Policy Page: Key Bills Impact School Board Policies
By Debra Jacobson
As the dust settles on the spring legislative session of the 103rd General Assembly, IASB anticipates that a number of bills will impact school board policies. Boards that subscribe to IASB’s Policy Reference Education Subscription Service (PRESS) can expect to see many of these changes in the fall legislative PRESS issue. This article contains a non-exhaustive list of significant legislation that is likely to impact most boards’ existing policies.
Discrimination and Bullying Prevention
One of the most extensive bills to come out of this session is SB 90, known as the Racism-Free Schools Act, which will become effective August 1, 2024, assuming it becomes law. The bill was an initiative of TeachPlus, an education advocacy group, and it is intended to highlight and address the issue of racial harassment in schools through:
- Board policy and implementation of administrative procedures;
- Mandatory staff training every two years;
- Enforcement of state anti-harassment protections by the Illinois Department of Human Rights; and
- ISBE’s annual collection of data from schools regarding allegations of discrimination and harassment (which is subject to appropriation).
SB 90 requires boards to adopt at least one written policy that prohibits discrimination and harassment based on race, color, or national origin, as well as retaliation against students or staff who make complaints or participate in investigations of discrimination or harassment. While the bill does not require boards to adopt a separate, standalone policy specific to race, color, and national origin, it does require that this category be distinguished in a broader policy with an appropriate title, heading, or label. Although most boards already have policies generally covering these topics, the bill contains specific policy criteria that will require updates to PRESS sample policies 5:10, Equal Employment Opportunity and Minority Recruitment, 5:20, Workplace Harassment Prohibited, 7:10, Equal Educational Opportunities, and 7:20, Harassment of Students Prohibited.
Closely related to the issue of harassment, the legislature also passed a bill to amend the school bullying statute. HB 3425 was passed in response to a tragic situation involving the suicide of a student who experienced bullying at a nonpublic school. It requires bullying policies to include procedures for school administration to make diligent efforts to contact the parents or guardians of students involved in bullying incidents within 24 hours after they become aware of an incident. The bill also requires that board policies be based on an ISBE model bullying policy, to be posted on ISBE’s website by January 1, 2024. Changes required by this bill and the ISBE model policy will be incorporated into PRESS sample policy 7:180, Prevention of and Response to Bullying, Intimidation, and Harassment.
Finally, SB 1446 was passed to ensure that students are not prohibited from wearing or accessorizing their graduation attire with items associated with the student’s cultural, ethnic, or religious identity or other characteristic protected under the Illinois Human Rights Act. Similar to the Jett Hawkins law passed last year, boards will need to revisit PRESS sample policy 7:160, Student Appearance, and, if applicable, 7:165, School Uniforms, to ensure compliance.
In addition to SB 90’s staff training component on racial discrimination and harassment, several other bills addressed staff training topics. Significantly, HB 3690, an initiative of the Illinois Principals Association that was supported by IASB, streamlines many staff training requirements by tying them to the five-year licensure cycle and exempting school support personnel from in-service trainings that are not relevant to their work. However, at the same time, other bills added new training requirements for all school staff on homelessness (HB 3116) and response to trauma (HB 1561), also known as “Stop the Bleed.” If signed, this set of bills will require boards to revisit PRESS sample policy 5:100, Staff Development, to incorporate and modify training requirements. With a few specific exceptions, boards can decide whether to list all staff training requirements in policy. Including them in policy can help the board to monitor the district’s compliance with the required training topics.
The General Assembly also continued to pass bills aimed at easing the ongoing teacher shortage, some of which will lead to board policy changes, including PRESS sample policy 5:220, Substitute Teachers. For example, if a district is unable to fill a teaching vacancy due to a lack of qualified candidates, HB 3442, an initiative of the Illinois Council of School Attorneys that was shepherded by IASB, allows a district to continue to employ a substitute teacher for 90 (rather than 30) calendar days or until the end of a semester by filing written requests with its regional superintendent, provided the substitute is supplied with appropriate training. Another bill that appears intended to attract workers is SB 2390, which allows boards to adopt a policy to waive tuition costs for a non-resident student if the student is the child of a district employee. Boards interested in this option will need to amend policy 7:60, Residence.
Curriculum Bills
In keeping with historical trends, public school curriculum was not spared from legislation this session. It is IASB’s understanding that none of the curriculum bills passed require creation of new, standalone courses or add to current graduation requirements. Rather, they incorporate new topics into existing course or subject offerings beginning in the 2024-2025 school year. The highest-profile bill was HB 1633, which requires instruction on Native American history and contributions to be included in elementary and high school social studies curricula. Other curriculum bills related to student health issues. HB 3924 and HB 3932, respectively, require instruction on the dangers of fentanyl and allergies to be covered in high school health education. Boards can expect these changes to be addressed in PRESS updates to sample policy 6:60, Curriculum Content.
Student Health Bills
Building on the issue of student health concerns, the General Assembly passed HB 3428, which requires districts to maintain a supply of an opioid antagonist, unless a district is unable to secure a supply due to a shortage. Previously, the maintenance of such a supply had been optional. This bill coincides with the Food and Drug Administration’s recent approval of an over-the-counter version of naloxone, an opioid antagonist. Lawmakers also passed HB 3613, which permits, but does not require, schools with special education facilities to maintain an undesignated supply of oxygen tanks. These changes will warrant a review of policy 7:270, Administering Medicines to Students.
Board Governance Bills
Finally, there will be policy updates related to board governance. In a positive development, HB 2447 expands the reasons for remote attendance under the Open Meeting Act (OMA) to include a board member’s inability to attend a meeting in person due to unexpected childcare obligations. Boards that allow for remote attendance with a physical quorum present under policy 2:220, Board Meeting Procedure, will need to update that policy to include this additional reason. A reminder that as of May 11, 2023, the date the Governor ended the statewide disaster declaration for COVID-19, boards are no longer able to meet remotely without a quorum physically present due to a public health emergency. HB 2447 also adds to the exceptions for closed session under OMA. It permits a board to meet in closed session when it hears cases about barring individuals from attending school athletic and extracurricular school events for up to one year under Section 24-24 of the School Code.
Debra Jacobson is Assistant General Counsel for the Illinois Association of School Boards and Assistant PRESS Editor.