Public Act 103-0422
 
HB1633 EnrolledLRB103 24964 RJT 51298 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
2-3.191, 27-20.3, and 27-21 and by adding Section 27-20.05 as
follows:
 
    (105 ILCS 5/2-3.191)
    Sec. 2-3.191. State Education Equity Committee.
    (a) The General Assembly finds that this State has an
urgent and collective responsibility to achieve educational
equity by ensuring that all policies, programs, and practices
affirm the strengths that each and every child brings with
diverse backgrounds and life experiences and by delivering the
comprehensive support, programs, and educational opportunities
children need to succeed.
    (b) The State Education Equity Committee is created within
the State Board of Education to strive toward ensuring equity
in education for all children from birth through grade 12.
    (c) The Committee shall consist of the State
Superintendent of Education or the State Superintendent's
designee, who shall serve as chairperson, and one member from
each of the following organizations appointed by the State
Superintendent:
        (1) At least 2 educators who each represent a
    different statewide professional teachers' organization.
        (2) A professional teachers' organization located in a
    city having a population exceeding 500,000.
        (3) A statewide association representing school
    administrators.
        (4) A statewide association representing regional
    superintendents of schools.
        (5) A statewide association representing school board
    members.
        (6) A statewide association representing school
    principals.
        (7) A school district serving a community with a
    population of 500,000 or more.
        (8) A parent-led organization.
        (9) A student-led organization.
        (10) One community organization that works to foster
    safe and healthy environments through advocacy for
    immigrant families and ensuring equitable opportunities
    for educational advancement and economic development.
        (11) An organization that works for economic,
    educational, and social progress for African Americans and
    promotes strong sustainable communities through advocacy,
    collaboration, and innovation.
        (12) One statewide organization whose focus is to
    narrow or close the achievement gap between students of
    color and their peers.
        (13) An organization that advocates for healthier
    school environments in this State.
        (14) One statewide organization that advocates for
    partnerships among schools, families, and the community,
    provides access to support, and removes barriers to
    learning and development, using schools as hubs.
        (15) One organization that advocates for the health
    and safety of Illinois youth and families by providing
    capacity building services.
        (16) An organization dedicated to advocating for
    public policies to prevent homelessness.
        (17) Other appropriate State agencies as determined by
    the State Superintendent.
        (18) An organization that works for economic,
    educational, and social progress for Native Americans and
    promotes strong sustainable communities through advocacy,
    collaboration, and innovation.
        (19) A individual with a disability or a statewide
    organization representing or advocating on behalf of
    individuals with disabilities. As used in this paragraph,
    "disability" has the meaning given to that term in Section
    10 of the Disabilities Services Act of 2003.
    Members appointed to the Committee must reflect, as much
as possible, the racial, ethnic, and geographic diversity of
this State.
    (d) Members appointed by the State Superintendent shall
serve without compensation, but may be reimbursed for
reasonable and necessary expenses, including travel, from
funds appropriated to the State Board of Education for that
purpose, subject to the rules of the appropriate travel
control board.
    (e) The Committee shall meet at the call of the
chairperson, but shall meet no less than 3 times a year.
    (f) The Committee shall recognize that, while progress has
been made, much remains to be done to address systemic
inequities and ensure each and every child is equipped to
reach the child's fullest potential and shall:
        (1) guide its work through the principles of equity,
    equality, collaboration, and community;
        (2) focus its work around the overarching goals of
    student learning, learning conditions, and elevating
    educators, all underpinned by equity;
        (3) identify evidence-based practices or policies
    around these goals to build on this State's progress of
    ensuring educational equity for all its students in all
    aspects of birth through grade 12 education; and
        (4) seek input and feedback on identified
    evidence-based practices or policies from stakeholders,
    including, but not limited to, parents, students, and
    educators that reflect the rich diversity of Illinois
    students.
    (g) The Committee shall submit its recommendations to the
General Assembly and the State Board of Education no later
than January 31, 2022. By no later than December 15, 2023 and
each year thereafter, the Committee shall report to the
General Assembly and the State Board of Education about the
additional progress that has been made to achieve educational
equity.
    (h) As part of the report required under subsection (g),
by no later than December 15, 2024, the Committee shall
provide recommendations that may assist the State Board of
Education in identifying diverse subject matter experts to
help inform policy through task forces, committees, and
commissions the State Board oversees.
    (i) On and after January 31, 2025, subsection (h) is
inoperative.
(Source: P.A. 102-458, eff. 8-20-21; 102-813, eff. 5-13-22.)
 
    (105 ILCS 5/27-20.05 new)
    Sec. 27-20.05. Native American history study.
    (a) Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, every public
elementary school and high school social studies course
pertaining to American history or government shall include in
its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the events of
the Native American experience and Native American history
within the Midwest and this State since time immemorial. These
events shall include the contributions of Native Americans in
government and the arts, humanities, and sciences, as well as
the contributions of Native Americans to the economic,
cultural, social, and political development of their own
nations and of the United States. The unit of instruction must
describe large urban Native American populations in this
State, including the history and experiences of contemporary
Native Americans living in this State. Instruction in grades 6
through 12 shall include the study of the genocide of and
discrimination against Native Americans, as well as tribal
sovereignty, treaties made between tribal nations and the
United States, and the circumstances around forced Native
American relocation. This unit of instruction may be
integrated as part of the unit of instruction required under
Section 27-20.03 or 27-21 of this Code.
    (b) The State Superintendent of Education may prepare and
make available to all school boards instructional materials
and professional development opportunities that may be used as
guidelines for development of a unit of instruction under this
Section. However, each school board shall itself determine the
minimum amount of instructional time that qualifies as a unit
of instruction satisfying the requirements of this Section.
    (c) The regional superintendent of schools shall monitor a
school district's compliance with this Section's curricular
requirements during the regional superintendent's annual
compliance visit and make recommendations for improvement,
including professional development.
 
    (105 ILCS 5/27-20.3)  (from Ch. 122, par. 27-20.3)
    Sec. 27-20.3. Holocaust and Genocide Study.
    (a) Every public elementary school and high school shall
include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the
events of the Nazi atrocities of 1933 to 1945. This period in
world history is known as the Holocaust, during which
6,000,000 Jews and millions of non-Jews were exterminated. One
of the universal lessons of the Holocaust is that national,
ethnic, racial, or religious hatred can overtake any nation or
society, leading to calamitous consequences. To reinforce that
lesson, such curriculum shall include an additional unit of
instruction studying other acts of genocide across the globe.
This unit shall include, but not be limited to, the Native
American genocide in North America, the Armenian Genocide, the
Famine-Genocide in Ukraine, and more recent atrocities in
Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Sudan. The studying of this
material is a reaffirmation of the commitment of free peoples
from all nations to never again permit the occurrence of
another Holocaust and a recognition that crimes of genocide
continue to be perpetrated across the globe as they have been
in the past and to deter indifference to crimes against
humanity and human suffering wherever they may occur.
    (b) The State Superintendent of Education may prepare and
make available to all school boards instructional materials
which may be used as guidelines for development of a unit of
instruction under this Section; provided, however, that each
school board shall itself determine the minimum amount of
instruction time which shall qualify as a unit of instruction
satisfying the requirements of this Section.
    Instructional materials that include the addition of
content related to the Native American genocide in North
America shall be prepared and made available to all school
boards on the State Board of Education's Internet website no
later than January 1, 2025.
    Instructional materials related to the Native American
genocide in North America shall be developed in consultation
with members of the Chicago American Indian Community
Collaborative who are members of a federally recognized tribe,
are documented descendants of Indigenous communities, or are
other persons recognized as contributing community members by
the Chicago American Indian Community Collaborative and who
currently reside in this State or their designees.
(Source: P.A. 94-478, eff. 8-5-05.)
 
    (105 ILCS 5/27-21)  (from Ch. 122, par. 27-21)
    Sec. 27-21. History of United States.
    (a) 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, Native Americans,
Polish, Lithuanian, German, Hungarian, Irish, Bohemian,
Russian, Albanian, Italian, Czech, Slovak, French, 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.
    The teaching of history shall also include teaching about
Native American nations' sovereignty and self-determination,
both historically and in the present day, with a focus on urban
Native Americans.
    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.
    Beginning with the 2020-2021 school year, the teaching of
history must also include instruction on the history of
Illinois.
    The teaching of history shall include the contributions
made to society by Americans of different faith practices,
including, but not limited to, Native Americans, Muslim
Americans, Jewish Americans, Christian Americans, Hindu
Americans, Sikh Americans, Buddhist Americans, and any other
collective community of faith that has shaped America.
    (b) No pupils shall be graduated from the eighth grade of
any public school unless the pupils have he or she has received
such instruction in the history of the United States as
provided in this Section and give gives evidence of having a
comprehensive knowledge thereof, which may be administered
remotely.
    (c) The State Superintendent of Education may prepare and
make available to all school boards instructional materials
that may be used as guidelines for the development of
instruction under this Section; however, each school board
shall itself determine the minimum amount of instructional
time required for satisfying the requirements of this Section.
    Instructional materials that include the addition of
content related to Native Americans shall be prepared and made
available to all school boards on the State Board of
Education's Internet website no later than January 1, 2025.
    Instructional materials related to Native Americans shall
be developed in consultation with members of the Chicago
American Indian Community Collaborative who are members of a
federally recognized tribe, are documented descendants of
Indigenous communities, or are other persons recognized as
contributing community members by the Chicago American Indian
Community Collaborative and who currently reside in this
State.
(Source: P.A. 101-227, eff. 7-1-20; 101-341, eff. 1-1-20;
101-643, eff. 6-18-20; 102-411, eff. 1-1-22.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.