employee would have worked but for the holiday?
Contracts and statutory rights
How do collective-bargaining agreements, past practice, annualization, and statutory minimums interact?
A need for statewide clarity
As the record develops, this site may host a petition asking Illinois officials for clear and uniform guidance.
WHY THIS EXISTS
Public law should not require private guesswork.
ESPs deserve to know what the law means for their pay. Taxpayers, unions, districts, and policymakers benefit from a shared record grounded in actual documents.