Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of SB0554
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Full Text of SB0554  93rd General Assembly

SB0554 93rd General Assembly


093_SB0554

 
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 1        AN ACT regarding education.

 2        Be  it  enacted  by  the People of the State of Illinois,
 3    represented in the General Assembly:

 4        Section 5.   The  School  Code  is  amended  by  changing
 5    Section 26-1 as follows:

 6        (105 ILCS 5/26-1) (from Ch. 122, par. 26-1)
 7        Sec. 26-1.  Compulsory school age-Exemptions. Whoever has
 8    custody  or control of any child between the ages of 7 and 16
 9    years shall cause that  such  child  to  attend  some  public
10    school  in  the district wherein the child resides the entire
11    time it is in session during the regular school term,  except
12    as  provided in Section 10-19.1, and during a required summer
13    school program established under Section 10-22.33B; provided,
14    that the following children shall not be required  to  attend
15    the public schools:
16        1.  Any  child  attending a private or a parochial school
17    where children are taught the branches of education taught to
18    children  of  corresponding  age  and  grade  in  the  public
19    schools, and where  the  instruction  of  the  child  in  the
20    branches of education is in the English language;
21        2.  Any  child  who  is  physically or mentally unable to
22    attend school, such disability being certified to the  county
23    or  district  truant  officer  by  a competent physician or a
24    Christian Science practitioner residing  in  this  State  and
25    listed  in  the  Christian Science Journal; or who is excused
26    for temporary absence for cause by the principal  or  teacher
27    of the school which the child attends; the exemptions in this
28    paragraph  (2)  do not apply to any female who is pregnant or
29    the mother of one or more children, except where a female  is
30    unable  to  attend  school due to a complication arising from
31    her pregnancy and  the  existence  of  such  complication  is
 
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 1    certified  to  the  county  or  district  truant officer by a
 2    competent physician;
 3        3.  Any child necessarily and lawfully employed according
 4    to the provisions of the law regulating child  labor  may  be
 5    excused   from   attendance   at   school   by   the   county
 6    superintendent of schools or the superintendent of the public
 7    school  which the child should be attending, on certification
 8    of the facts by and the recommendation of the school board of
 9    the public school district in which  the  child  resides.  In
10    districts  having part time continuation schools, children so
11    excused shall attend such schools at least 8 hours each week;
12        4.  Any child over 12 and under 14 years of age while  in
13    attendance at confirmation classes;
14        5.  Any child absent from a public school on a particular
15    day  or  days  or  at a particular time of day for the reason
16    that he is unable to attend classes or to participate in  any
17    examination,  study  or work requirements on a particular day
18    or days or at a particular time of day, because the tenets of
19    his religion forbid secular activity on a particular  day  or
20    days or at a particular time of day.  Each school board shall
21    prescribe  rules  and  regulations  relative  to absences for
22    religious holidays including, but not limited to, a  list  of
23    religious holidays on which it shall be mandatory to excuse a
24    child;  but nothing in this paragraph 5 shall be construed to
25    limit the right of any school board, at  its  discretion,  to
26    excuse  an  absence  on  any  other  day  by  reason  of  the
27    observance  of  a  religious  holiday.   A  school  board may
28    require the parent or guardian  of  a  child  who  is  to  be
29    excused  from  attending  school  due  to the observance of a
30    religious holiday to give notice, not exceeding  5  days,  of
31    the  child's  absence to the school principal or other school
32    personnel.  Any child excused  from  attending  school  under
33    this  paragraph  5  shall not be required to submit a written
34    excuse for such absence after returning to school.
 
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 1    (Source: P.A. 89-610, eff. 8-6-96.)