Public Act 094-0350
 
SB1626 Enrolled LRB094 08605 RAS 38812 b

    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 Sections
24-5, 24-6, and 26-1 as follows:
 
    (105 ILCS 5/24-5)  (from Ch. 122, par. 24-5)
    Sec. 24-5. Physical fitness and professional growth.
    School boards shall require of new employees evidence of
physical fitness to perform duties assigned and freedom from
communicable disease, including tuberculosis. Such evidence
shall consist of a physical examination and a tuberculin skin
test and, if appropriate, an x-ray, made by a physician
licensed in Illinois or any other state to practice medicine
and surgery in all its branches, an advanced practice nurse who
has a written collaborative agreement with a collaborating
physician that authorizes the advanced practice nurse to
perform health examinations, or a physician assistant who has
been delegated the authority to perform health examinations by
his or her supervising physician not more than 90 days
preceding time of presentation to the board and cost of such
examination shall rest with the employee. The board may from
time to time require an examination of any employee by a
physician licensed in Illinois to practice medicine and surgery
in all its branches, an advanced practice nurse who has a
written collaborative agreement with a collaborating physician
that authorizes the advanced practice nurse to perform health
examinations, or a physician assistant who has been delegated
the authority to perform health examinations by his or her
supervising physician and shall pay the expenses thereof from
school funds. School boards may require teachers in their
employ to furnish from time to time evidence of continued
professional growth.
(Source: P.A. 78-344.)
 
    (105 ILCS 5/24-6)  (from Ch. 122, par. 24-6)
    Sec. 24-6. Sick leave. The school boards of all school
districts, including special charter districts, but not
including school districts in municipalities of 500,000 or
more, shall grant their full-time teachers, and also shall
grant such of their other employees as are eligible to
participate in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund under the
"600-Hour Standard" established, or under such other
eligibility participation standard as may from time to time be
established, by rules and regulations now or hereafter
promulgated by the Board of that Fund under Section 7-198 of
the Illinois Pension Code, as now or hereafter amended, sick
leave provisions not less in amount than 10 days at full pay in
each school year. If any such teacher or employee does not use
the full amount of annual leave thus allowed, the unused amount
shall be allowed to accumulate to a minimum available leave of
180 days at full pay, including the leave of the current year.
Sick leave shall be interpreted to mean personal illness,
quarantine at home, or serious illness or death in the
immediate family or household. The school board may require a
physician's certificate from a physician licensed in Illinois
to practice medicine and surgery in all its branches, an
advanced practice nurse who has a written collaborative
agreement with a collaborating physician that authorizes the
advanced practice nurse to perform health examinations, or a
physician assistant who has been delegated the authority to
perform health examinations by his or her supervising
physician, or if the treatment is by prayer or spiritual means,
that of a spiritual adviser or practitioner of such person's
faith, as a basis for pay during leave after an absence of 3
days for personal illness, or as it may deem necessary in other
cases. If the school board does require a physician's
certificate or a certificate from a spiritual healer as a basis
for pay during leave of less than 3 days, the school board
shall pay, from school funds, the expenses incurred by the
teachers or other employees in obtaining the certificate.
    If, by reason of any change in the boundaries of school
districts, or by reason of the creation of a new school
district, the employment of a teacher is transferred to a new
or different board, the accumulated sick leave of such teacher
is not thereby lost, but is transferred to such new or
different district.
    For purposes of this Section, "immediate family" shall
include parents, spouse, brothers, sisters, children,
grandparents, grandchildren, parents-in-law, brothers-in-law,
sisters-in-law, and legal guardians.
(Source: P.A. 86-838.)
 
    (105 ILCS 5/26-1)  (from Ch. 122, par. 26-1)
    Sec. 26-1. Compulsory school age-Exemptions. Whoever has
custody or control of any child between the ages of 7 and 17
years (unless the child has already graduated from high school)
shall cause such child to attend some public school in the
district wherein the child resides the entire time it is in
session during the regular school term, except as provided in
Section 10-19.1, and during a required summer school program
established under Section 10-22.33B; provided, that the
following children shall not be required to attend the public
schools:
    1. Any child attending a private or a parochial school
where children are taught the branches of education taught to
children of corresponding age and grade in the public schools,
and where the instruction of the child in the branches of
education is in the English language;
    2. Any child who is physically or mentally unable to attend
school, such disability being certified to the county or
district truant officer by a competent physician licensed in
Illinois to practice medicine and surgery in all its branches,
an advanced practice nurse who has a written collaborative
agreement with a collaborating physician that authorizes the
advanced practice nurse to perform health examinations, a
physician assistant who has been delegated the authority to
perform health examinations by his or her supervising
physician, or a Christian Science practitioner residing in this
State and listed in the Christian Science Journal; or who is
excused for temporary absence for cause by the principal or
teacher of the school which the child attends; the exemptions
in this paragraph (2) do not apply to any female who is
pregnant or the mother of one or more children, except where a
female is unable to attend school due to a complication arising
from her pregnancy and the existence of such complication is
certified to the county or district truant officer by a
competent physician;
    3. Any child necessarily and lawfully employed according to
the provisions of the law regulating child labor may be excused
from attendance at school by the county superintendent of
schools or the superintendent of the public school which the
child should be attending, on certification of the facts by and
the recommendation of the school board of the public school
district in which the child resides. In districts having part
time continuation schools, children so excused shall attend
such schools at least 8 hours each week;
    4. Any child over 12 and under 14 years of age while in
attendance at confirmation classes;
    5. Any child absent from a public school on a particular
day or days or at a particular time of day for the reason that
he is unable to attend classes or to participate in any
examination, study or work requirements on a particular day or
days or at a particular time of day, because the tenets of his
religion forbid secular activity on a particular day or days or
at a particular time of day. Each school board shall prescribe
rules and regulations relative to absences for religious
holidays including, but not limited to, a list of religious
holidays on which it shall be mandatory to excuse a child; but
nothing in this paragraph 5 shall be construed to limit the
right of any school board, at its discretion, to excuse an
absence on any other day by reason of the observance of a
religious holiday. A school board may require the parent or
guardian of a child who is to be excused from attending school
due to the observance of a religious holiday to give notice,
not exceeding 5 days, of the child's absence to the school
principal or other school personnel. Any child excused from
attending school under this paragraph 5 shall not be required
to submit a written excuse for such absence after returning to
school; and
    6. Any child 16 years of age or older who (i) submits to a
school district evidence of necessary and lawful employment
pursuant to paragraph 3 of this Section and (ii) is enrolled in
a graduation incentives program pursuant to Section 26-16 of
this Code or an alternative learning opportunities program
established pursuant to Article 13B of this Code.
(Source: P.A. 93-858, eff. 1-1-05.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.

Effective Date: 7/28/2005