Bill Text: IL SB2896 | 2011-2012 | 97th General Assembly | Engrossed

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Amends the School Code. Provides that a school board of any school district shall rely on the background check certificate issued by any regional superintendent to a substitute teacher, concurrent part-time teacher, or concurrent educational support personnel employee if that substitute teacher, concurrent part-time teacher, or concurrent educational support personnel employee presents such certificate (now, a school board may rely on such certificate).

Sponsorship: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Failed) 2013-01-08 - Session Sine Die [SB2896 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2011-SB2896-Engrossed.html

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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 Section
10-21.9 as follows:
(105 ILCS 5/10-21.9) (from Ch. 122, par. 10-21.9)
Sec. 10-21.9. Criminal history records checks and checks of
the Statewide Sex Offender Database and Statewide Murderer and
Violent Offender Against Youth Database.
(a) Certified and noncertified applicants for employment
with a school district, except school bus driver applicants,
are required as a condition of employment to authorize a
fingerprint-based criminal history records check to determine
if such applicants have been convicted of any of the enumerated
criminal or drug offenses in subsection (c) of this Section or
have been convicted, within 7 years of the application for
employment with the school district, 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 district, except that if the applicant is a

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substitute teacher seeking employment in more than one school
district, a teacher seeking concurrent part-time employment
positions with more than one school district (as a reading
specialist, special education teacher or otherwise), or an
educational support personnel employee seeking employment
positions with more than one district, any such district may
require the applicant to furnish authorization for the check to
the regional superintendent of the educational service region
in which are located the school districts in which the
applicant is seeking employment as a substitute or concurrent
part-time teacher or concurrent educational support personnel
employee. Upon receipt of this authorization, the school
district or the appropriate regional superintendent, as the
case may be, 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. The regional superintendent submitting the
requisite information to the Department of State Police shall
promptly notify the school districts in which the applicant is
seeking employment as a substitute or concurrent part-time
teacher or concurrent educational support personnel employee
that the check of the applicant has been requested. The
Department of State Police and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation shall furnish, pursuant to a fingerprint-based
criminal history records check, records of convictions, until
expunged, to the president of the school board for the school

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district that requested the check, or to the regional
superintendent who requested the check. The Department shall
charge the school district or the appropriate regional
superintendent a fee for conducting such check, which fee shall
be deposited in the State Police Services Fund and shall not
exceed the cost of the inquiry; and the applicant shall not be
charged a fee for such check by the school district or by the
regional superintendent, except that those applicants seeking
employment as a substitute teacher with a school district may
be charged a fee not to exceed the cost of the inquiry. Subject
to appropriations for these purposes, the State Superintendent
of Education shall reimburse school districts and regional
superintendents for fees paid to obtain criminal history
records checks under this Section.
(a-5) The school district or regional superintendent shall
further perform a check of the Statewide Sex Offender Database,
as authorized by the Sex Offender Community Notification Law,
for each applicant.
(a-6) The school district or regional superintendent shall
further perform a check of the Statewide Murderer and Violent
Offender Against Youth Database, as authorized by the Murderer
and Violent Offender Against Youth Community Notification Law,
for each applicant.
(b) Any information concerning the record of convictions
obtained by the president of the school board or the regional
superintendent shall be confidential and may only be

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transmitted to the superintendent of the school district or his
designee, the appropriate regional superintendent if the check
was requested by the school district, the presidents of the
appropriate school boards if the check was requested from the
Department of State Police by the regional superintendent, the
State Superintendent of Education, the State Teacher
Certification Board, any other person necessary to the decision
of hiring the applicant for employment, or for clarification
purposes the Department of State Police or Statewide Sex
Offender Database, or both. A copy of the record of convictions
obtained from the Department of State Police shall be provided
to the applicant for employment. Upon the check of the
Statewide Sex Offender Database, the school district or
regional superintendent shall notify an applicant as to whether
or not the applicant has been identified in the Database as a
sex offender. If a check of an applicant for employment as a
substitute or concurrent part-time teacher or concurrent
educational support personnel employee in more than one school
district was requested by the regional superintendent, and the
Department of State Police upon a check ascertains that the
applicant has not been convicted of any of the enumerated
criminal or drug offenses in subsection (c) or has not been
convicted, within 7 years of the application for employment
with the school district, 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

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committed or attempted in this State, would have been
punishable as a felony under the laws of this State and so
notifies the regional superintendent and if the regional
superintendent upon a check ascertains that the applicant has
not been identified in the Sex Offender Database as a sex
offender, then the regional superintendent shall issue to the
applicant a certificate evidencing that as of the date
specified by the Department of State Police the applicant has
not been convicted of any of the enumerated criminal or drug
offenses in subsection (c) or has not been convicted, within 7
years of the application for employment with the school
district, 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 and evidencing that as of the date
that the regional superintendent conducted a check of the
Statewide Sex Offender Database, the applicant has not been
identified in the Database as a sex offender. The school board
of any school district shall may rely on the certificate issued
by any regional superintendent to that substitute teacher,
concurrent part-time teacher, or concurrent educational
support personnel employee if that substitute teacher,
concurrent part-time teacher, or concurrent educational
support personnel employee presents a certificate issued by a
regional superintendent or may initiate its own criminal

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history records check of the applicant through the Department
of State Police and its own check of the Statewide Sex Offender
Database as provided in subsection (a) if that substitute
teacher, concurrent part-time teacher, or concurrent
educational support personnel employee does not have a
certificate issued by a regional superintendent. Any person who
releases any confidential information concerning any criminal
convictions of an applicant for employment shall be guilty of a
Class A misdemeanor, unless the release of such information is
authorized by this Section.
(c) No school board shall knowingly employ a person who has
been convicted of any offense that would subject him or her to
license suspension or revocation pursuant to Section 21B-80 of
this Code. Further, no school board shall knowingly employ a
person who has been found to be the perpetrator of sexual or
physical abuse of any minor under 18 years of age pursuant to
proceedings under Article II of the Juvenile Court Act of 1987.
(d) No school board shall knowingly employ a person for
whom a criminal history records check and a Statewide Sex
Offender Database check has not been initiated.
(e) Upon receipt of the record of a conviction of or a
finding of child abuse by a holder of any certificate issued
pursuant to Article 21 or Section 34-8.1 or 34-83 of the School
Code, the State Superintendent of Education may initiate
certificate suspension and revocation proceedings as
authorized by law.

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(e-5) The superintendent of the employing school board
shall, in writing, notify the State Superintendent of Education
and the applicable regional superintendent of schools of any
certificate holder whom he or she has reasonable cause to
believe has committed an intentional act of abuse or neglect
with the result of making a child an abused child or a
neglected child, as defined in Section 3 of the Abused and
Neglected Child Reporting Act, and that act resulted in the
certificate holder's dismissal or resignation from the school
district. This notification must be submitted within 30 days
after the dismissal or resignation. The certificate holder must
also be contemporaneously sent a copy of the notice by the
superintendent. All correspondence, documentation, and other
information so received by the regional superintendent of
schools, the State Superintendent of Education, the State Board
of Education, or the State Teacher Certification Board under
this subsection (e-5) is confidential and must not be disclosed
to third parties, except (i) as necessary for the State
Superintendent of Education or his or her designee to
investigate and prosecute pursuant to Article 21 of this Code,
(ii) pursuant to a court order, (iii) for disclosure to the
certificate holder or his or her representative, or (iv) as
otherwise provided in this Article and provided that any such
information admitted into evidence in a hearing is exempt from
this confidentiality and non-disclosure requirement. Except
for an act of willful or wanton misconduct, any superintendent

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who provides notification as required in this subsection (e-5)
shall have immunity from any liability, whether civil or
criminal or that otherwise might result by reason of such
action.
(f) After January 1, 1990 the provisions of this Section
shall apply to all employees of persons or firms holding
contracts with any school district including, but not limited
to, food service workers, school bus drivers and other
transportation employees, who have direct, daily contact with
the pupils of any school in such district. For purposes of
criminal history records checks and checks of the Statewide Sex
Offender Database on employees of persons or firms holding
contracts with more than one school district and assigned to
more than one school district, the regional superintendent of
the educational service region in which the contracting school
districts are located may, at the request of any such school
district, be responsible for receiving the authorization for a
criminal history records check prepared by each such employee
and submitting the same to the Department of State Police and
for conducting a check of the Statewide Sex Offender Database
for each employee. Any information concerning the record of
conviction and identification as a sex offender of any such
employee obtained by the regional superintendent shall be
promptly reported to the president of the appropriate school
board or school boards.
(g) In order to student teach in the public schools, a

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person is required to authorize a fingerprint-based criminal
history records check and checks of the Statewide Sex Offender
Database and Statewide Murderer and Violent Offender Against
Youth Database prior to participating in any field experiences
in the public schools. Authorization for and payment of the
costs of the checks must be furnished by the student teacher.
Results of the checks must be furnished to the higher education
institution where the student teacher is enrolled and the
superintendent of the school district where the student is
assigned.
(h) Upon request of a school, school district, community
college district, or private school, any information obtained
by a school district pursuant to subsection (f) of this Section
within the last year must be made available to that school,
school district, community college district, or private
school.
(Source: P.A. 96-431, eff. 8-13-09; 96-1452, eff. 8-20-10;
96-1489, eff. 1-1-11; 97-154, eff. 1-1-12; 97-248, eff. 1-1-12;
97-607, eff. 8-26-11; revised 9-21-11.)