Public Act 096-0367
 
HB0645 Enrolled LRB096 03183 NHT 13200 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
24-6 and 26-1 as follows:
 
    (105 ILCS 5/24-6)  (from Ch. 122, par. 24-6)
    Sec. 24-6. Sick leave. The school boards of all school
districts, including special charter districts, but not
including school districts in municipalities of 500,000 or
more, shall grant their full-time teachers, and also shall
grant such of their other employees as are eligible to
participate in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund under the
"600-Hour Standard" established, or under such other
eligibility participation standard as may from time to time be
established, by rules and regulations now or hereafter
promulgated by the Board of that Fund under Section 7-198 of
the Illinois Pension Code, as now or hereafter amended, sick
leave provisions not less in amount than 10 days at full pay in
each school year. If any such teacher or employee does not use
the full amount of annual leave thus allowed, the unused amount
shall be allowed to accumulate to a minimum available leave of
180 days at full pay, including the leave of the current year.
Sick leave shall be interpreted to mean personal illness,
quarantine at home, serious illness or death in the immediate
family or household, or birth, adoption, or placement for
adoption. The school board may require a certificate from a
physician licensed in Illinois to practice medicine and surgery
in all its branches, a chiropractic physician licensed under
the Medical Practice Act of 1987, an advanced practice nurse
who has a written collaborative agreement with a collaborating
physician that authorizes the advanced practice nurse to
perform health examinations, or a physician assistant who has
been delegated the authority to perform health examinations by
his or her supervising physician, or if the treatment is by
prayer or spiritual means, that of a spiritual adviser or
practitioner of such person's faith, as a basis for pay during
leave after an absence of 3 days for personal illness, or as it
may deem necessary in other cases. If the school board does
require a certificate as a basis for pay during leave of less
than 3 days, the school board shall pay, from school funds, the
expenses incurred by the teachers or other employees in
obtaining the certificate.
    If, by reason of any change in the boundaries of school
districts, or by reason of the creation of a new school
district, the employment of a teacher is transferred to a new
or different board, the accumulated sick leave of such teacher
is not thereby lost, but is transferred to such new or
different district.
    For purposes of this Section, "immediate family" shall
include parents, spouse, brothers, sisters, children,
grandparents, grandchildren, parents-in-law, brothers-in-law,
sisters-in-law, and legal guardians.
(Source: P.A. 94-350, eff. 7-28-05; 95-151, eff. 8-14-07.)
 
    (105 ILCS 5/26-1)  (from Ch. 122, par. 26-1)
    Sec. 26-1. Compulsory school age-Exemptions. Whoever has
custody or control of any child between the ages of 7 and 17
years (unless the child has already graduated from high school)
shall cause such child to attend some public school in the
district wherein the child resides the entire time it is in
session during the regular school term, except as provided in
Section 10-19.1, and during a required summer school program
established under Section 10-22.33B; provided, that the
following children shall not be required to attend the public
schools:
        1. Any child attending a private or a parochial school
    where children are taught the branches of education taught
    to children of corresponding age and grade in the public
    schools, and where the instruction of the child in the
    branches of education is in the English language;
        2. Any child who is physically or mentally unable to
    attend school, such disability being certified to the
    county or district truant officer by a competent physician
    licensed in Illinois to practice medicine and surgery in
    all its branches, a chiropractic physician licensed under
    the Medical Practice Act of 1987, an advanced practice
    nurse who has a written collaborative agreement with a
    collaborating physician that authorizes the advanced
    practice nurse to perform health examinations, a physician
    assistant who has been delegated the authority to perform
    health examinations by his or her supervising physician, or
    a Christian Science practitioner residing in this State and
    listed in the Christian Science Journal; or who is excused
    for temporary absence for cause by the principal or teacher
    of the school which the child attends; the exemptions in
    this paragraph (2) do not apply to any female who is
    pregnant or the mother of one or more children, except
    where a female is unable to attend school due to a
    complication arising from her pregnancy and the existence
    of such complication is certified to the county or district
    truant officer by a competent physician;
        3. Any child necessarily and lawfully employed
    according to the provisions of the law regulating child
    labor may be excused from attendance at school by the
    county superintendent of schools or the superintendent of
    the public school which the child should be attending, on
    certification of the facts by and the recommendation of the
    school board of the public school district in which the
    child resides. In districts having part time continuation
    schools, children so excused shall attend such schools at
    least 8 hours each week;
        4. Any child over 12 and under 14 years of age while in
    attendance at confirmation classes;
        5. Any child absent from a public school on a
    particular day or days or at a particular time of day for
    the reason that he is unable to attend classes or to
    participate in any examination, study or work requirements
    on a particular day or days or at a particular time of day,
    because the tenets of his religion forbid secular activity
    on a particular day or days or at a particular time of day.
    Each school board shall prescribe rules and regulations
    relative to absences for religious holidays including, but
    not limited to, a list of religious holidays on which it
    shall be mandatory to excuse a child; but nothing in this
    paragraph 5 shall be construed to limit the right of any
    school board, at its discretion, to excuse an absence on
    any other day by reason of the observance of a religious
    holiday. A school board may require the parent or guardian
    of a child who is to be excused from attending school due
    to the observance of a religious holiday to give notice,
    not exceeding 5 days, of the child's absence to the school
    principal or other school personnel. Any child excused from
    attending school under this paragraph 5 shall not be
    required to submit a written excuse for such absence after
    returning to school; and
        6. Any child 16 years of age or older who (i) submits
    to a school district evidence of necessary and lawful
    employment pursuant to paragraph 3 of this Section and (ii)
    is enrolled in a graduation incentives program pursuant to
    Section 26-16 of this Code or an alternative learning
    opportunities program established pursuant to Article 13B
    of this Code.
(Source: P.A. 93-858, eff. 1-1-05; 94-350, eff. 7-28-05.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.