Bill Text: IL SB0136 | 2011-2012 | 97th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the School Code. Requires the parents or legal guardians of children attending non-public schools, a defined term, or private or parochial schools to annually register their children with the State Board of Education, in conformance with procedures prescribed by the State Board of Education.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-02-17 - Tabled By Sponsor Sen. Edward D. Maloney [SB0136 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2011-SB0136-Introduced.html

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97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2011 and 2012 SB0136 Introduced 1/27/2011, by Sen. Edward D. Maloney SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
105 ILCS 5/2-3.25o
105 ILCS 5/26-1 from Ch. 122, par. 26-1
Amends the School Code. Requires the parents or legal guardians of children attending non-public schools, a defined term, or private or parochial schools to annually register their children with the State Board of Education, in conformance with procedures prescribed by the State Board of Education.
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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY
A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning education.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Sections
2-3.25o and 26-1 as follows:
(105 ILCS 5/2-3.25o)
Sec. 2-3.25o. Registration and recognition of non-public
elementary and secondary schools; student registration.
(a) Findings. The General Assembly finds and declares (i)
that the Constitution of the State of Illinois provides that a
"fundamental goal of the People of the State is the educational
development of all persons to the limits of their capacities"
and (ii) that the educational development of every school
student serves the public purposes of the State. In order to
ensure that all Illinois students and teachers have the
opportunity to enroll and work in State-approved educational
institutions and programs, the State Board of Education shall
provide for the voluntary registration and recognition of
non-public elementary and secondary schools.
(b) Registration. All non-public elementary and secondary
schools in the State of Illinois may voluntarily register with
the State Board of Education on an annual basis. Registration
shall be completed in conformance with procedures prescribed by

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the State Board of Education. Information required for
registration shall include assurances of compliance (i) with
federal and State laws regarding health examination and
immunization, attendance, length of term, and
nondiscrimination and (ii) with applicable fire and health
safety requirements.
The parents or legal guardians of all children attending
non-public elementary or secondary schools in this State must
annually register their children with the State Board of
Education, in conformance with procedures prescribed by the
State Board of Education.
(c) Recognition. All non-public elementary and secondary
schools in the State of Illinois may voluntarily seek the
status of "Non-public School Recognition" from the State Board
of Education. This status may be obtained by compliance with
administrative guidelines and review procedures as prescribed
by the State Board of Education. The guidelines and procedures
must recognize that some of the aims and the financial bases of
non-public schools are different from public schools and will
not be identical to those for public schools, nor will they be
more burdensome. The guidelines and procedures must also
recognize the diversity of non-public schools and shall not
impinge upon the noneducational relationships between those
schools and their clientele.
(c-5) Prohibition against recognition. A non-public
elementary or secondary school may not obtain "Non-public

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School Recognition" status unless the school requires all
certified and non-certified applicants for employment with the
school, after July 1, 2007, to authorize a fingerprint-based
criminal history records check as a condition of employment to
determine if such applicants have been convicted of any of the
enumerated criminal or drug offenses set forth in Section
21-23a of this Code or have been convicted, within 7 years of
the application for employment, of any other felony under the
laws of this State or of any offense committed or attempted in
any other state or against the laws of the United States that,
if committed or attempted in this State, would have been
punishable as a felony under the laws of this State.
Authorization for the check shall be furnished by the
applicant to the school, except that if the applicant is a
substitute teacher seeking employment in more than one
non-public school, a teacher seeking concurrent part-time
employment positions with more than one non-public school (as a
reading specialist, special education teacher, or otherwise),
or an educational support personnel employee seeking
employment positions with more than one non-public school, then
only one of the non-public schools employing the individual
shall request the authorization. Upon receipt of this
authorization, the non-public school shall submit the
applicant's name, sex, race, date of birth, social security
number, fingerprint images, and other identifiers, as
prescribed by the Department of State Police, to the Department

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of State Police.
The Department of State Police and Federal Bureau of
Investigation shall furnish, pursuant to a fingerprint-based
criminal history records check, records of convictions,
forever and hereafter, until expunged, to the president or
principal of the non-public school that requested the check.
The Department of State Police shall charge that school a fee
for conducting such check, which fee must be deposited into the
State Police Services Fund and must not exceed the cost of the
inquiry. Subject to appropriations for these purposes, the
State Superintendent of Education shall reimburse non-public
schools for fees paid to obtain criminal history records checks
under this Section.
A non-public school may not obtain recognition status
unless the school also performs a check of the Statewide Sex
Offender Database, as authorized by the Sex Offender Community
Notification Law, for each applicant for employment, after July
1, 2007, to determine whether the applicant has been
adjudicated a sex offender.
Any information concerning the record of convictions
obtained by a non-public school's president or principal under
this Section is confidential and may be disseminated only to
the governing body of the non-public school or any other person
necessary to the decision of hiring the applicant for
employment. A copy of the record of convictions obtained from
the Department of State Police shall be provided to the

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applicant for employment. Upon a check of the Statewide Sex
Offender Database, the non-public school shall notify the
applicant as to whether or not the applicant has been
identified in the Sex Offender Database as a sex offender. Any
information concerning the records of conviction obtained by
the non-public school's president or principal under this
Section for a substitute teacher seeking employment in more
than one non-public school, a teacher seeking concurrent
part-time employment positions with more than one non-public
school (as a reading specialist, special education teacher, or
otherwise), or an educational support personnel employee
seeking employment positions with more than one non-public
school may be shared with another non-public school's principal
or president to which the applicant seeks employment. Any
person who releases any criminal history record information
concerning an applicant for employment is guilty of a Class A
misdemeanor and may be subject to prosecution under federal
law, unless the release of such information is authorized by
this Section.
No non-public school may obtain recognition status that
knowingly employs a person, hired after July 1, 2007, for whom
a Department of State Police and Federal Bureau of
Investigation fingerprint-based criminal history records check
and a Statewide Sex Offender Database check has not been
initiated or who has been convicted of any offense enumerated
in Section 21-23a of this Code or any offense committed or

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attempted in any other state or against the laws of the United
States that, if committed or attempted in this State, would
have been punishable as one or more of those offenses. No
non-public school may obtain recognition status under this
Section that knowingly employs a person who has been found to
be the perpetrator of sexual or physical abuse of a minor under
18 years of age pursuant to proceedings under Article II of the
Juvenile Court Act of 1987.
In order to obtain recognition status under this Section, a
non-public school must require compliance with the provisions
of this subsection (c-5) from all employees of persons or firms
holding contracts with the school, including, but not limited
to, food service workers, school bus drivers, and other
transportation employees, who have direct, daily contact with
pupils. Any information concerning the records of conviction or
identification as a sex offender of any such employee obtained
by the non-public school principal or president must be
promptly reported to the school's governing body.
(d) Public purposes. The provisions of this Section are in
the public interest, for the public benefit, and serve secular
public purposes.
(e) Definition. For purposes of this Section, a non-public
school means any non-profit, non-home-based, and non-public
elementary or secondary school that is in compliance with Title
VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and attendance at which
satisfies the requirements of Section 26-1 of this Code.

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(Source: P.A. 95-351, eff. 8-23-07; 96-431, eff. 8-13-09.)
(105 ILCS 5/26-1) (from Ch. 122, par. 26-1)
Sec. 26-1. Compulsory school age-Exemptions. Whoever has
custody or control of any child between the ages of 7 and 17
years (unless the child has already graduated from high school)
shall cause such child to attend some public school in the
district 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:
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
schools, and where the instruction of the child in the
branches of education is in the English language, provided
that the parents or legal guardians of the child annually
register the child with the State Board of Education in
accordance with procedures prescribed by the State Board of
Education;
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

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all its branches, a chiropractic physician licensed under
the Medical Practice Act of 1987, an advanced practice
nurse who has a written collaborative agreement with a
collaborating physician that authorizes the advanced
practice nurse to perform health examinations, a physician
assistant who has been delegated the authority to perform
health examinations by his or her supervising physician, 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;
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
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 the
child resides. In districts having part time continuation
schools, children so excused shall attend such schools at

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least 8 hours each week;
4. Any child over 12 and under 14 years of age while in
attendance at confirmation classes;
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 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
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 due
to the observance of a religious holiday to give notice,
not exceeding 5 days, of 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; and
6. Any child 16 years of age or older who (i) submits

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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.
(Source: P.A. 96-367, eff. 8-13-09.)