Information maintained by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Updating the database of the Illinois Compiled Statutes (ILCS) is an ongoing process. Recent laws may not yet be included in the ILCS database, but they are found on this site as Public Acts soon after they become law. For information concerning the relationship between statutes and Public Acts, refer to the Guide.

Because the statute database is maintained primarily for legislative drafting purposes, statutory changes are sometimes included in the statute database before they take effect. If the source note at the end of a Section of the statutes includes a Public Act that has not yet taken effect, the version of the law that is currently in effect may have already been removed from the database and you should refer to that Public Act to see the changes made to the current law.

SCHOOLS
(105 ILCS 20/) Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act.

105 ILCS 20/0.01

    (105 ILCS 20/0.01) (from Ch. 122, par. 770)
    Sec. 0.01. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act.
(Source: P.A. 92-832, eff. 1-1-03.)

105 ILCS 20/1

    (105 ILCS 20/1) (from Ch. 122, par. 771)
    Sec. 1. In each public school classroom the teacher in charge shall observe a brief period of silence with the participation of all the pupils therein assembled at the opening of every school day. This period shall not be conducted as a religious exercise but shall be an opportunity for silent prayer or for silent reflection on the anticipated activities of the day.
(Source: P.A. 95-680, eff. 10-11-07.)

105 ILCS 20/5

    (105 ILCS 20/5)
    Sec. 5. Student prayer. For purpose of this Section, "noninstructional time" means time set aside by a school before actual classroom instruction begins or after actual classroom instruction ends. In order that the right of every student to the free exercise of religion is guaranteed within the public schools and that each student has the freedom to not be subject to pressure from the State either to engage in or to refrain from religious observation on public school grounds, students in the public schools may, during the school day, during noninstructional time, voluntarily engage in individually or collectively initiated, non-disruptive prayer or religious-based meetings, including without limitation prayer groups, B I B L E (Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth) clubs, or "meet at the flagpole for prayer" days, that, consistent with the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the United States and Illinois Constitutions, are not sponsored, promoted, or endorsed in any manner by the school or any school employee.
(Source: P.A. 99-410, eff. 8-20-15.)