HB5363 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB104 19313 LNS 32759 b

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
HB5363

Introduced 2/10/2026, by Rep. Maura Hirschauer

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

105 ILCS 5/2-3.214 new

Amends the School Code. Requires the State Board of Education to make grants available for community schools separate and apart from any federal appropriations to be issued to the Afterschool for Children and Teens Now Coalition (ACT Now) through its fiscal sponsor Metropolitan Family Services and disbursed to 32 partner schools in the State. Requires all ACT Now partner schools to develop plans for implementing community schools that include activities in all of the pipeline services. Requires ACT Now partner schools to submit data on services designated by ACT Now annually to the State Board. Requires ACT Now partner schools to submit all oversight and accounting procedures established by ACT Now to the State Board. Requires ACT Now to conduct technical assistance services, provide professional development to schools and partners, and conduct an annual evaluation of a grant awarded by the State Board. Effective July 1, 2026.

A BILL FOR

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 adding Section 2-3.214 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/2-3.214 new)

Sec. 2-3.214. Grants to ACT Now; ACT Now pipeline services.

(a) The purpose of this Section is to:

(1) Ensure high-quality educational opportunities and improved educational outcomes for all students through investment in sustainable community schools.

(2) Use the authority of state legislative bodies to support and fund the planning, development, implementation, and evaluation of full-service community schools.

(3) Elevate full-service community schools as a comprehensive solution to problems facing public schools, especially in low-income communities.

(4) Document and evaluate lessons learned from community schools programs to develop a set of best practices to be shared locally, statewide, and nationwide.

(5) Elevate community schools as an important component of a viable long-term public safety strategy that reduces and prevents crimes through the provision of community resources and better academic outcomes.

(6) Sustain funding for full-service community schools interrupted by federal funding withholding.

(b) As used in this Section:

"ACT Now" means the Afterschool for Children and Teens Now Coalition.

"Full-service community school" means a public elementary school or secondary school that:

(1) participates in a community-based effort to coordinate and integrate educational, developmental, family, health, and other comprehensive services through community-based organizations and public and private partnerships; and

(2) provides access to such services in school to students, families, and the community, such as access during the school year, including before and after school hours and weekends, as well as during the summer.

"Pipeline services" means a continuum of coordinated supports, services, and opportunities for children from birth through entry into and success in postsecondary education, and career attainment. "Pipeline services" includes, at a minimum, strategies to address, through services or programs, including integrated student supports, the following:

(1) High-quality early childhood education programs.

(2) High-quality school and out-of-school time programs and strategies.

(3) Support for a child's transition to elementary school, from elementary school to middle school, from middle school to high school, and from high school into and through postsecondary education and into the workforce, including any comprehensive readiness assessment determined necessary.

(4) Family and community engagement and supports, including engaging or supporting families at school or at home.

(5) Activities that support postsecondary and workforce readiness, including job training, internship opportunities, and career counseling.

(6) Community-based support for students who have attended the schools in the area served by the pipeline, or students who are members of the community, facilitating their continued connection to the community and success in postsecondary education and the workforce.

(7) Social, health, nutrition, and mental health services and supports.

(8) Juvenile crime prevention and rehabilitation programs.

(c) The State Board of Education shall make grants available for community schools separate and apart from any federal appropriations to be issued to ACT Now through its fiscal sponsor Metropolitan Family Services and disbursed to 32 partner schools in this State.

(d) All ACT Now partner schools must develop plans for implementing community schools that include activities in all of the pipeline services.

(e) ACT Now partner schools must submit data on services designated by ACT Now annually to the State Board of Education.

(f) ACT Now partner schools must submit all oversight and accounting procedures established by ACT Now to the State Board of Education.

(g) ACT Now must conduct technical assistance services, provide professional development to schools and partners, and conduct an annual evaluation of a grant awarded by the State Board of Education under subsection (c).

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1, 2026.