HB4577ham001 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Rep. Joyce Mason

Filed: 4/12/2024

10300HB4577ham001 LRB103 38876 RJT 72228 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 4577

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 4577 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Sections 10-20.9a, 10-20.13, 27A-5, and 34-21.6 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/10-20.9a) (from Ch. 122, par. 10-20.9a)

Sec. 10-20.9a. Final grade; promotion.

(a) Teachers shall administer the approved marking system or other approved means of evaluating pupil progress. The teacher shall maintain the responsibility and right to determine grades and other evaluations of students within the grading policies of the district based upon his or her professional judgment of available criteria pertinent to any given subject area or activity for which he or she is responsible. District policy shall provide the procedure and reasons by and for which a grade may be changed; provided that no grade or evaluation shall be changed without notification to the teacher concerning the nature and reasons for such change. If such a change is made, the person making the change shall assume such responsibility for determining the grade or evaluation, and shall initial such change.

(b) School districts shall not promote students to the next higher grade level based upon age or any other social reasons not related to the academic performance of the students. On or before September 1, 1998, school boards shall adopt and enforce a policy on promotion as they deem necessary to ensure that students meet local goals and objectives and can perform at the expected grade level prior to promotion. Decisions to promote or retain students in any classes shall be based on successful completion of the curriculum, attendance, performance based on the assessments required under Section 2-3.64a-5 of this Code, the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, or other testing or any other criteria established by the school board. Students determined by the local district to not qualify for promotion to the next higher grade shall be provided remedial assistance, which may include, but shall not be limited to, a summer bridge program of no less than 90 hours, tutorial sessions, increased or concentrated instructional time, modifications to instructional materials, and retention in grade.

(c) (Blank). No public high school of a school district shall withhold a student's grades, transcripts, or diploma because of an unpaid balance on the student's school account.

At the end of each school year, the school district shall catalogue and report to the State Board of Education the total amount that remains unpaid by students due to the prohibition under this subsection (c).

(d) (Blank). On and after 3 years from the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly, subsection (c) is inoperative.

(Source: P.A. 102-727, eff. 5-6-22.)

(105 ILCS 5/10-20.13)

Sec. 10-20.13. Textbooks and instructional materials for children of parents unable to buy them; waiver of fees and fines; discrimination and punishment prohibited.

(a) To purchase, at the expense of the district, a sufficient number of textbooks and instructional materials for children whose parents are unable to buy them, including, but not limited to, children living in households that meet the free lunch or breakfast eligibility guidelines established by the federal government pursuant to Section 1758 of the federal Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758; 7 CFR 245 et seq.) and homeless children and youth as defined in Section 11434a of the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11434a), subject to verification as set forth in subsection (c) of this Section. Such textbooks shall be loaned only, and the directors shall require the teacher to see that they are properly cared for and returned at the end of each term of school.

(b) To waive all fees and any fines for the loss of school property assessed by the district on children whose parents are unable to afford them, including, but not limited to:

(1) children living in households that meet the free lunch or breakfast eligibility guidelines established by the federal government pursuant to Section 1758 of the federal Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758; 7 CFR 245 et seq.) and students whose parents are veterans or active duty military personnel with income at or below 200% of the federal poverty line, subject to verification as set forth in subsection (c) of this Section, and

(2) homeless children and youth as defined in Section 11434a of the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11434a).

Notice of waiver availability shall be given to parents or guardians with every bill for fees or fines. The school board shall adopt written policies and procedures for such waiver of fees in accordance with regulations promulgated by the State Board of Education.

(c) Any school board that participates in a federally funded, school-based child nutrition program and uses a student's application for, eligibility for, or participation in the federally funded, school-based child nutrition program (42 U.S.C. 1758; 7 CFR 245 et seq.) as the basis for waiving fees assessed by the school district must follow the verification requirements of the federally funded, school-based child nutrition program (42 U.S.C. 1758; 7 CFR 245.6a).

A school board that establishes a process for the determination of eligibility for waiver of fees assessed by the school district that is completely independent of a student's application for, eligibility for, or participation in a federally funded, school-based child nutrition program may provide for fee waiver verification no more often than once per academic year. Information obtained during the independent, fee waiver verification process indicating that the student does not meet free lunch or breakfast eligibility guidelines may be used to deny the waiver of the student's fees or fines for the loss of school property, provided that any information obtained through this independent process for determining or verifying eligibility for fee waivers shall not be used to determine or verify eligibility for any federally funded, school-based child nutrition program. This subsection shall not preclude children from obtaining waivers at any point during the academic year.

(d) Regardless of whether the student has obtained a waiver pursuant to this Section, a school board may not discriminate against, punish, or penalize a student in any way because the student's parents or guardians are unable to pay any required fees or fines for the loss of school property. This prohibition includes, but is not limited to, the lowering of grades, exclusion from any curricular or extracurricular program of the school district, or the withholding of student records, grades, transcripts, or diplomas. Any person who violates this subsection (d) commits a petty offense.

(e) At the end of each school year, each school district shall catalog and report to the State Board of Education the total amount of fees and fines that remain unpaid by graduating seniors or by high school students who left the school district during the school year.

(f) On or after 3 years from the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 103rd General Assembly, subsection (e) is inoperative.

(Source: P.A. 102-805, eff. 1-1-23; 102-1032, eff. 5-27-22; 103-154, eff. 6-30-23.)

(105 ILCS 5/27A-5)

(Text of Section before amendment by P.A. 102-466 and 103-472)

Sec. 27A-5. Charter school; legal entity; requirements.

(a) A charter school shall be a public, nonsectarian, nonreligious, non-home based, and non-profit school. A charter school shall be organized and operated as a nonprofit corporation or other discrete, legal, nonprofit entity authorized under the laws of the State of Illinois.

(b) A charter school may be established under this Article by creating a new school or by converting an existing public school or attendance center to charter school status. In all new applications to establish a charter school in a city having a population exceeding 500,000, operation of the charter school shall be limited to one campus. This limitation does not apply to charter schools existing or approved on or before April 16, 2003.

(b-5) (Blank).

(c) A charter school shall be administered and governed by its board of directors or other governing body in the manner provided in its charter. The governing body of a charter school shall be subject to the Freedom of Information Act and the Open Meetings Act. A charter school's board of directors or other governing body must include at least one parent or guardian of a pupil currently enrolled in the charter school who may be selected through the charter school or a charter network election, appointment by the charter school's board of directors or other governing body, or by the charter school's Parent Teacher Organization or its equivalent.

(c-5) No later than January 1, 2021 or within the first year of his or her first term, every voting member of a charter school's board of directors or other governing body shall complete a minimum of 4 hours of professional development leadership training to ensure that each member has sufficient familiarity with the board's or governing body's role and responsibilities, including financial oversight and accountability of the school, evaluating the principal's and school's performance, adherence to the Freedom of Information Act and the Open Meetings Act, and compliance with education and labor law. In each subsequent year of his or her term, a voting member of a charter school's board of directors or other governing body shall complete a minimum of 2 hours of professional development training in these same areas. The training under this subsection may be provided or certified by a statewide charter school membership association or may be provided or certified by other qualified providers approved by the State Board.

(d) For purposes of this subsection (d), "non-curricular health and safety requirement" means any health and safety requirement created by statute or rule to provide, maintain, preserve, or safeguard safe or healthful conditions for students and school personnel or to eliminate, reduce, or prevent threats to the health and safety of students and school personnel. "Non-curricular health and safety requirement" does not include any course of study or specialized instructional requirement for which the State Board has established goals and learning standards or which is designed primarily to impart knowledge and skills for students to master and apply as an outcome of their education.

A charter school shall comply with all non-curricular health and safety requirements applicable to public schools under the laws of the State of Illinois. The State Board shall promulgate and post on its Internet website a list of non-curricular health and safety requirements that a charter school must meet. The list shall be updated annually no later than September 1. Any charter contract between a charter school and its authorizer must contain a provision that requires the charter school to follow the list of all non-curricular health and safety requirements promulgated by the State Board and any non-curricular health and safety requirements added by the State Board to such list during the term of the charter. Nothing in this subsection (d) precludes an authorizer from including non-curricular health and safety requirements in a charter school contract that are not contained in the list promulgated by the State Board, including non-curricular health and safety requirements of the authorizing local school board.

(e) Except as otherwise provided in the School Code, a charter school shall not charge tuition; provided that a charter school may charge reasonable fees for textbooks, instructional materials, and student activities.

(f) A charter school shall be responsible for the management and operation of its fiscal affairs, including, but not limited to, the preparation of its budget. An audit of each charter school's finances shall be conducted annually by an outside, independent contractor retained by the charter school. The contractor shall not be an employee of the charter school or affiliated with the charter school or its authorizer in any way, other than to audit the charter school's finances. To ensure financial accountability for the use of public funds, on or before December 1 of every year of operation, each charter school shall submit to its authorizer and the State Board a copy of its audit and a copy of the Form 990 the charter school filed that year with the federal Internal Revenue Service. In addition, if deemed necessary for proper financial oversight of the charter school, an authorizer may require quarterly financial statements from each charter school.

(g) A charter school shall comply with all provisions of this Article, the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act, all federal and State laws and rules applicable to public schools that pertain to special education and the instruction of English learners, and its charter. A charter school is exempt from all other State laws and regulations in this Code governing public schools and local school board policies; however, a charter school is not exempt from the following:

(1) Sections 10-21.9 and 34-18.5 of this Code regarding criminal history records checks and checks of the Statewide Sex Offender Database and Statewide Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Database of applicants for employment;

(2) Sections 10-20.14, 10-22.6, 24-24, 34-19, and 34-84a of this Code regarding discipline of students;

(3) the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act;

(4) Section 108.75 of the General Not For Profit Corporation Act of 1986 regarding indemnification of officers, directors, employees, and agents;

(5) the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act;

(5.5) subsection (b) of Section 10-23.12 and subsection (b) of Section 34-18.6 of this Code;

(6) the Illinois School Student Records Act;

(7) Section 10-17a of this Code regarding school report cards;

(8) the P-20 Longitudinal Education Data System Act;

(9) Section 27-23.7 of this Code regarding bullying prevention;

(10) Section 2-3.162 of this Code regarding student discipline reporting;

(11) Sections 22-80 and 27-8.1 of this Code;

(12) Sections 10-20.60 and 34-18.53 of this Code;

(13) Sections 10-20.63 and 34-18.56 of this Code;

(14) Sections 22-90 and 26-18 of this Code;

(15) Section 22-30 of this Code;

(16) Sections 24-12 and 34-85 of this Code;

(17) the Seizure Smart School Act;

(18) Section 2-3.64a-10 of this Code;

(19) Sections 10-20.73 and 34-21.9 of this Code;

(20) Section 10-22.25b of this Code;

(21) Section 27-9.1a of this Code;

(22) Section 27-9.1b of this Code;

(23) Section 34-18.8 of this Code;

(25) Section 2-3.188 of this Code;

(26) Section 22-85.5 of this Code;

(27) subsections (d-10), (d-15), and (d-20) of Section 10-20.56 of this Code;

(28) Sections 10-20.83 and 34-18.78 of this Code;

(29) Section 10-20.13 of this Code;

(30) (blank); Section 28-19.2 of this Code;

(31) Section 34-21.6 of this Code; and

(32) Section 22-85.10 of this Code.

The change made by Public Act 96-104 to this subsection (g) is declaratory of existing law.

(h) A charter school may negotiate and contract with a school district, the governing body of a State college or university or public community college, or any other public or for-profit or nonprofit private entity for: (i) the use of a school building and grounds or any other real property or facilities that the charter school desires to use or convert for use as a charter school site, (ii) the operation and maintenance thereof, and (iii) the provision of any service, activity, or undertaking that the charter school is required to perform in order to carry out the terms of its charter. Except as provided in subsection (i) of this Section, a school district may charge a charter school reasonable rent for the use of the district's buildings, grounds, and facilities. Any services for which a charter school contracts with a school district shall be provided by the district at cost. Any services for which a charter school contracts with a local school board or with the governing body of a State college or university or public community college shall be provided by the public entity at cost.

(i) In no event shall a charter school that is established by converting an existing school or attendance center to charter school status be required to pay rent for space that is deemed available, as negotiated and provided in the charter agreement, in school district facilities. However, all other costs for the operation and maintenance of school district facilities that are used by the charter school shall be subject to negotiation between the charter school and the local school board and shall be set forth in the charter.

(j) A charter school may limit student enrollment by age or grade level.

(k) If the charter school is authorized by the State Board, then the charter school is its own local education agency.

(Source: P.A. 102-51, eff. 7-9-21; 102-157, eff. 7-1-22; 102-360, eff. 1-1-22; 102-445, eff. 8-20-21; 102-522, eff. 8-20-21; 102-558, eff. 8-20-21; 102-676, eff. 12-3-21; 102-697, eff. 4-5-22; 102-702, eff. 7-1-23; 102-805, eff. 1-1-23; 102-813, eff. 5-13-22; 103-154, eff. 6-30-23; 103-175, eff. 6-30-23.)

(Text of Section after amendment by P.A. 103-472 but before amendment by P.A. 102-466)

Sec. 27A-5. Charter school; legal entity; requirements.

(a) A charter school shall be a public, nonsectarian, nonreligious, non-home based, and non-profit school. A charter school shall be organized and operated as a nonprofit corporation or other discrete, legal, nonprofit entity authorized under the laws of the State of Illinois.

(b) A charter school may be established under this Article by creating a new school or by converting an existing public school or attendance center to charter school status. In all new applications to establish a charter school in a city having a population exceeding 500,000, operation of the charter school shall be limited to one campus. This limitation does not apply to charter schools existing or approved on or before April 16, 2003.

(b-5) (Blank).

(c) A charter school shall be administered and governed by its board of directors or other governing body in the manner provided in its charter. The governing body of a charter school shall be subject to the Freedom of Information Act and the Open Meetings Act. A charter school's board of directors or other governing body must include at least one parent or guardian of a pupil currently enrolled in the charter school who may be selected through the charter school or a charter network election, appointment by the charter school's board of directors or other governing body, or by the charter school's Parent Teacher Organization or its equivalent.

(c-5) No later than January 1, 2021 or within the first year of his or her first term, every voting member of a charter school's board of directors or other governing body shall complete a minimum of 4 hours of professional development leadership training to ensure that each member has sufficient familiarity with the board's or governing body's role and responsibilities, including financial oversight and accountability of the school, evaluating the principal's and school's performance, adherence to the Freedom of Information Act and the Open Meetings Act, and compliance with education and labor law. In each subsequent year of his or her term, a voting member of a charter school's board of directors or other governing body shall complete a minimum of 2 hours of professional development training in these same areas. The training under this subsection may be provided or certified by a statewide charter school membership association or may be provided or certified by other qualified providers approved by the State Board.

(d) For purposes of this subsection (d), "non-curricular health and safety requirement" means any health and safety requirement created by statute or rule to provide, maintain, preserve, or safeguard safe or healthful conditions for students and school personnel or to eliminate, reduce, or prevent threats to the health and safety of students and school personnel. "Non-curricular health and safety requirement" does not include any course of study or specialized instructional requirement for which the State Board has established goals and learning standards or which is designed primarily to impart knowledge and skills for students to master and apply as an outcome of their education.

A charter school shall comply with all non-curricular health and safety requirements applicable to public schools under the laws of the State of Illinois. The State Board shall promulgate and post on its Internet website a list of non-curricular health and safety requirements that a charter school must meet. The list shall be updated annually no later than September 1. Any charter contract between a charter school and its authorizer must contain a provision that requires the charter school to follow the list of all non-curricular health and safety requirements promulgated by the State Board and any non-curricular health and safety requirements added by the State Board to such list during the term of the charter. Nothing in this subsection (d) precludes an authorizer from including non-curricular health and safety requirements in a charter school contract that are not contained in the list promulgated by the State Board, including non-curricular health and safety requirements of the authorizing local school board.

(e) Except as otherwise provided in the School Code, a charter school shall not charge tuition; provided that a charter school may charge reasonable fees for textbooks, instructional materials, and student activities.

(f) A charter school shall be responsible for the management and operation of its fiscal affairs, including, but not limited to, the preparation of its budget. An audit of each charter school's finances shall be conducted annually by an outside, independent contractor retained by the charter school. The contractor shall not be an employee of the charter school or affiliated with the charter school or its authorizer in any way, other than to audit the charter school's finances. To ensure financial accountability for the use of public funds, on or before December 1 of every year of operation, each charter school shall submit to its authorizer and the State Board a copy of its audit and a copy of the Form 990 the charter school filed that year with the federal Internal Revenue Service. In addition, if deemed necessary for proper financial oversight of the charter school, an authorizer may require quarterly financial statements from each charter school.

(g) A charter school shall comply with all provisions of this Article, the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act, all federal and State laws and rules applicable to public schools that pertain to special education and the instruction of English learners, and its charter. A charter school is exempt from all other State laws and regulations in this Code governing public schools and local school board policies; however, a charter school is not exempt from the following:

(1) Sections 10-21.9 and 34-18.5 of this Code regarding criminal history records checks and checks of the Statewide Sex Offender Database and Statewide Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Database of applicants for employment;

(2) Sections 10-20.14, 10-22.6, 24-24, 34-19, and 34-84a of this Code regarding discipline of students;

(3) the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act;

(4) Section 108.75 of the General Not For Profit Corporation Act of 1986 regarding indemnification of officers, directors, employees, and agents;

(5) the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act;

(5.5) subsection (b) of Section 10-23.12 and subsection (b) of Section 34-18.6 of this Code;

(6) the Illinois School Student Records Act;

(7) Section 10-17a of this Code regarding school report cards;

(8) the P-20 Longitudinal Education Data System Act;

(9) Section 27-23.7 of this Code regarding bullying prevention;

(10) Section 2-3.162 of this Code regarding student discipline reporting;

(11) Sections 22-80 and 27-8.1 of this Code;

(12) Sections 10-20.60 and 34-18.53 of this Code;

(13) Sections 10-20.63 and 34-18.56 of this Code;

(14) Sections 22-90 and 26-18 of this Code;

(15) Section 22-30 of this Code;

(16) Sections 24-12 and 34-85 of this Code;

(17) the Seizure Smart School Act;

(18) Section 2-3.64a-10 of this Code;

(19) Sections 10-20.73 and 34-21.9 of this Code;

(20) Section 10-22.25b of this Code;

(21) Section 27-9.1a of this Code;

(22) Section 27-9.1b of this Code;

(23) Section 34-18.8 of this Code;

(25) Section 2-3.188 of this Code;

(26) Section 22-85.5 of this Code;

(27) subsections (d-10), (d-15), and (d-20) of Section 10-20.56 of this Code;

(28) Sections 10-20.83 and 34-18.78 of this Code;

(29) Section 10-20.13 of this Code;

(30) (blank); Section 28-19.2 of this Code;

(31) Section 34-21.6 of this Code; and

(32) Section 22-85.10 of this Code;

(33) Section 2-3.196 of this Code;

(34) Section 22-95 of this Code;

(35) Section 34-18.62 of this Code; and

(36) the Illinois Human Rights Act.

The change made by Public Act 96-104 to this subsection (g) is declaratory of existing law.

(h) A charter school may negotiate and contract with a school district, the governing body of a State college or university or public community college, or any other public or for-profit or nonprofit private entity for: (i) the use of a school building and grounds or any other real property or facilities that the charter school desires to use or convert for use as a charter school site, (ii) the operation and maintenance thereof, and (iii) the provision of any service, activity, or undertaking that the charter school is required to perform in order to carry out the terms of its charter. Except as provided in subsection (i) of this Section, a school district may charge a charter school reasonable rent for the use of the district's buildings, grounds, and facilities. Any services for which a charter school contracts with a school district shall be provided by the district at cost. Any services for which a charter school contracts with a local school board or with the governing body of a State college or university or public community college shall be provided by the public entity at cost.

(i) In no event shall a charter school that is established by converting an existing school or attendance center to charter school status be required to pay rent for space that is deemed available, as negotiated and provided in the charter agreement, in school district facilities. However, all other costs for the operation and maintenance of school district facilities that are used by the charter school shall be subject to negotiation between the charter school and the local school board and shall be set forth in the charter.

(j) A charter school may limit student enrollment by age or grade level.

(k) If the charter school is authorized by the State Board, then the charter school is its own local education agency.

(Source: P.A. 102-51, eff. 7-9-21; 102-157, eff. 7-1-22; 102-360, eff. 1-1-22; 102-445, eff. 8-20-21; 102-522, eff. 8-20-21; 102-558, eff. 8-20-21; 102-676, eff. 12-3-21; 102-697, eff. 4-5-22; 102-702, eff. 7-1-23; 102-805, eff. 1-1-23; 102-813, eff. 5-13-22; 103-154, eff. 6-30-23; 103-175, eff. 6-30-23; 103-472, eff. 8-1-24; revised 8-31-23.)

(Text of Section after amendment by P.A. 102-466)

Sec. 27A-5. Charter school; legal entity; requirements.

(a) A charter school shall be a public, nonsectarian, nonreligious, non-home based, and non-profit school. A charter school shall be organized and operated as a nonprofit corporation or other discrete, legal, nonprofit entity authorized under the laws of the State of Illinois.

(b) A charter school may be established under this Article by creating a new school or by converting an existing public school or attendance center to charter school status. In all new applications to establish a charter school in a city having a population exceeding 500,000, operation of the charter school shall be limited to one campus. This limitation does not apply to charter schools existing or approved on or before April 16, 2003.

(b-5) (Blank).

(c) A charter school shall be administered and governed by its board of directors or other governing body in the manner provided in its charter. The governing body of a charter school shall be subject to the Freedom of Information Act and the Open Meetings Act. A charter school's board of directors or other governing body must include at least one parent or guardian of a pupil currently enrolled in the charter school who may be selected through the charter school or a charter network election, appointment by the charter school's board of directors or other governing body, or by the charter school's Parent Teacher Organization or its equivalent.

(c-5) No later than January 1, 2021 or within the first year of his or her first term, every voting member of a charter school's board of directors or other governing body shall complete a minimum of 4 hours of professional development leadership training to ensure that each member has sufficient familiarity with the board's or governing body's role and responsibilities, including financial oversight and accountability of the school, evaluating the principal's and school's performance, adherence to the Freedom of Information Act and the Open Meetings Act, and compliance with education and labor law. In each subsequent year of his or her term, a voting member of a charter school's board of directors or other governing body shall complete a minimum of 2 hours of professional development training in these same areas. The training under this subsection may be provided or certified by a statewide charter school membership association or may be provided or certified by other qualified providers approved by the State Board.

(d) For purposes of this subsection (d), "non-curricular health and safety requirement" means any health and safety requirement created by statute or rule to provide, maintain, preserve, or safeguard safe or healthful conditions for students and school personnel or to eliminate, reduce, or prevent threats to the health and safety of students and school personnel. "Non-curricular health and safety requirement" does not include any course of study or specialized instructional requirement for which the State Board has established goals and learning standards or which is designed primarily to impart knowledge and skills for students to master and apply as an outcome of their education.

A charter school shall comply with all non-curricular health and safety requirements applicable to public schools under the laws of the State of Illinois. The State Board shall promulgate and post on its Internet website a list of non-curricular health and safety requirements that a charter school must meet. The list shall be updated annually no later than September 1. Any charter contract between a charter school and its authorizer must contain a provision that requires the charter school to follow the list of all non-curricular health and safety requirements promulgated by the State Board and any non-curricular health and safety requirements added by the State Board to such list during the term of the charter. Nothing in this subsection (d) precludes an authorizer from including non-curricular health and safety requirements in a charter school contract that are not contained in the list promulgated by the State Board, including non-curricular health and safety requirements of the authorizing local school board.

(e) Except as otherwise provided in the School Code, a charter school shall not charge tuition; provided that a charter school may charge reasonable fees for textbooks, instructional materials, and student activities.

(f) A charter school shall be responsible for the management and operation of its fiscal affairs, including, but not limited to, the preparation of its budget. An audit of each charter school's finances shall be conducted annually by an outside, independent contractor retained by the charter school. The contractor shall not be an employee of the charter school or affiliated with the charter school or its authorizer in any way, other than to audit the charter school's finances. To ensure financial accountability for the use of public funds, on or before December 1 of every year of operation, each charter school shall submit to its authorizer and the State Board a copy of its audit and a copy of the Form 990 the charter school filed that year with the federal Internal Revenue Service. In addition, if deemed necessary for proper financial oversight of the charter school, an authorizer may require quarterly financial statements from each charter school.

(g) A charter school shall comply with all provisions of this Article, the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act, all federal and State laws and rules applicable to public schools that pertain to special education and the instruction of English learners, and its charter. A charter school is exempt from all other State laws and regulations in this Code governing public schools and local school board policies; however, a charter school is not exempt from the following:

(1) Sections 10-21.9 and 34-18.5 of this Code regarding criminal history records checks and checks of the Statewide Sex Offender Database and Statewide Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Database of applicants for employment;

(2) Sections 10-20.14, 10-22.6, 24-24, 34-19, and 34-84a of this Code regarding discipline of students;

(3) the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act;

(4) Section 108.75 of the General Not For Profit Corporation Act of 1986 regarding indemnification of officers, directors, employees, and agents;

(5) the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act;

(5.5) subsection (b) of Section 10-23.12 and subsection (b) of Section 34-18.6 of this Code;

(6) the Illinois School Student Records Act;

(7) Section 10-17a of this Code regarding school report cards;

(8) the P-20 Longitudinal Education Data System Act;

(9) Section 27-23.7 of this Code regarding bullying prevention;

(10) Section 2-3.162 of this Code regarding student discipline reporting;

(11) Sections 22-80 and 27-8.1 of this Code;

(12) Sections 10-20.60 and 34-18.53 of this Code;

(13) Sections 10-20.63 and 34-18.56 of this Code;

(14) Sections 22-90 and 26-18 of this Code;

(15) Section 22-30 of this Code;

(16) Sections 24-12 and 34-85 of this Code;

(17) the Seizure Smart School Act;

(18) Section 2-3.64a-10 of this Code;

(19) Sections 10-20.73 and 34-21.9 of this Code;

(20) Section 10-22.25b of this Code;

(21) Section 27-9.1a of this Code;

(22) Section 27-9.1b of this Code;

(23) Section 34-18.8 of this Code;

(24) Article 26A of this Code;

(25) Section 2-3.188 of this Code;

(26) Section 22-85.5 of this Code;

(27) subsections (d-10), (d-15), and (d-20) of Section 10-20.56 of this Code;

(28) Sections 10-20.83 and 34-18.78 of this Code;

(29) Section 10-20.13 of this Code;

(30) (blank); Section 28-19.2 of this Code;

(31) Section 34-21.6 of this Code; and

(32) Section 22-85.10 of this Code;

(33) Section 2-3.196 of this Code;

(34) Section 22-95 of this Code;

(35) Section 34-18.62 of this Code; and

(36) the Illinois Human Rights Act.

The change made by Public Act 96-104 to this subsection (g) is declaratory of existing law.

(h) A charter school may negotiate and contract with a school district, the governing body of a State college or university or public community college, or any other public or for-profit or nonprofit private entity for: (i) the use of a school building and grounds or any other real property or facilities that the charter school desires to use or convert for use as a charter school site, (ii) the operation and maintenance thereof, and (iii) the provision of any service, activity, or undertaking that the charter school is required to perform in order to carry out the terms of its charter. Except as provided in subsection (i) of this Section, a school district may charge a charter school reasonable rent for the use of the district's buildings, grounds, and facilities. Any services for which a charter school contracts with a school district shall be provided by the district at cost. Any services for which a charter school contracts with a local school board or with the governing body of a State college or university or public community college shall be provided by the public entity at cost.

(i) In no event shall a charter school that is established by converting an existing school or attendance center to charter school status be required to pay rent for space that is deemed available, as negotiated and provided in the charter agreement, in school district facilities. However, all other costs for the operation and maintenance of school district facilities that are used by the charter school shall be subject to negotiation between the charter school and the local school board and shall be set forth in the charter.

(j) A charter school may limit student enrollment by age or grade level.

(k) If the charter school is authorized by the State Board, then the charter school is its own local education agency.

(Source: P.A. 102-51, eff. 7-9-21; 102-157, eff. 7-1-22; 102-360, eff. 1-1-22; 102-445, eff. 8-20-21; 102-466, eff. 7-1-25; 102-522, eff. 8-20-21; 102-558, eff. 8-20-21; 102-676, eff. 12-3-21; 102-697, eff. 4-5-22; 102-702, eff. 7-1-23; 102-805, eff. 1-1-23; 102-813, eff. 5-13-22; 103-154, eff. 6-30-23; 103-175, eff. 6-30-23; 103-472, eff. 8-1-24; revised 8-31-23.)

(105 ILCS 5/34-21.6) (from Ch. 122, par. 34-21.6)

Sec. 34-21.6. Waiver of fees and fines.

(a) The board shall waive all fees and any fines for the loss of school property assessed by the district on children whose parents are unable to afford them, including but not limited to:

(1) children living in households that meet the free lunch or breakfast eligibility guidelines established by the federal government pursuant to Section 1758 of the federal Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758; 7 CFR 245 et seq.) and students whose parents are veterans or active duty military personnel with income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, subject to verification as set forth in subsection (b) of this Section; and

(2) homeless children and youths as defined in Section 11434a of the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11434a).

Notice of waiver availability shall be given to parents or guardians with every bill for fees or fines. The board shall develop written policies and procedures implementing this Section in accordance with regulations promulgated by the State Board of Education.

(b) If the board participates in a federally funded, school-based child nutrition program and uses a student's application for, eligibility for, or participation in the federally funded, school-based child nutrition program (42 U.S.C. 1758; 7 245 et seq.) as the basis for waiving fees assessed by the district, then the board must follow the verification requirements of the federally funded, school-based child nutrition program (42 U.S.C. 1758; 7 CFR 245.6a).

If the board establishes a process for the determination of eligibility for waiver of all fees assessed by the district that is completely independent of the criteria listed in subsection (b), the board may provide for waiver verification no more often than once every academic year. Information obtained during the independent waiver verification process indicating that the student does not meet free lunch or breakfast eligibility guidelines may be used to deny the waiver of the student's fees or fines for the loss of school property, provided that any information obtained through this independent process for determining or verifying eligibility for fee waivers shall not be used to determine or verify eligibility for any federally funded, school-based child nutrition program.

This subsection shall not preclude children from obtaining waivers at any point during the academic year.

(c) The board may not discriminate against, punish, or penalize a student in any way because the student's parents or guardians are unable to pay any required fees or fines for the loss of school property. This prohibition includes, but is not limited to, the lowering of grades, exclusion from any curricular or extracurricular program of the school district, or the withholding of student records, grades, transcripts, or diplomas. Any person who violates this subsection (c) commits a petty offense.

(d) At the end of each school year, the school district shall catalog and report to the State Board of Education the total amount of fees and fines that remain unpaid by graduating seniors or by high school students who left the school district during the school year.

(e) On or after 3 years from the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 103rd General Assembly, subsection (d) is inoperative.

(Source: P.A. 102-805, eff. 1-1-23; 102-1032, eff. 5-27-22; 103-154, eff. 6-30-23.)

(105 ILCS 5/28-19.2 rep.)

Section 10. The School Code is amended by repealing Section 28-19.2.

Section 95. No acceleration or delay. Where this Act makes changes in a statute that is represented in this Act by text that is not yet or no longer in effect (for example, a Section represented by multiple versions), the use of that text does not accelerate or delay the taking effect of (i) the changes made by this Act or (ii) provisions derived from any other Public Act.

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