Bill Text: IL SB3249 | 2017-2018 | 100th General Assembly | Engrossed

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Bill Title: Amends the School Code. With regard to the textbook block grant program, provides that the textbooks authorized to be purchased must accurately portray the diversity of our society, including the role and contributions of people protected under the Illinois Human Rights Act, and must be non-discriminatory as to certain characteristics under the Act. Provides that the teaching of history of the United States in public schools shall include a study of the role and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the history of this country and this State. Requires every public elementary school and high school to include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the significant role of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals in society. Specifies instruction requirements. Requires the regional superintendent of schools to monitor a school district's compliance with the curriculum requirements. Effective July 1, 2019.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 32-1)

Status: (Failed) 2019-01-09 - Session Sine Die [SB3249 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2017-SB3249-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 Sections
2-3.155 and 27-21 as follows:
(105 ILCS 5/2-3.155)
Sec. 2-3.155. Textbook block grant program.
(a) The provisions of this Section are in the public
interest, for the public benefit, and serve secular public
purposes.
(b) As used in this Section, "textbook" means any book or
book substitute that a pupil uses as a text or text substitute,
including electronic textbooks. "Textbook" includes books,
reusable workbooks, manuals, whether bound or in loose-leaf
form, instructional computer software, and electronic
textbooks and the technological equipment necessary to gain
access to and use electronic textbooks intended as a principal
source of study material for a given class or group of
students. "Textbook" also includes science curriculum
materials in a kit format that includes pre-packaged consumable
materials if (i) it is shown that the materials serve as a
textbook substitute, (ii) the materials are for use by the
pupils as a principal learning source, (iii) each component of

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the materials is integrally necessary to teach the requirements
of the intended course, (iv) the kit includes teacher guidance
materials, and (v) the purchase of individual consumable
materials is not allowed.
(c) Beginning July 1, 2011, subject to annual appropriation
by the General Assembly, the State Board of Education is
authorized to provide annual funding to public school districts
and State-recognized, non-public schools serving students in
grades kindergarten through 12 for the purchase of selected
textbooks. The textbooks authorized to be purchased under this
Section are limited without exception to textbooks that have
been preapproved and designated by the State Board of Education
for use in any public school and that are secular,
non-religious, and non-sectarian, and non-discriminatory as to
any of the characteristics under the Illinois Human Rights Act.
Textbooks authorized to be purchased under this Section must
include the roles and contributions of all people protected
under the Illinois Human Rights Act. The State Board of
Education shall annually publish a list of the textbooks
authorized to be purchased under this Section. Each public
school district and State-recognized, non-public school shall,
subject to appropriations for that purpose, receive a per pupil
grant for the purchase of secular and non-discriminatory
textbooks. The per pupil grant amount must be calculated by the
State Board of Education utilizing the total appropriation made
for these purposes divided by the most current student

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enrollment data available.
(d) The State Board of Education may adopt rules as
necessary for the implementation of this Section and to ensure
the religious neutrality of the textbook block grant program,
as well as provide for the monitoring of all textbooks
authorized in this Section to be purchased directly by
State-recognized, nonpublic schools serving students in grades
kindergarten through 12.
(Source: P.A. 97-570, eff. 8-25-11; 97-813, eff. 7-13-12.)
(105 ILCS 5/27-21) (from Ch. 122, par. 27-21)
Sec. 27-21. History of United States. History of the United
States shall be taught in all public schools and in all other
educational institutions in this State supported or
maintained, in whole or in part, by public funds. The teaching
of history shall have as one of its objectives the imparting to
pupils of a comprehensive idea of our democratic form of
government and the principles for which our government stands
as regards other nations, including the studying of the place
of our government in world-wide movements and the leaders
thereof, with particular stress upon the basic principles and
ideals of our representative form of government. The teaching
of history shall include a study of the role and contributions
of African Americans and other ethnic groups including but not
restricted to Polish, Lithuanian, German, Hungarian, Irish,
Bohemian, Russian, Albanian, Italian, Czech, Slovak, French,

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Scots, Hispanics, Asian Americans, etc., in the history of this
country and this State. To reinforce the study of the role and
contributions of Hispanics, such curriculum shall include the
study of the events related to the forceful removal and illegal
deportation of Mexican-American U.S. citizens during the Great
Depression. In public schools only, the teaching of history
shall include a study of the roles and contributions of
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the history
of this country and this State. The teaching of history also
shall include a study of the role of labor unions and their
interaction with government in achieving the goals of a mixed
free enterprise system. No pupils shall be graduated from the
eighth grade of any public school unless he or she has received
such instruction in the history of the United States and gives
evidence of having a comprehensive knowledge thereof.
(Source: P.A. 96-629, eff. 1-1-10.)