Bill Amendment: IL SB1941 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly

NOTE: For additional amemendments please see the Bill Drafting List

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Bill Title: SAFE SCHOOLS/HEALTHY LEARNING

Status: 2019-08-20 - Public Act . . . . . . . . . 101-0438 [SB1941 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2019-SB1941-Senate_Amendment_001.html

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Sen. Kimberly A. Lightford

Filed: 4/5/2019

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AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 1941
AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 1941 by replacing
everything after the enacting clause with the following:
"Section 5. The School Code is amended by adding Section
2-3.176 as follows:
(105 ILCS 5/2-3.176 new)
Sec. 2-3.176. Safe Schools and Healthy Learning
Environments Grant Program.
(a) The State Board of Education, subject to appropriation,
is authorized to award competitive grants on an annual basis
under a Safe Schools and Healthy Learning Environments Grant
Program. The goal of this grant program is to promote school
safety and healthy learning environments by providing schools
with additional resources to implement restorative
interventions and resolution strategies as alternatives to
exclusionary discipline, and to address the full range of

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students' intellectual, social, emotional, physical,
psychological, and moral developmental needs.
(b) To receive a grant under this program, a school
district must submit with its grant application a plan for
implementing evidence-based and promising practices that are
aligned with the goal of this program. The application may
include proposals to (i) hire additional school support
personnel, including, but not limited to, restorative justice
practitioners, school psychologists, school social workers,
and other mental and behavioral health specialists; (ii) use
existing school-based resources, community-based resources, or
other experts and practitioners to expand alternatives to
exclusionary discipline, mental and behavioral health
supports, wraparound services, or drug and alcohol treatment;
and (iii) provide training for school staff on trauma-informed
approaches to meeting students' developmental needs,
addressing the effects of toxic stress, restorative justice
approaches, conflict resolution techniques, and the effective
utilization of school support personnel and community-based
services. For purposes of this subsection, "promising
practices" means practices that present, based on preliminary
information, potential for becoming evidence-based practices.
Grant funds may not be used to increase the use of
school-based law enforcement or security personnel. Nothing in
this Section shall prohibit school districts from involving law
enforcement personnel when necessary and allowed by law.

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(c) The State Board of Education, subject to appropriation
for the grant program, shall annually disseminate a request for
applications to this program, and funds shall be distributed
annually. The criteria to be considered by the State Board of
Education in awarding the funds shall be (i) the average ratio
of school support personnel to students in the target schools
over the preceding 3 school years, with priority given to
applications with a demonstrated shortage of school support
personnel to meet student needs; and (ii) the degree to which
the proposal articulates a comprehensive approach for reducing
exclusionary discipline while building safe and healthy
learning environments. Priority shall be given to school
districts that meet the metrics under subsection (b) of Section
2-3.162.
(d) The State Board of Education, subject to appropriation
for the grant program, shall produce an annual report on the
program in cooperation with the school districts participating
in the program. The report shall include available quantitative
information on the progress being made in reducing exclusionary
discipline and the effects of the program on school safety and
school climate. This report shall be posted on the State Board
of Education's website by October 31 of each year, beginning in
2020.
(e) The State Board of Education may adopt any rules
necessary for the implementation of this program.

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Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.".