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| Public Act 102-0406
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| HB0169 Enrolled | LRB102 02692 CMG 12695 b |
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AN ACT concerning education.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Sections |
26-1 and 26-2b as follows:
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(105 ILCS 5/26-1) (from Ch. 122, par. 26-1)
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Sec. 26-1. Compulsory school age; exemptions. Whoever has |
custody or control of any child (i) between the ages of 7 and |
17
years (unless the child has already graduated from high |
school) for school years before the 2014-2015 school year or |
(ii) between the ages
of 6 (on or before September 1) and 17 |
years (unless the child has already graduated from high |
school) beginning with the 2014-2015 school year
shall cause |
such child to attend some public school in the district
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wherein the child resides the entire time it is in session |
during the
regular school term, except as provided in Section |
10-19.1, and during a
required summer school program |
established under Section 10-22.33B; provided,
that
the |
following children shall not be required to attend the public |
schools:
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1. Any child attending a private or a parochial school |
where children
are taught the branches of education taught |
to children of corresponding
age and grade in the public |
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schools, and where the instruction of the child
in the |
branches of education is in the English language;
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2. Any child who is physically or mentally unable to |
attend school, such
disability being certified to the |
county or district truant officer by a
competent physician |
licensed in Illinois to practice medicine and surgery in |
all its branches, a chiropractic physician licensed under |
the Medical Practice Act of 1987, a licensed advanced |
practice registered nurse, a licensed physician assistant, |
or a Christian Science practitioner residing in this
State |
and listed in the Christian Science Journal; or who is |
excused for
temporary absence for cause by
the principal |
or teacher of the school which the child attends; the |
exemptions
in this paragraph (2) do not apply to any |
female who is pregnant or the
mother of one or more |
children, except where a female is unable to attend
school |
due to a complication arising from her pregnancy and the |
existence
of such complication is certified to the county |
or district truant officer
by a competent physician;
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3. Any child necessarily and lawfully employed |
according to the
provisions of the law regulating child |
labor may be excused from attendance
at school by the |
county superintendent of schools or the superintendent of
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the public school which the child should be attending, on |
certification of
the facts by and the recommendation of |
the school board of the public
school district in which |
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the child resides. In districts having part-time
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continuation schools, children so excused shall attend |
such schools at
least 8 hours each week;
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4. Any child over 12 and under 14 years of age while in |
attendance at
confirmation classes;
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5. Any child absent from a public school on a |
particular day or days
or at a particular time of day for |
the reason that he is unable to attend
classes or to |
participate in any examination, study, or work |
requirements on
a particular day or days or at a |
particular time of day because of religious reasons, |
including the observance of a religious holiday or |
participation in religious instruction, or , because the |
tenets
of his religion forbid secular activity on a |
particular day or days or at a
particular time of day. Each |
school board shall prescribe rules and
regulations |
relative to absences for religious holidays including, but |
not
limited to, a list of religious holidays on which it |
shall be mandatory to
excuse a child; but nothing in this |
paragraph 5 shall be construed to limit
the right of any |
school board, at its discretion, to excuse an absence on
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any other day by reason of the observance of a religious |
holiday. A school
board may require the parent or guardian |
of a child who is to be excused
from attending school |
because of religious reasons due to the observance of a |
religious holiday to give
notice, not exceeding 5 days, of |
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the child's absence to the school
principal or other |
school personnel. Any child excused from attending
school |
under this paragraph 5 shall not be required to submit a |
written
excuse for such absence after returning to school. |
A district superintendent shall develop and distribute to |
schools appropriate procedures regarding a student's |
absence for religious reasons, how schools are notified of |
a student's impending absence for religious reasons, and |
the requirements of Section 26-2b of this Code; |
6. Any child 16 years of age or older who (i) submits |
to a school district evidence of necessary and lawful |
employment pursuant to paragraph 3 of this Section and |
(ii) is enrolled in a graduation incentives program |
pursuant to Section 26-16 of this Code or an alternative |
learning opportunities program established pursuant to |
Article 13B of this Code;
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7. A child in any of grades 6 through 12 absent from a |
public school on a particular day or days or at a |
particular time of day for the purpose of sounding "Taps" |
at a military honors funeral held in this State for a |
deceased veteran. In order to be excused under this |
paragraph 7, the student shall notify the school's |
administration at least 2 days prior to the date of the |
absence and shall provide the school's administration with |
the date, time, and location of the military
honors |
funeral. The school's administration may waive this 2-day |
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notification requirement if the student did not receive at |
least 2 days advance notice, but the student shall notify |
the school's administration as soon as possible of the |
absence. A student whose absence is excused under this |
paragraph 7 shall be counted as if the student attended |
school for purposes of calculating the average daily |
attendance of students in the school district. A student |
whose absence is excused under this paragraph 7 must be |
allowed a reasonable time to make up school work missed |
during the absence. If the student satisfactorily |
completes the school work, the day of absence shall be |
counted as a day of compulsory attendance and he or she may |
not be penalized for that absence; and |
8. Any child absent from a public school on a |
particular day or days or at a particular time of day for |
the reason that his or her parent or legal guardian is an |
active duty member of the uniformed services and has been |
called to duty for, is on leave from, or has immediately |
returned from deployment to a combat zone or |
combat-support postings. Such a student shall be granted 5 |
days of excused absences in any school year and, at the |
discretion of the school board, additional excused |
absences to visit the student's parent or legal guardian |
relative to such leave or deployment of the parent or |
legal guardian. In the case of excused absences pursuant |
to this paragraph 8, the student and parent or legal |
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guardian shall be responsible for obtaining assignments |
from the student's teacher prior to any period of excused |
absence and for ensuring that such assignments are |
completed by the student prior to his or her return to |
school from such period of excused absence. |
(Source: P.A. 99-173, eff. 7-29-15; 99-804, eff. 1-1-17; |
100-185, eff. 8-18-17; 100-513, eff. 1-1-18; 100-863, eff. |
8-14-18.)
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(105 ILCS 5/26-2b) (from Ch. 122, par. 26-2b)
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Sec. 26-2b.
Any child enrolled in a public school who is |
unable,
because of the observance of a religious holiday, to |
attend classes on a
particular day or days or at a particular |
time of day shall be excused from
any examination or any study |
or work assignments on such particular day or
days or at such |
particular time of day. It shall be the responsibility of
the |
teachers and of the administrative officials of each public |
school to
make available to each child who is absent from |
school because of the
observance of a religious holiday an |
equivalent opportunity to make up any
examination, study or |
work requirements which he has missed because of such
absence |
on any particular day or days or at any particular time of day. |
No
special fees of any kind shall be charged to the child for |
making available
to such child such equivalent opportunity. No |
adverse or prejudicial
effects shall result to any child |
because of his availing himself of the
provisions of this |
