Bill Text: IL HB5695 | 2017-2018 | 100th General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Amends the School Code. Makes technical and revisory changes in a Section concerning the compulsory school age.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2019-01-08 - Session Sine Die [HB5695 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2017-HB5695-Introduced.html
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1 | AN ACT concerning education.
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2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, | |||||||||||||||||||
3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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4 | Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section | |||||||||||||||||||
5 | 26-1 as follows:
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6 | (105 ILCS 5/26-1) (from Ch. 122, par. 26-1)
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7 | Sec. 26-1. Compulsory school age; exemptions | |||||||||||||||||||
8 | age-Exemptions . Whoever has custody or control of any child (i) | |||||||||||||||||||
9 | between the the ages of 7 and 17
years (unless the child has | |||||||||||||||||||
10 | already graduated from high school) for school years before the | |||||||||||||||||||
11 | 2014-2015 school year or (ii) between the ages
of 6 (on or | |||||||||||||||||||
12 | before September 1) and 17 years (unless the child has already | |||||||||||||||||||
13 | graduated from high school) beginning with the 2014-2015 school | |||||||||||||||||||
14 | year
shall cause such child to attend some public school in the | |||||||||||||||||||
15 | district
wherein the child resides the entire time it is in | |||||||||||||||||||
16 | session during the
regular school term, except as provided in | |||||||||||||||||||
17 | Section 10-19.1, and during a
required summer school program | |||||||||||||||||||
18 | established under Section 10-22.33B; provided,
that
the | |||||||||||||||||||
19 | following children shall not be required to attend the public | |||||||||||||||||||
20 | schools:
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21 | 1. Any child attending a private or a parochial school | |||||||||||||||||||
22 | where children
are taught the branches of education taught | |||||||||||||||||||
23 | to children of corresponding
age and grade in the public |
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1 | schools, and where the instruction of the child
in the | ||||||
2 | branches of education is in the English language;
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3 | 2. Any child who is physically or mentally unable to | ||||||
4 | attend school, such
disability being certified to the | ||||||
5 | county or district truant officer by a
competent physician | ||||||
6 | licensed in Illinois to practice medicine and surgery in | ||||||
7 | all its branches, a chiropractic physician licensed under | ||||||
8 | the Medical Practice Act of 1987, a licensed advanced | ||||||
9 | practice registered nurse, a licensed physician assistant, | ||||||
10 | or a Christian Science practitioner residing in this
State | ||||||
11 | and listed in the Christian Science Journal; or who is | ||||||
12 | excused for
temporary absence for cause by
the principal or | ||||||
13 | teacher of the school which the child attends; the | ||||||
14 | exemptions
in this paragraph (2) do not apply to any female | ||||||
15 | who is pregnant or the
mother of one or more children, | ||||||
16 | except where a female is unable to attend
school due to a | ||||||
17 | complication arising from her pregnancy and the existence
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18 | of such complication is certified to the county or district | ||||||
19 | truant officer
by a competent physician;
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20 | 3. Any child necessarily and lawfully employed | ||||||
21 | according to the
provisions of the law regulating child | ||||||
22 | labor may be excused from attendance
at school by the | ||||||
23 | county superintendent of schools or the superintendent of
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24 | the public school which the child should be attending, on | ||||||
25 | certification of
the facts by and the recommendation of the | ||||||
26 | school board of the public
school district in which the |
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1 | child resides. In districts having part-time part time
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2 | continuation schools, children so excused shall attend | ||||||
3 | such schools at
least 8 hours each week;
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4 | 4. Any child over 12 and under 14 years of age while in | ||||||
5 | attendance at
confirmation classes;
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6 | 5. Any child absent from a public school on a | ||||||
7 | particular day or days
or at a particular time of day for | ||||||
8 | the reason that he is unable to attend
classes or to | ||||||
9 | participate in any examination, study or work requirements | ||||||
10 | on
a particular day or days or at a particular time of day, | ||||||
11 | because the tenets
of his religion forbid secular activity | ||||||
12 | on a particular day or days or at a
particular time of day. | ||||||
13 | Each school board shall prescribe rules and
regulations | ||||||
14 | relative to absences for religious holidays including, but | ||||||
15 | not
limited to, a list of religious holidays on which it | ||||||
16 | shall be mandatory to
excuse a child; but nothing in this | ||||||
17 | paragraph 5 shall be construed to limit
the right of any | ||||||
18 | school board, at its discretion, to excuse an absence on
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19 | any other day by reason of the observance of a religious | ||||||
20 | holiday. A school
board may require the parent or guardian | ||||||
21 | of a child who is to be excused
from attending school due | ||||||
22 | to the observance of a religious holiday to give
notice, | ||||||
23 | not exceeding 5 days, of the child's absence to the school
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24 | principal or other school personnel. Any child excused from | ||||||
25 | attending
school under this paragraph 5 shall not be | ||||||
26 | required to submit a written
excuse for such absence after |
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1 | returning to school; | ||||||
2 | 6. Any child 16 years of age or older who (i) submits | ||||||
3 | to a school district evidence of necessary and lawful | ||||||
4 | employment pursuant to paragraph 3 of this Section and (ii) | ||||||
5 | is enrolled in a graduation incentives program pursuant to | ||||||
6 | Section 26-16 of this Code or an alternative learning | ||||||
7 | opportunities program established pursuant to Article 13B | ||||||
8 | of this Code;
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9 | 7. A child in any of grades 6 through 12 absent from a | ||||||
10 | public school on a particular day or days or at a | ||||||
11 | particular time of day for the purpose of sounding "Taps" | ||||||
12 | at a military honors funeral held in this State for a | ||||||
13 | deceased veteran. In order to be excused under this | ||||||
14 | paragraph 7, the student shall notify the school's | ||||||
15 | administration at least 2 days prior to the date of the | ||||||
16 | absence and shall provide the school's administration with | ||||||
17 | the date, time, and location of the military
honors | ||||||
18 | funeral. The school's administration may waive this 2-day | ||||||
19 | notification requirement if the student did not receive at | ||||||
20 | least 2 days advance notice, but the student shall notify | ||||||
21 | the school's administration as soon as possible of the | ||||||
22 | absence. A student whose absence is excused under this | ||||||
23 | paragraph 7 shall be counted as if the student attended | ||||||
24 | school for purposes of calculating the average daily | ||||||
25 | attendance of students in the school district. A student | ||||||
26 | whose absence is excused under this paragraph 7 must be |
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1 | allowed a reasonable time to make up school work missed | ||||||
2 | during the absence. If the student satisfactorily | ||||||
3 | completes the school work, the day of absence shall be | ||||||
4 | counted as a day of compulsory attendance and he or she may | ||||||
5 | not be penalized for that absence; and | ||||||
6 | 8. Any child absent from a public school on a | ||||||
7 | particular day or days or at a particular time of day for | ||||||
8 | the reason that his or her parent or legal guardian is an | ||||||
9 | active duty member of the uniformed services and has been | ||||||
10 | called to duty for, is on leave from, or has immediately | ||||||
11 | returned from deployment to a combat zone or combat-support | ||||||
12 | postings. Such a student shall be granted 5 days of excused | ||||||
13 | absences in any school year and, at the discretion of the | ||||||
14 | school board, additional excused absences to visit the | ||||||
15 | student's parent or legal guardian relative to such leave | ||||||
16 | or deployment of the parent or legal guardian. In the case | ||||||
17 | of excused absences pursuant to this paragraph 8, the | ||||||
18 | student and parent or legal guardian shall be responsible | ||||||
19 | for obtaining assignments from the student's teacher prior | ||||||
20 | to any period of excused absence and for ensuring that such | ||||||
21 | assignments are completed by the student prior to his or | ||||||
22 | her return to school from such period of excused absence. | ||||||
23 | (Source: P.A. 99-173, eff. 7-29-15; 99-804, eff. 1-1-17; | ||||||
24 | 100-185, eff. 8-18-17; 100-513, eff. 1-1-18; revised 9-22-17.)
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