SB4031 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB104 17640 LNS 31071 b

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
SB4031

Introduced 2/6/2026, by Sen. Willie Preston

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

105 ILCS 5/22-112 new
105 ILCS 5/27A-5

Amends the School Code. Sets forth measures to be taken when an offense of bullying occurs and is reported to a public school, including a charter school, depending on the severity of the bullying offense, including hearing requirements, compulsory, school-based, restorative-justice requirements, community service requirements, and counseling requirements for minor offenders; hearing requirements, administrative fee requirements, and education session requirements for parents or guardians of minor offenders; and victim support. Requires the State Board of Education to annually report to the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey of the National Center for Education Statistics any incidents of bullying, the number of hearings relating to incidents of bullying, restorative-justice program outcomes, disciplinary actions, and follow-up metrics by demographics. Requires the State Board to conduct an annual audit of schools that participate in the restorative measures to determine anti-bullying metrics for the report. Makes other changes.

STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT MAY APPLY

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 22-112 and changing Section 27A-5 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/22-112 new)

Sec. 22-112. Bullying accountability.

(a) This Section applies to:

(1) minors enrolled in kindergarten through grade 12; and

(2) incidents of bullying that occur at school, at school-sponsored activities, during transportation to or from school, or in digital or online contexts if the bullying interferes with school or victim attendance.

(b) As used in this Section:

"Bullying" has the meaning given to that term in subsection (b) of Section 22-110. "Bullying" includes cyberbullying, school bullying, and community bullying.

"Bullying offense of major severity" means repeated bullying, assault, or cyberbullying with serious harm.

"Community bullying" means bullying occurring in off-campus locations, such as neighborhoods and recreation centers, but still affecting minors in educational settings.

"Minor offender" means an individual under 18 years of age who has committed bullying.

"Parent or guardian" means the parent or legal guardian responsible for a minor's welfare.

"Restorative justice program" means a court-supervised or school-supervised process in which a minor offender engages with the victim, apologizes, and participates in community service or mediation.

"School" means a public school, including a charter school.

"School bullying" means bullying that occurs on school property, during school activities, or during transportation to or from school.

(c) A school shall collaborate with courts, juvenile justice systems, and mental health agencies to implement the requirements of this Section.

(d) After an offense of bullying occurs and is reported to a school, the following measures shall be taken to remedy the bullying offense:

(1) For a first bullying offense or a bullying offense of low severity:

(A) a minor offender shall:

(i) appear at a juvenile hearing or designated court within 30 days after the bullying offense is reported;

(ii) participate in a compulsory, school-based, restorative-justice program for 4 weeks;

(iii) write a letter of apology to the victim and create a video delivery of the apology, with oversight;

(iv) perform 10 to 20 hours of community service at the minor offender's school or in the minor offender's community; and

(v) attend at least one mandatory counseling session;

(B) the parent or guardian of the minor offender shall:

(i) attend the juvenile hearing or court under item (i) of subparagraph (A) with the minor offender;

(ii) pay an administrative fee of $250 to the Illinois Bullying and Cyberbullying Prevention Fund; and

(iii) attend at least one parent or guardian education session about bullying, mental health, or digital citizenship; and

(C) the victim of the minor offender shall:

(i) receive free counseling; and

(ii) have the victim's attendance, grades, and self-reported mental health monitored for 90 days following the report of the bullying offense.

(2) For a second bullying offense or a bullying offense of moderate severity:

(A) a minor offender shall:

(i) appear at a juvenile hearing or designated court within 30 days after the bullying offense is reported;

(ii) participate in a compulsory, school-based, restorative-justice program for 8 weeks;

(iii) perform 30 to 50 hours of community service at the minor offender's school or in the minor offender's community;

(iv) attend mandatory counseling sessions every 2 weeks for 3 months; and

(v) lose select extracurricular participation, as determined by the school, for a semester;

(B) the parent or guardian of the minor offender shall:

(i) attend the juvenile hearing or court under item (i) of subparagraph (A) with the minor offender;

(ii) pay an administrative fee of $500 to the Illinois Bullying and Cyberbullying Prevention Fund; and

(iii) attend a full day of a parent or guardian education session about bullying, mental health, or digital citizenship and sign a behavioral contract with the school regarding the minor offender's behavior; and

(C) the victim of the minor offender shall:

(i) receive free counseling and enhanced support for 6 months; and

(ii) create, with the school and the victim's parent or guardian, a student-safety plan.

(3) For a third bullying offense or a bullying offense of major severity:

(A) a minor offender shall:

(i) appear at a juvenile hearing or designated court within 30 days after the bullying offense is reported, when may result in a court filing and detention or a supervised program;

(ii) participate in a compulsory, school-based, restorative-justice program for at least 3 months;

(iii) perform at least 100 hours of community service at the minor offender's school or in the minor offender's community; and

(iv) attend mandatory counseling sessions for at least 6 months;

(B) at the school's discretion, the minor offender may be expelled from the school and transferred to an alternative program with a mandatory credits catch-up clause;

(C) the parent or guardian of the minor offender shall:

(i) attend the juvenile hearing or court under item (i) of subparagraph (A) with the minor offender and any juvenile court date, if applicable; the parent or guardian has a legal obligation to bring the minor offender to any juvenile court date, and if the parent or guardian fails to do so, the court may hold the parent or guardian in contempt;

(ii) pay an administrative fee of $1,000 to the Illinois Bullying and Cyberbullying Prevention Fund; and

(iii) pay for the victim's therapy and any credit make-up program, if applicable; and

(D) the victim of the minor offender shall receive free counseling, free educational tutoring, free mentoring, and free wellness-check insurance for at least 12 months.

(e) A school shall provide student and parent or guardian education sessions covering bullying, mental health, digital citizenship, and bystander intervention; crisis-intervention teams and access to counselors; and reintegration services for minor offenders, including catch-up courses and community service reflection.

(f) Any money provided to a school under this Section from a federal grant shall be used for school-based, anti-bullying initiatives, mental health services, reintegration programs for minor offenders, and peer mentorship. Any funding received under this Section from a federal grant is contingent on compliance with the reporting requirements under subsection (g).

(g) The State Board shall annually report to the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey of the National Center for Education Statistics any incidents of bullying, the number of hearings relating to incidents of bullying, restorative-justice program outcomes, disciplinary actions, and follow-up metrics, such as attendance, grades, and mental health surveys, by demographics, such as ages and types of schools.

(h) The State Board shall annually audit schools that participate in the restorative measures under subsection (d) to determine anti-bullying metrics for the report required under subsection (g).

Section 10. The School Code is amended by changing Section 27A-5 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/27A-5)

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, 22-100, 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 22-110 of this Code regarding bullying prevention;

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

(11) Sections 22-80 and 22-105 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 27-1015 of this Code;

(22) Section 27-1010 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);

(31) Section 34-21.6 of this Code;

(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;

(36) the Illinois Human Rights Act;

(37) Section 2-3.204 of this Code; and

(38) Section 22-106 22-105 of this Code; and .

(39) Section 22-112 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. 103-154, eff. 6-30-23; 103-175, eff. 6-30-23; 103-472, eff. 8-1-24; 103-605, eff. 7-1-24; 103-641, eff. 7-1-24; 103-806, eff. 1-1-25; 104-288, eff. 1-1-26; 104-391, eff. 8-15-25; 104-417, eff. 8-15-25; revised 9-12-25.)