Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of Public Act 096-1489
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Public Act 096-1489


 

Public Act 1489 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

  
  
  

 


 
Public Act 096-1489
 
HB5863 Re-EnrolledLRB096 18304 NHT 33679 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
10-21.9 and 21-9 as follows:
 
    (105 ILCS 5/10-21.9)  (from Ch. 122, par. 10-21.9)
    Sec. 10-21.9. Criminal history records checks and checks of
the Statewide Sex Offender Database and Statewide Child
Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Database.
    (a) Certified and noncertified applicants for employment
with a school district, except school bus driver applicants,
are required as a condition of employment to authorize a
fingerprint-based criminal history records check to determine
if such applicants have been convicted of any of the enumerated
criminal or drug offenses in subsection (c) of this Section or
have been convicted, within 7 years of the application for
employment with the school district, of any other felony under
the laws of this State or of any offense committed or attempted
in any other state or against the laws of the United States
that, if committed or attempted in this State, would have been
punishable as a felony under the laws of this State.
Authorization for the check shall be furnished by the applicant
to the school district, except that if the applicant is a
substitute teacher seeking employment in more than one school
district, a teacher seeking concurrent part-time employment
positions with more than one school district (as a reading
specialist, special education teacher or otherwise), or an
educational support personnel employee seeking employment
positions with more than one district, any such district may
require the applicant to furnish authorization for the check to
the regional superintendent of the educational service region
in which are located the school districts in which the
applicant is seeking employment as a substitute or concurrent
part-time teacher or concurrent educational support personnel
employee. Upon receipt of this authorization, the school
district or the appropriate regional superintendent, as the
case may be, shall submit the applicant's name, sex, race, date
of birth, social security number, fingerprint images, and other
identifiers, as prescribed by the Department of State Police,
to the Department. The regional superintendent submitting the
requisite information to the Department of State Police shall
promptly notify the school districts in which the applicant is
seeking employment as a substitute or concurrent part-time
teacher or concurrent educational support personnel employee
that the check of the applicant has been requested. The
Department of State Police and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation shall furnish, pursuant to a fingerprint-based
criminal history records check, records of convictions, until
expunged, to the president of the school board for the school
district that requested the check, or to the regional
superintendent who requested the check. The Department shall
charge the school district or the appropriate regional
superintendent a fee for conducting such check, which fee shall
be deposited in the State Police Services Fund and shall not
exceed the cost of the inquiry; and the applicant shall not be
charged a fee for such check by the school district or by the
regional superintendent, except that those applicants seeking
employment as a substitute teacher with a school district may
be charged a fee not to exceed the cost of the inquiry. Subject
to appropriations for these purposes, the State Superintendent
of Education shall reimburse school districts and regional
superintendents for fees paid to obtain criminal history
records checks under this Section.
    (a-5) The school district or regional superintendent shall
further perform a check of the Statewide Sex Offender Database,
as authorized by the Sex Offender Community Notification Law,
for each applicant.
    (a-6) The school district or regional superintendent shall
further perform a check of the Statewide Child Murderer and
Violent Offender Against Youth Database, as authorized by the
Child Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Community
Notification Law, for each applicant.
    (b) Any information concerning the record of convictions
obtained by the president of the school board or the regional
superintendent shall be confidential and may only be
transmitted to the superintendent of the school district or his
designee, the appropriate regional superintendent if the check
was requested by the school district, the presidents of the
appropriate school boards if the check was requested from the
Department of State Police by the regional superintendent, the
State Superintendent of Education, the State Teacher
Certification Board or any other person necessary to the
decision of hiring the applicant for employment. A copy of the
record of convictions obtained from the Department of State
Police shall be provided to the applicant for employment. Upon
the check of the Statewide Sex Offender Database, the school
district or regional superintendent shall notify an applicant
as to whether or not the applicant has been identified in the
Database as a sex offender. If a check of an applicant for
employment as a substitute or concurrent part-time teacher or
concurrent educational support personnel employee in more than
one school district was requested by the regional
superintendent, and the Department of State Police upon a check
ascertains that the applicant has not been convicted of any of
the enumerated criminal or drug offenses in subsection (c) or
has not been convicted, within 7 years of the application for
employment with the school district, of any other felony under
the laws of this State or of any offense committed or attempted
in any other state or against the laws of the United States
that, if committed or attempted in this State, would have been
punishable as a felony under the laws of this State and so
notifies the regional superintendent and if the regional
superintendent upon a check ascertains that the applicant has
not been identified in the Sex Offender Database as a sex
offender, then the regional superintendent shall issue to the
applicant a certificate evidencing that as of the date
specified by the Department of State Police the applicant has
not been convicted of any of the enumerated criminal or drug
offenses in subsection (c) or has not been convicted, within 7
years of the application for employment with the school
district, of any other felony under the laws of this State or
of any offense committed or attempted in any other state or
against the laws of the United States that, if committed or
attempted in this State, would have been punishable as a felony
under the laws of this State and evidencing that as of the date
that the regional superintendent conducted a check of the
Statewide Sex Offender Database, the applicant has not been
identified in the Database as a sex offender. The school board
of any school district may rely on the certificate issued by
any regional superintendent to that substitute teacher,
concurrent part-time teacher, or concurrent educational
support personnel employee or may initiate its own criminal
history records check of the applicant through the Department
of State Police and its own check of the Statewide Sex Offender
Database as provided in subsection (a). Any person who releases
any confidential information concerning any criminal
convictions of an applicant for employment shall be guilty of a
Class A misdemeanor, unless the release of such information is
authorized by this Section.
    (c) No school board shall knowingly employ a person who has
been convicted of any offense that would subject him or her to
certification suspension or revocation pursuant to Section
21-23a of this Code. Further, no school board shall knowingly
employ a person who has been found to be the perpetrator of
sexual or physical abuse of any minor under 18 years of age
pursuant to proceedings under Article II of the Juvenile Court
Act of 1987.
    (d) No school board shall knowingly employ a person for
whom a criminal history records check and a Statewide Sex
Offender Database check has not been initiated.
    (e) Upon receipt of the record of a conviction of or a
finding of child abuse by a holder of any certificate issued
pursuant to Article 21 or Section 34-8.1 or 34-83 of the School
Code, the State Superintendent of Education may initiate
certificate suspension and revocation proceedings as
authorized by law.
    (e-5) The superintendent of the employing school board
shall, in writing, notify the State Superintendent of Education
and the applicable regional superintendent of schools of any
certificate holder whom he or she has reasonable cause to
believe has committed an intentional act of abuse or neglect
with the result of making a child an abused child or a
neglected child, as defined in Section 3 of the Abused and
Neglected Child Reporting Act, and that act resulted in the
certificate holder's dismissal or resignation from the school
district. This notification must be submitted within 30 days
after the dismissal or resignation. The certificate holder must
also be contemporaneously sent a copy of the notice by the
superintendent. All correspondence, documentation, and other
information so received by the regional superintendent of
schools, the State Superintendent of Education, the State Board
of Education, or the State Teacher Certification Board under
this subsection (e-5) is confidential and must not be disclosed
to third parties, except (i) as necessary for the State
Superintendent of Education or his or her designee to
investigate and prosecute pursuant to Article 21 of this Code,
(ii) pursuant to a court order, (iii) for disclosure to the
certificate holder or his or her representative, or (iv) as
otherwise provided in this Article and provided that any such
information admitted into evidence in a hearing is exempt from
this confidentiality and non-disclosure requirement. Except
for an act of willful or wanton misconduct, any superintendent
who provides notification as required in this subsection (e-5)
shall have immunity from any liability, whether civil or
criminal or that otherwise might result by reason of such
action.
    (f) After January 1, 1990 the provisions of this Section
shall apply to all employees of persons or firms holding
contracts with any school district including, but not limited
to, food service workers, school bus drivers and other
transportation employees, who have direct, daily contact with
the pupils of any school in such district. For purposes of
criminal history records checks and checks of the Statewide Sex
Offender Database on employees of persons or firms holding
contracts with more than one school district and assigned to
more than one school district, the regional superintendent of
the educational service region in which the contracting school
districts are located may, at the request of any such school
district, be responsible for receiving the authorization for a
criminal history records check prepared by each such employee
and submitting the same to the Department of State Police and
for conducting a check of the Statewide Sex Offender Database
for each employee. Any information concerning the record of
conviction and identification as a sex offender of any such
employee obtained by the regional superintendent shall be
promptly reported to the president of the appropriate school
board or school boards.
(Source: P.A. 95-331, eff. 8-21-07; 96-431, eff. 8-13-09.)
 
    (105 ILCS 5/21-9)  (from Ch. 122, par. 21-9)
    Sec. 21-9. Substitute certificates and substitute
teaching.
    (a) A substitute teacher's certificate may be issued for
teaching in all grades of the common schools. Such certificate
may be issued upon request of the regional superintendent of
schools of any region in which the teacher is to teach. A
substitute teacher's certificate is valid for teaching in the
public schools of any county. Such certificate may be issued to
persons who either (a) hold a certificate valid for teaching in
the common schools as shown on the face of the certificate, (b)
hold a bachelor of arts degree from an institution of higher
learning accredited by the North Central Association or other
comparable regional accrediting association or have been
graduated from a recognized institution of higher learning with
a bachelor's degree, or (c) have had 2 years of teaching
experience and meet such other rules and regulations as may be
adopted by the State Board of Education in consultation with
the State Teacher Certification Board. Such certificate shall
expire on June 30 in the fourth year from date of issue.
Substitute teacher's certificates are not subject to
endorsement as described in Section 21-1b of this Code.
    (b) A teacher holding a substitute teacher's certificate
may teach only in the place of a certified teacher who is under
contract with the employing board and may teach only when no
appropriate fully certified teacher is available to teach in a
substitute capacity. A teacher holding an early childhood
certificate, an elementary certificate, a high school
certificate, or a special certificate may also substitute teach
in grades K-12 but only in the place of a certified teacher who
is under contract with the employing board. A substitute
teacher may teach only for a period not to exceed 90 paid
school days or 450 paid school hours in any one school district
in any one school term. However, a teacher holding an early
childhood, elementary, high school, or special certificate may
substitute teach for a period not to exceed 120 paid school
days or 600 paid school hours in any one school district in any
one school term. Where such teaching is partly on a daily and
partly on an hourly basis, a school day shall be considered as
5 hours. The teaching limitations imposed by this subsection
upon teachers holding substitute certificates shall not apply
in any school district operating under Article 34.
    (c) In order to substitute teach in the public schools, a
person holding a valid substitute teacher's certificate or a
person holding a valid early childhood certificate, a valid
elementary certificate, a valid high school certificate, or a
valid special certificate shall register as a substitute
teacher with the regional superintendent of schools in each
educational service region where the person will be employed. A
person who registers as a substitute teacher with the regional
superintendent of schools is responsible for (1) the payment of
fees to register the certificate for its period of validity,
(2) authorization of a criminal history records check and
checks of the Statewide Sex Offender Database and Statewide
Child Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Database, as
provided in Section 10-21.9 of this Code, (3) payment of the
cost of the criminal history records check and checks of the
Statewide Sex Offender Database and Statewide Child Murderer
and Violent Offender Against Youth Database, and (4) providing
evidence of physical fitness and freedom from communicable
disease, including tuberculosis, which may consist of a
physical examination and a tuberculin skin test as required by
Section 24-5 of this Code.
    The regional superintendent of schools shall maintain a
file for each registered substitute teacher in the educational
service region that includes a copy of the person's
certificate, the results from the criminal history records
check and checks of the Statewide Sex Offender Database and
Statewide Child Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth
Database, a copy of the physical examination, and a copy of the
tuberculin skin test. The regional superintendent of schools
shall issue a signed and sealed certificate of authorization to
the substitute teacher that verifies that the substitute
teacher has completed the registration process and criminal
history records check and checks of the Statewide Sex Offender
Database and Statewide Child Murderer and Violent Offender
Against Youth Database and has a physical examination and
negative tuberculin test on file with the regional
superintendent of schools and is thereby approved to substitute
teach in the public schools of the educational service region.
This certificate must be presented to all prospective employing
school districts in the educational service region, who shall
photocopy the certificate and keep a copy of the certificate
with employment records for the substitute teacher.
    Persons wishing to substitute teach in more than one
educational service region shall register as a substitute
teacher with the appropriate regional superintendent of
schools. The registration process shall include all items
listed in the first paragraph of this subsection (b), with the
exception of the authorization of a criminal history records
check and checks of the Statewide Sex Offender Database and
Statewide Child Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth
Database and the accompanying payment of associated fees. If
the substitute teacher has been issued a signed and sealed
certificate of authorization from another regional
superintendent of schools, the registering entity may
photocopy the certificate for its files and verify the
substitute teacher's registration status.
(Source: P.A. 92-184, eff. 7-27-01; 93-679, eff. 6-30-04.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect on
January 1, 2011.

Effective Date: 1/1/2011