Public Act 0350 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SB1626 Enrolled LRB094 08605 RAS 38812 b

Public Act 094-0350

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 24-5, 24-6, and 26-1 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/24-5) (from Ch. 122, par. 24-5)

Sec. 24-5. Physical fitness and professional growth.

School boards shall require of new employees evidence of physical fitness to perform duties assigned and freedom from communicable disease, including tuberculosis. Such evidence shall consist of a physical examination and a tuberculin skin test and, if appropriate, an x-ray, made by a physician licensed in Illinois or any other state to practice medicine and surgery in all its branches, 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 not more than 90 days preceding time of presentation to the board and cost of such examination shall rest with the employee. The board may from time to time require an examination of any employee by a physician licensed in Illinois to practice medicine and surgery in all its branches, 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 and shall pay the expenses thereof from school funds. School boards may require teachers in their employ to furnish from time to time evidence of continued professional growth.

(Source: P.A. 78-344.)

(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, or serious illness or death in the immediate family or household. The school board may require a physician's certificate from a physician licensed in Illinois to practice medicine and surgery in all its branches, 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 physician's certificate or a certificate from a spiritual healer 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. 86-838.)

(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, 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.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.