SB3489 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB096 19696 NHT 35099 b

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2009 and 2010
SB3489

Introduced 2/10/2010, by Sen. Heather Steans

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

105 ILCS 5/21-1

from Ch. 122, par. 21-1

Amends the Teacher Certification Article of the School Code. Removes a provision that provides that no one may be certified to teach or supervise in the public schools who is not of good health. Provides that a person must be at least 20 (instead of 19) years of age in order to be certified to teach or supervise in the public schools. Effective July 1, 2010.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT

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 changing Section 21-1 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/21-1) (from Ch. 122, par. 21-1)

Sec. 21-1. Qualification of teachers. No one may be certified to teach or supervise in the public schools of this State who is not of good character, of good health, a citizen of the United States or legally present and authorized for employment, and at least 20 19 years of age. No one may be certified to teach or supervise in the public schools of this State who has been convicted of an offense set forth in Section 21-23a of this Code. An applicant for a certificate who is not a citizen of the United States must sign and file with the State Board of Education a letter of intent indicating that either (i) within 10 years after the date that the letter is filed or (ii) at the earliest opportunity after the person becomes eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship, the person will apply for U.S. citizenship.

Citizenship is not required for the issuance of a temporary part-time certificate to participants in approved training programs for exchange students as described in Section 21-10.2. A certificate issued under this plan shall expire on June 30 following the date of issue. One renewal for one year is authorized if the holder remains as an official participant in an approved exchange program.

In determining good character under this Section, any felony conviction of the applicant may be taken into consideration, but, unless the conviction is an offense set forth in Section 21-23a of this Code, an applicant must be permitted to submit character references or other written material before such a conviction or other information regarding the applicant's character may be used by the State Superintendent of Education as a basis for denying the application.

No person otherwise qualified shall be denied the right to be certified, to receive training for the purpose of becoming a teacher or to engage in practice teaching in any school because of a physical disability including but not limited to visual and hearing disabilities; nor shall any school district refuse to employ a teacher on such grounds, provided that the person is able to carry out the duties of the position for which he applies.

No person may be granted or continue to hold a teaching certificate who has knowingly altered or misrepresented his or her teaching qualifications in order to acquire the certificate. Any other certificate held by such person may be suspended or revoked by the State Teacher Certification Board, depending upon the severity of the alteration or misrepresentation.

No one may teach or supervise in the public schools nor receive for teaching or supervising any part of any public school fund, who does not hold a certificate of qualification granted by the State Board of Education or by the State Teacher Certification Board and a regional superintendent of schools as hereinafter provided, or by the board of education of a city having a population exceeding 500,000 inhabitants except as provided in Section 34-6 and in Section 10-22.34 or Section 10-22.34b. However, the provisions of this Article do not apply to a member of the armed forces who is employed as a teacher of subjects in the Reserve Officer's Training Corps of any school. Sections 21-2 through 21-24 do not apply to cities having a population exceeding 500,000 inhabitants, until July 1, 1988.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the board of education of any school district may grant to a teacher of the district a leave of absence with full pay for a period of not more than one year to permit such teacher to teach in a foreign state under the provisions of the Exchange Teacher Program established under Public Law 584, 79th Congress, and Public Law 402, 80th Congress, as amended. The school board granting such leave of absence may employ with or without pay a national of the foreign state wherein the teacher on leave of absence will teach, if the national is qualified to teach in that foreign state, and if that national will teach in a grade level similar to the one which was taught in such foreign state. The State Board of Education shall promulgate and enforce such reasonable rules as may be necessary to effectuate this paragraph.

(Source: P.A. 96-431, eff. 8-13-09.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1, 2010.