Bill Title: Amends the School Code and the Critical Health Problems and Comprehensive Health Education Act. Requires a school district to include in its curriculum a unit of instruction on parenting education for grades 9 through 12 that includes, but is not limited to, instruction on (i) family structure, function, and management, (ii) the prevention of child abuse, (iii) the physical, mental, emotional, social, economic, and psychological aspects of interpersonal and family relationships, and (iv) parenting education competency development that is aligned to the emotional and learning standards of the student's grade level. Provides that this instruction is a prerequisite to receiving a high school diploma and shall be included in the Comprehensive Health Education Program.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-2)
Status: (Passed) 2018-08-23 - Public Act . . . . . . . . . 100-1043
[HB4442 Detail]Download: Illinois-2017-HB4442-Chaptered.html
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Public Act 100-1043
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HB4442 Enrolled | LRB100 17751 AXK 32926 b |
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AN ACT concerning education.
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WHEREAS, Research-based prevention and wellness promotion |
efforts that strengthen positive parenting practices and |
enhance a child's resilience in the face of adversity have been |
shown to have a significant impact on a child's mental health, |
physical health, and educational outcomes; and
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WHEREAS, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |
define positive parenting skills as good communication, |
appropriate discipline, and responding to a child's physical |
and emotional needs; and
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WHEREAS, Studies in the last decade have shown that |
well-designed programs created to promote healthy cognitive, |
emotional, and social development can improve the prospects and |
quality of life of many children; and
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WHEREAS, Parenting programs have been shown to provide |
critical information on child development and safety, promote |
positive parenting behaviors, teach effective discipline |
strategies, alter adverse family patterns, and reduce levels of |
child abuse and neglect; and
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WHEREAS, Positive parenting practices are directly linked |
to adaptive behaviors in children and can buffer adverse |
outcomes, even amongst at-risk families; and
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WHEREAS, While positive parenting strategies can promote |
adjustment and achievement, child abuse and neglect can |
interrupt healthy development in children and can lead to |
maladaptive functioning; and
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WHEREAS, In the first major study of child abuse and |
neglect in 20 years, researchers with the National Academy of |
Sciences reported that the damaging consequences of abuse can |
reshape a child's brain (resulting in consequences that last |
throughout his or her life), influence the child's amygdala |
(the part of the brain that regulates emotions, particularly |
fear and anxiety), and change how the functioning prefrontal |
cortex works (the part of the brain responsible for thinking, |
planning, reasoning, and decision-making), which can lead to |
behavioral and academic problems; and
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WHEREAS, Research shows an association between child |
maltreatment and a broad range of social problems, including |
substance abuse, violence, criminal behavior, teenage |
pregnancy, anxiety, sexually transmitted diseases, smoking, |
obesity, and diabetes; and
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WHEREAS, Child abuse and neglect is a serious health |
problem that costs the United States $103 billion annually, |
which includes $33 billion in direct costs for foster care |
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services, hospitalization, mental health treatment, and law |
enforcement and $70 billion in indirect costs, including |
productivity, chronic health problems, and special education; |
and
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WHEREAS, Nobel prize-winning economist James J. Heckman |
and others have shown that for every dollar devoted to the |
nurturing of young children, the need for greater government |
spending on remedial education, teenage pregnancy, and prison |
incarceration may be eliminated; and
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WHEREAS, Researchers have found that, left untreated, the |
effects of child abuse and neglect can profoundly influence a |
victim's physical and mental health, emotions and impulses, |
achievements in school, and relationships formed as a child and |
as an adult; and
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WHEREAS, The American Academy of Pediatrics' Psychological |
Maltreatment Clinical Report posits that emotional abuse is |
linked with mental illness, delinquency, aggression, school |
troubles, and lifelong relationship problems in children; |
these effects of ill-treatment on a child's brain and |
behavioral development are not static and can be reversed with |
quick intervention and positive changes in a child's |
environment; the negative changes present in a child's brain |
can be countered by positive brain changes that take place when |
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the abuse ends and when the child is given the support he or |
she requires; parenting education is an effective way to |
prevent abuse and mental illness before it starts; therefore
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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 Section |
27-23.1 as follows:
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(105 ILCS 5/27-23.1) (from Ch. 122, par. 27-23.1)
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Sec. 27-23.1. Parenting education. |
(a) The State Board of Education must assist each school |
district that offers an evidence-based parenting education |
model. School districts may provide
instruction in parenting |
education for grades 6 through 12 and include such
instruction |
in the courses of study regularly taught therein.
School |
districts may give regular school credit for satisfactory |
completion
by the student of such courses.
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As used in this subsection (a) section , "parenting |
education" means and includes
instruction in the following:
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(1) Child growth and development, including prenatal |
development.
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(2) Childbirth and child care.
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(3) Family structure, function and management.
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(4) Prenatal and postnatal care for mothers and |
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infants.
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(5) Prevention of child abuse.
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(6) The physical, mental, emotional, social, economic |
and psychological
aspects of interpersonal and family |
relationships.
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(7) Parenting skill development.
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The State Board of Education shall assist those districts |
offering
parenting education instruction, upon request, in |
developing instructional
materials, training teachers, and |
establishing appropriate time allotments
for each of the areas |
included in such instruction.
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School districts may offer parenting education courses |
during that period
of the day which is not part of the regular |
school day. Residents of
the school district may enroll in such |
courses. The school board may
establish fees and collect such |
charges as may be necessary for attendance
at such courses in |
an amount not to exceed the per capita cost of the
operation |
thereof, except that the board may waive all or part of such
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charges if it determines that the individual is indigent or |
that the
educational needs of the individual requires his or |
her attendance at such courses.
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(b) Beginning with the 2019-2020 school year, from |
appropriations made for the purposes of this Section, the State |
Board of Education shall implement and administer a 3-year |
pilot program supporting the health and wellness |
student-learning requirement by utilizing a unit of |
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instruction on parenting education in participating school |
districts that maintain grades 9 through 12, to be determined |
by the participating school districts. The program is |
encouraged to include, but is not be limited to, instruction on |
(i) family structure, function, and management, (ii) the |
prevention of child abuse, (iii) the physical, mental, |
emotional, social, economic, and psychological aspects of |
interpersonal and family relationships, and (iv) parenting |
education competency development that is aligned to the social |
and emotional learning standards of the student's grade level. |
Instruction under this subsection (b) may be included in the |
Comprehensive Health Education Program set forth under Section |
3 of the Critical Health Problems and Comprehensive Health |
Education Act. The State Board of Education is authorized to |
make grants to school districts that apply to participate in |
the pilot program under this subsection (b). The State Board of |
Education shall by rule provide for the form of the application |
and criteria to be used and applied in selecting participating |
urban, suburban, and rural school districts. The provisions of |
this subsection (b), other than this sentence, are inoperative |
at the conclusion of the pilot program. |
(Source: P.A. 84-534.)
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Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon |
becoming law.
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