HB0287eng 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB0287 Engrossed LRB097 00040 NHT 40155 b

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 10-20.9a and 14-6.01 and by adding Sections 10-20.53 and 34-18.45 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/10-20.9a) (from Ch. 122, par. 10-20.9a)

Sec. 10-20.9a. Final Grade; Promotion.

(a) Teachers shall administer the approved marking system or other approved means of evaluating pupil progress. The teacher shall maintain the responsibility and right to determine grades and other evaluations of students within the grading policies of the district based upon his or her professional judgment of available criteria pertinent to any given subject area or activity for which he or she is responsible. District policy shall provide the procedure and reasons by and for which a grade may be changed; provided that no grade or evaluation shall be changed without notification to the teacher concerning the nature and reasons for such change. If such a change is made, the person making the change shall assume such responsibility for determining the grade or evaluation, and shall initial such change.

(b) School districts shall not promote students to the next higher grade level based upon age or any other social reasons not related to the academic performance of the students. On or before September 1, 1998, school boards shall adopt and enforce a policy on promotion as they deem necessary to ensure that students meet local goals and objectives and can perform at the expected grade level prior to promotion. Decisions to promote or retain students in any classes shall be based on successful completion of the curriculum, attendance, performance based on Illinois Goals and Assessment Program tests, the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, or other testing or any other criteria established by the school board. Students determined by the local district to not qualify for promotion to the next higher grade shall be provided remedial assistance, which may include, but shall not be limited to, a summer bridge program of no less than 90 hours, tutorial sessions, increased or concentrated instructional time, modifications to instructional materials, and retention in grade, subject to Section 10-20.53 of this Code.

(Source: P.A. 89-610, eff. 8-6-96; 90-548, eff. 1-1-98.)

(105 ILCS 5/10-20.53 new)

Sec. 10-20.53. Committee on the retention of students.

(a) A school board may create a committee on the retention of students. The committee shall consist of the district superintendent or his or her designee, a district administrator who directs student instruction and curriculum, a principal from a school of the district, and a teacher from a school of the district.

(b) Prior to retention in a grade, a school may submit, by a date as set by the committee on the retention of students, the names of all students determined by the school to not qualify for promotion to the next higher grade and the reason for that determination. The committee shall review the school's decision to retain with respect to each student and shall make a final decision regarding whether or not to retain a particular student. The committee shall take into consideration the performance evaluation of the student's teacher or teachers pursuant to Article 24A of this Code. The committee may vote to prohibit the school district from retaining the student if the committee determines that the student is being retained due to inadequate instruction, resources, or facilities provided by the school district or due to the student having an undiagnosed learning disability.

(105 ILCS 5/14-6.01) (from Ch. 122, par. 14-6.01)

Sec. 14-6.01. Powers and duties of school boards. School boards of one or more school districts establishing and maintaining any of the educational facilities described in this Article shall, in connection therewith, exercise similar powers and duties as are prescribed by law for the establishment, maintenance and management of other recognized educational facilities. Such school boards shall include only eligible children in the program and shall comply with all the requirements of this Article and all rules and regulations established by the State Board of Education. Such school boards shall accept in part-time attendance children with disabilities of the types described in Sections 14-1.02 through 14-1.07 who are enrolled in nonpublic schools. A request for part-time attendance must be submitted by a parent or guardian of the disabled child and may be made only to those public schools located in the district where the child attending the nonpublic school resides; however, nothing in this Section shall be construed as prohibiting an agreement between the district where the child resides and another public school district to provide special educational services if such an arrangement is deemed more convenient and economical. Special educational services shall be provided to such students as soon as possible after the identification, evaluation and placement procedures provided in Section 14-8.02, but no later than the beginning of the next school semester following the completion of such procedures. Transportation for students in part time attendance shall be provided only if required in the child's individualized educational program on the basis of the child's disabling condition or as the special education program location may require.

A school board shall publish a public notice in its newsletter of general circulation or in the newsletter of another governmental entity of general circulation in the district or if neither is available in the district, then in a newspaper of general circulation in the district, the right of all children with disabilities to a free appropriate public education as provided under this Code. Such notice shall identify the location and phone number of the office or agent of the school district to whom inquiries should be directed regarding the identification, assessment and placement of such children.

School boards shall immediately provide upon request by any person written materials and other information that indicates the specific policies, procedures, rules and regulations regarding the identification, evaluation or educational placement of children with disabilities under Section 14-8.02 of the School Code. Such information shall include information regarding all rights and entitlements of such children under this Code, and of the opportunity to present complaints with respect to any matter relating to educational placement of the student, or the provision of a free appropriate public education and to have an impartial due process hearing on the complaint. The notice shall inform the parents or guardian in the parents' or guardian's native language, unless it is clearly not feasible to do so, of their rights and all procedures available pursuant to this Act and federal Public Law 94-142; it shall be the responsibility of the State Superintendent to develop uniform notices setting forth the procedures available under this Act and federal Public Law 94-142, as amended, to be used by all school boards. The notice shall also inform the parents or guardian of the availability upon request of a list of free or low-cost legal and other relevant services available locally to assist parents or guardians in exercising rights or entitlements under this Code.

Any parent or guardian who is deaf, or does not normally communicate using spoken English, who participates in a meeting with a representative of a local educational agency for the purposes of developing an individualized educational program shall be entitled to the services of an interpreter.

No disabled student or child with a learning disability may be denied promotion, graduation or a general diploma on the basis of failing a minimal competency test when such failure can be directly related to the disabling condition of the student. For the purpose of this Act, "minimal competency testing" is defined as tests which are constructed to measure the acquisition of skills to or beyond a certain defined standard.

Effective July 1, 1966, high school districts are financially responsible for the education of pupils with disabilities who are residents in their districts when such pupils have reached age 15 but may admit children with disabilities into special educational facilities without regard to graduation from the eighth grade after such pupils have reached the age of 14 1/2 years. Upon a disabled pupil's attaining the age of 14 1/2 years, it shall be the duty of the elementary school district in which the pupil resides to notify the high school district in which the pupil resides of the pupil's current eligibility for special education services, of the pupil's current program, and of all evaluation data upon which the current program is based. After an examination of that information the high school district may accept the current placement and all subsequent timelines shall be governed by the current individualized educational program; or the high school district may elect to conduct its own evaluation and multidisciplinary staff conference and formulate its own individualized educational program, in which case the procedures and timelines contained in Section 14-8.02 shall apply.

(Source: P.A. 89-397, eff. 8-20-95.)

(105 ILCS 5/34-18.45 new)

Sec. 34-18.45. Committee on the retention of students.

(a) The board may create a committee on the retention of students. The committee shall consist of the general superintendent of schools or his or her designee, a district administrator who directs student instruction and curriculum, a principal from a school of the district, and a teacher from a school of the district.

(b) Prior to retention in a grade, a school may submit, by a date as set by the committee on the retention of students, the names of all students determined by the school to not qualify for promotion to the next higher grade and the reason for that determination. The committee shall review the school's decision to retain with respect to each student and shall make a final decision regarding whether or not to retain a particular student. The committee shall take into consideration the performance evaluation of the student's teacher or teachers pursuant to Article 24A of this Code. The committee may vote to prohibit the school district from retaining the student if the committee determines that the student is being retained due to inadequate instruction, resources, or facilities provided by the school district or due to the student having an undiagnosed learning disability.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.