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Illinois Compiled Statutes

Information maintained by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Updating the database of the Illinois Compiled Statutes (ILCS) is an ongoing process. Recent laws may not yet be included in the ILCS database, but they are found on this site as Public Acts soon after they become law. For information concerning the relationship between statutes and Public Acts, refer to the Guide.

Because the statute database is maintained primarily for legislative drafting purposes, statutory changes are sometimes included in the statute database before they take effect. If the source note at the end of a Section of the statutes includes a Public Act that has not yet taken effect, the version of the law that is currently in effect may have already been removed from the database and you should refer to that Public Act to see the changes made to the current law.


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105 ILCS 5/27-20.3

    (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 July 1, 2024. Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this Section, a school is not required to teach the additional content related to the Native American genocide in North America until instructional materials are made available on the State Board's Internet website.
    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. 103-422, eff. 8-4-23; 103-564, eff. 11-17-23.)

105 ILCS 5/27-20.4

    (105 ILCS 5/27-20.4) (from Ch. 122, par. 27-20.4)
    Sec. 27-20.4. Black History study. Every public elementary school and high school shall include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the events of Black History, including the history of the pre-enslavement of Black people from 3,000 BCE to AD 1619, the African slave trade, slavery in America, the study of the reasons why Black people came to be enslaved, the vestiges of slavery in this country, and the study of the American civil rights renaissance. These events shall include not only the contributions made by individual African-Americans in government and in the arts, humanities and sciences to the economic, cultural and political development of the United States and Africa, but also the socio-economic struggle which African-Americans experienced collectively in striving to achieve fair and equal treatment under the laws of this nation. The studying of this material shall constitute an affirmation by students of their commitment to respect the dignity of all races and peoples and to forever eschew every form of discrimination in their lives and careers.
    The State Superintendent of Education may prepare and make available to all school boards instructional materials, including those established by the Amistad Commission, 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.
    A school may meet the requirements of this Section through an online program or course.
(Source: P.A. 100-634, eff. 1-1-19; 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

105 ILCS 5/27-20.5

    (105 ILCS 5/27-20.5) (from Ch. 122, par. 27-20.5)
    Sec. 27-20.5. Study of the History of Women. Every public elementary school and high school shall include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the events of the history of women in America. These events shall include not only the contributions made by individual women in government, the arts, sciences, education, and in the economic, cultural, and political development of Illinois and of the United States, but shall also include a study of women's struggles to gain the right to vote and to be treated equally as they strive to earn and occupy positions of merit in our society.
    The State Superintendent of Education may prepare and make available to all school boards instructional materials that may be used as guidelines for development of a unit of instruction under this Section. Each school board shall determine the minimum amount of instructional time that shall qualify as a unit of instruction satisfying the requirements of this Section.
(Source: P.A. 86-1256.)

105 ILCS 5/27-20.6

    (105 ILCS 5/27-20.6)
    Sec. 27-20.6. "Irish Famine" study. Every public elementary school and high school may include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the causes and effects of mass starvation in mid-19th century Ireland. This period in world history is known as the "Irish Famine", in which millions of Irish died or emigrated. The study of this material is a reaffirmation of the commitment of free people of all nations to eradicate the causes of famine that exist in the modern world.
    The State Superintendent of Education may prepare and make available to all school boards instructional materials that 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 that shall qualify as a unit of instruction satisfying the requirements of this Section.
(Source: P.A. 95-331, eff. 8-21-07.)

105 ILCS 5/27-20.7

    (105 ILCS 5/27-20.7)
    Sec. 27-20.7. Cursive writing. Beginning with the 2018-2019 school year, public elementary schools shall offer at least one unit of instruction in cursive writing. School districts shall, by policy, determine at what grade level or levels students are to be offered cursive writing, provided that such instruction must be offered before students complete grade 5.
(Source: P.A. 100-548, eff. 7-1-18.)