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91_HB4245
LRB9111660LDpk
1 AN ACT to amend the School Code by changing Section
2 34-1.01.
3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
4 represented in the General Assembly:
5 Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing
6 Section 34-1.01 as follows:
7 (105 ILCS 5/34-1.01) (from Ch. 122, par. 34-1.01)
8 Sec. 34-1.01. Intent. The General Assembly has
9 previously established that the primary purpose of schooling
10 is the transmission of knowledge and culture through which
11 children learn in areas necessary to their continuing
12 development, and the General Assembly has defined these
13 areas to include as including language arts, mathematics,
14 biological, physical and social sciences, the fine arts, and
15 physical development and health. The General Assembly
16 declares its intent to achieve the primary purpose of
17 schooling in elementary and secondary schools subject to this
18 Article, as now or hereafter amended, in cities of over
19 500,000 inhabitants, through the provisions of this
20 amendatory Act of 1991.
21 A. Goals. In the furtherance of this intent, the
22 General Assembly is committed to the belief that, while such
23 urban schools should foster improvement and student growth in
24 a number of areas, first priority should be given to
25 achieving the following goals:
26 1. assuring that students show significant progress
27 toward meeting and exceeding State performance standards
28 in State mandated learning areas, including the mastery
29 of higher order thinking skills in these and other
30 learning areas;
31 2. assuring that students attend school regularly
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1 and graduate from high school at rates that equal or
2 surpass national norms;
3 3. assuring that students are adequately prepared
4 for further education and aiding students in making a
5 successful transition to further education;
6 4. assuring that students are adequately prepared
7 for successful entry into employment and aiding students
8 in making a successful transition to employment;
9 5. assuring that students are, to the maximum
10 extent possible, provided with a common learning
11 experience that is of high academic quality and that
12 reflects high expectations for all students' capacities
13 to learn;
14 6. assuring that students are better prepared to
15 compete in the international market place by having
16 foreign language proficiency and stronger international
17 studies;
18 7. assuring that students are encouraged in
19 exploring potential interests in fields such as
20 journalism, drama, art and music;
21 8. assuring that individual teachers are granted
22 the professional authority to make decisions about
23 instruction and the method of teaching;
24 9. assuring that students are provided the means to
25 express themselves creatively and to respond to the
26 artistic expression of others through the visual arts,
27 music, drama and dance; and
28 10. assuring that students are provided adequate
29 athletic programs that encourage pride and positive
30 identification with the attendance center and that reduce
31 the number of dropouts and teenage delinquents.
32 B. Achieving goals. To achieve these priority goals, the
33 General Assembly intends to make the individual local school
34 the essential unit for educational governance and improvement
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1 and to establish a process for placing the primary
2 responsibility for school governance and improvement in
3 furtherance of such goals in the hands of parents, community
4 residents, teachers, and the school principal at the school
5 level.
6 Further, to achieve these priority goals, the General
7 Assembly intends to lodge with the board of education key
8 powers in limited areas related to district-wide policy, so
9 that the board of education supports school-level governance
10 and improvement and carries out functions that can be
11 performed more efficiently through centralized action.
12 The General Assembly does not intend to alter or amend
13 the provisions of the desegregation obligations of the board
14 of education, including but not limited to the Consent Decree
15 or the Desegregation Plan in United States v. Chicago Board
16 of Education, 80 C 5124, U.S. District Court for the Northern
17 District of Illinois. Accordingly, the implementation of this
18 amendatory Act of 1991, to the extent practicable, shall be
19 consistent with and, in all cases, shall be subject to the
20 desegregation obligations pursuant to such Consent Decree and
21 Desegregation Plan.
22 (Source: P.A. 87-455; 88-686, eff. 1-24-95.)