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Public Act 100-0185
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| HB3507 Enrolled | LRB100 05510 MLM 15521 b |
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AN ACT concerning education.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section |
26-1 as follows:
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(105 ILCS 5/26-1) (from Ch. 122, par. 26-1)
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Sec. 26-1. Compulsory school age-Exemptions. Whoever has |
custody or control of any child (i) between the ages of 7 and |
17
years (unless the child has already graduated from high |
school) for school years before the 2014-2015 school year or |
(ii) between the ages
of 6 (on or before September 1) and 17 |
years (unless the child has already graduated from high school) |
beginning with the 2014-2015 school year
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:
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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 |
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branches of education is in the English language;
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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, a licensed advanced |
practice nurse, a licensed physician assistant, 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
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of such complication is certified to the county or district |
truant officer
by a competent physician;
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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
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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 |
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schools, children so excused shall attend such schools at
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least 8 hours each week;
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4. Any child over 12 and under 14 years of age while in |
attendance at
confirmation classes;
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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
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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
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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; |
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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; and
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7. A child in any of grades 6 through 12 absent from a |
public school on a particular day or days or at a |
particular time of day for the purpose of sounding "Taps" |
at a military honors funeral held in this State for a |
deceased veteran. In order to be excused under this |
paragraph 7, the student shall notify the school's |
administration at least 2 days prior to the date of the |
absence and shall provide the school's administration with |
the date, time, and location of the military
honors |
funeral. The school's administration may waive this 2-day |
notification requirement if the student did not receive at |
least 2 days advance notice, but the student shall notify |
the school's administration as soon as possible of the |
absence. A student whose absence is excused under this |
paragraph 7 shall be counted as if the student attended |
school for purposes of calculating the average daily |
attendance of students in the school district. A student |
whose absence is excused under this paragraph 7 must be |
allowed a reasonable time to make up school work missed |
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during the absence. If the student satisfactorily |
completes the school work, the day of absence shall be |
counted as a day of compulsory attendance and he or she may |
not be penalized for that absence; and . |
8. Any child absent from a public school on a |
particular day or days or at a particular time of day for |
the reason that his or her parent or legal guardian is an |
active duty member of the uniformed services and has been |
called to duty for, is on leave from, or has immediately |
returned from deployment to a combat zone or combat-support |
postings. Such a student shall be granted 5 days of excused |
absences in any school year and, at the discretion of the |
school board, additional excused absences to visit the |
student's parent or legal guardian relative to such leave |
or deployment of the parent or legal guardian. In the case |
of excused absences pursuant to this paragraph 8, the |
student and parent or legal guardian shall be responsible |
for obtaining assignments from the student's teacher prior |
to any period of excused absence and for ensuring that such |
assignments are completed by the student prior to his or |
her return to school from such period of excused absence. |
(Source: P.A. 98-544, eff. 7-1-14; 99-173, eff. 7-29-15; |
99-804, eff. 1-1-17.)
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Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon |
becoming law.
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