| ||||
| Public Act 101-0515 | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
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 | ||||
14-6.01 and 14-8.02f and by adding Section 14-8.02g as follows:
| ||||
(105 ILCS 5/14-6.01) (from Ch. 122, par. 14-6.01)
| ||||
Sec. 14-6.01. Powers and duties of school boards. School | ||||
boards of
one or more school districts establishing and | ||||
maintaining any of the
educational facilities described in this | ||||
Article shall, in connection
therewith, exercise similar | ||||
powers and duties as are prescribed by law
for the | ||||
establishment, maintenance, and management of other recognized
| ||||
educational facilities. Such school boards shall include only | ||||
eligible
children in the program and shall comply with all the | ||||
requirements of
this Article and all rules and regulations | ||||
established by the State
Board of Education. Such school boards | ||||
shall accept in part-time
attendance children with | ||||
disabilities of the types
described in Sections
14-1.02 through | ||||
14-1.07 who are enrolled in nonpublic schools. A
request for | ||||
part-time attendance must be submitted by a parent or
guardian | ||||
of the child with a disability and may be made
only to those | ||||
public
schools located in the district where the child | ||||
attending the nonpublic
school resides; however, nothing in | ||||
this Section shall be construed as
prohibiting an agreement | ||
between the district where the child resides
and another public | ||
school district to provide special educational
services if such | ||
an arrangement is deemed more convenient and
economical. | ||
Special education and related services must be provided in | ||
accordance with the student's IEP no later than 10 school | ||
attendance days after notice is provided to the parents | ||
pursuant to Section 300.503 of Title 34 of the Code of Federal | ||
Regulations and implementing rules adopted by the State Board | ||
of Education. Transportation for students in part time | ||
attendance shall be
provided only if required in the child's | ||
individualized educational program
on the basis of the child's | ||
disabling condition or as the
special education
program | ||
location may require.
| ||
Beginning with the 2019-2020 school year, a school board | ||
shall post on its Internet website, if any, and incorporate | ||
into its student handbook or newsletter notice that students | ||
with disabilities who do not qualify for an individualized | ||
education program, as required by the federal Individuals with | ||
Disabilities Education Act and implementing provisions of this | ||
Code, may qualify for services under Section 504 of the federal | ||
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 if the child (i) has a physical or | ||
mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major | ||
life activities, (ii) has a record of a physical or mental | ||
impairment, or (iii) is regarded as having a physical or mental | ||
impairment. Such notice shall identify the location and
phone | ||
number of the office or agent of the school district to whom
| ||
inquiries should be directed regarding the identification, | ||
assessment and
placement of such children.
| ||
For a school district organized under Article 34 only, | ||
beginning with the 2019-2020 school year, the school district | ||
shall, in collaboration with its primary office overseeing | ||
special education, publish on the school district's publicly | ||
available website any proposed changes to its special education | ||
policies, directives, guidelines, or procedures that impact | ||
the provision of educational or related services to students | ||
with disabilities or the procedural safeguards afforded to | ||
students with disabilities or their parents or guardians made | ||
by the school district or school board. Any policy, directive, | ||
guideline, or procedural change that impacts those provisions | ||
or safeguards that is authorized by the school district's | ||
primary office overseeing special education or any other | ||
administrative office of the school district must be published | ||
on the school district's publicly available website no later | ||
than 45 days before the adoption of that change. Any policy | ||
directive, guideline, or procedural change that impacts those | ||
provisions or safeguards that is authorized by the school board | ||
must be published on the school district's publicly available | ||
website no later than 30 days before the date of presentation | ||
to the school board for adoption. The school district's website | ||
must allow for virtual public comments on proposed special | ||
education policy, directive, guideline, or procedural changes | ||
that impact the provision of educational or related services to | ||
students with disabilities or the procedural safeguards | ||
afforded to students with disabilities or their parents or | ||
guardians from the date of the notification of the proposed | ||
change on the website until the date the change is adopted by | ||
the school district or until the date the change is presented | ||
to the school board for adoption. After the period for public | ||
comment is closed, the school district must maintain all public | ||
comments for a period of not less than 2 years from the date | ||
the special education change is adopted. The public comments | ||
are subject to the Freedom of Information Act. The school board | ||
shall, at a minimum, advertise the notice of the change and | ||
availability for public comment on its website. The State Board | ||
of Education may add additional reporting requirements for the | ||
district beyond policy, directive, guideline, or procedural | ||
changes that impact the provision of educational or related | ||
services to students with disabilities or the procedural | ||
safeguards afforded to students with disabilities or their | ||
parents or guardians if the State Board determines it is in the | ||
best interest of the students enrolled in the district | ||
receiving special education services. | ||
School boards shall immediately provide upon request by any | ||
person
written materials and other information that indicates | ||
the specific
policies, procedures, rules and regulations | ||
regarding the identification,
evaluation or educational | ||
placement of children with
disabilities under Section
14-8.02 | ||
of the School Code. Such information shall include information
| ||
regarding all rights and entitlements of such children under | ||
this Code, and
of the opportunity to present complaints with | ||
respect to any matter
relating to educational placement of the | ||
student, or the provision of a
free appropriate public | ||
education and to have an impartial due process
hearing on the | ||
complaint. The notice shall inform the parents or guardian
in | ||
the parents' or guardian's native language, unless it is | ||
clearly not
feasible to do so, of their rights and all | ||
procedures available pursuant to
this Act and federal Public | ||
Law 94-142; it shall be the responsibility of
the State | ||
Superintendent to develop uniform notices setting forth the
| ||
procedures available under this Act and federal Public Law | ||
94-142, as
amended, to be used by all school boards. The notice | ||
shall also inform the
parents or guardian of the availability | ||
upon request of a list of free or
low-cost legal and other | ||
relevant services available locally to assist
parents or | ||
guardians in exercising rights or entitlements under this Code. | ||
For a school district organized under Article 34 only, the | ||
school district must make the entirety of its special education | ||
Procedural Manual and any other guidance documents pertaining | ||
to special education publicly available, in print and on the | ||
school district's website, in both English and Spanish. Upon | ||
request, the school district must make the Procedural Manual | ||
and other guidance documents available in print in any other | ||
language and accessible for individuals with disabilities.
| ||
Any parent or guardian who is deaf, or does not normally | ||
communicate
using spoken English, who participates in a meeting | ||
with a representative
of a local educational agency for the | ||
purposes of developing an
individualized educational program | ||
shall be entitled to the services of
an interpreter.
| ||
No student with a disability or, in a school district | ||
organized under Article 34 of this Code, child with a learning | ||
disability may be denied promotion,
graduation or a general
| ||
diploma on the basis of failing a minimal competency test when | ||
such failure
can be directly related to the disabling
condition | ||
of the student. For the
purpose of this Act, "minimal | ||
competency testing" is defined as tests which
are constructed | ||
to measure the acquisition of skills to or beyond a certain
| ||
defined standard.
| ||
Effective July 1, 1966, high school districts are | ||
financially
responsible for the education of pupils with | ||
disabilities who
are residents in their
districts when such | ||
pupils have reached age 15 but may admit
children with | ||
disabilities into special educational facilities without
| ||
regard to graduation
from the eighth grade after such pupils | ||
have reached the age of 14 1/2 years.
Upon a pupil with a | ||
disability attaining the age of 14 1/2 years,
it shall be
the | ||
duty of the elementary school district in which the pupil | ||
resides to
notify the high school district in which the pupil | ||
resides of the pupil's
current eligibility for special | ||
education services, of the pupil's current
program, and of all | ||
evaluation data upon which the current program is
based. After | ||
an examination of that information the high school district
may | ||
accept the current placement and all subsequent timelines shall | ||
be
governed by the current individualized educational program; | ||
or the high
school district may elect to conduct its own | ||
evaluation and
multidisciplinary staff conference and | ||
formulate its own individualized
educational program, in which | ||
case the procedures and timelines contained
in Section 14-8.02 | ||
shall apply.
| ||
(Source: P.A. 99-143, eff. 7-27-15; 99-592, eff. 7-22-16; | ||
100-201, eff. 8-18-17; 100-1112, eff. 8-28-18.)
| ||
(105 ILCS 5/14-8.02f) | ||
Sec. 14-8.02f. Individualized education program meeting | ||
protections ; municipality with 1,000,000 or more inhabitants. | ||
(a) (Blank). This Section only applies to school districts | ||
organized under Article 34 of this Code. | ||
(b) This subsection (b) applies only to a school district | ||
organized under Article 34. No later than 10 calendar days | ||
prior to a child's individualized education program meeting or | ||
as soon as possible if a meeting is scheduled within 10 | ||
calendar days with written parental consent, the school board | ||
or school personnel must provide the child's parent or guardian | ||
with a written notification of the services that require a | ||
specific data collection procedure from the school district for | ||
services related to the child's individualized education | ||
program. The notification must indicate, with a checkbox, | ||
whether specific data has been collected for the child's | ||
individualized education program services. For purposes of | ||
this subsection (b), individualized education program services | ||
must include, but are not limited to, paraprofessional support, | ||
an extended school year, transportation, therapeutic day | ||
school, and services for specific learning disabilities. | ||
(c) No later than 3 5 school days prior to a child's | ||
individualized education program eligibility meeting or | ||
meeting to review a child's individualized education program, | ||
or as soon as possible if an individualized education program | ||
meeting is scheduled within 3 school days with the written | ||
consent of the child's parent or guardian, the local education | ||
agency must provide the child's parent or guardian with copies | ||
of all written material that will be considered by the | ||
individualized education program team at the meeting so that | ||
the parent or guardian may participate in the meeting as a | ||
fully-informed team member. The written material must include, | ||
but is not limited to, all evaluations and collected data that | ||
will be considered at the meeting and, for a child who already | ||
has an individualized education program, a copy of all | ||
individualized education program components that will be | ||
discussed by the individualized education program team, other | ||
than the components related to the educational and related | ||
service minutes proposed for the child and the child's | ||
educational placement. as soon as possible if a meeting is | ||
scheduled within 5 school days with written parental consent, | ||
the school board or school personnel must provide the child's | ||
parent or guardian with a draft individualized education | ||
program. The draft must contain all relevant information | ||
collected about the child and must include, but is not limited | ||
to, the program's goals, draft accommodations and | ||
modifications, copies of all conducted evaluations, and any | ||
collected data. | ||
(d) Local education agencies must make related service logs | ||
that record the type of related services administered under the | ||
child's individualized education program and the minutes of | ||
each type of related service that has been administered | ||
available to the child's parent or guardian at the annual | ||
review of the child's individualized education program and must | ||
also provide a copy of the related service logs at any time | ||
upon request of the child's parent or guardian. The local | ||
education agency must inform the child's parent or guardian | ||
within 20 school days from the beginning of the school year or | ||
upon establishment of an individualized education program of | ||
his or her ability to request those related service logs. If a | ||
child's individualized education program team determines that | ||
certain services are required in order for the child to receive | ||
a free, appropriate public education and those services are not | ||
administered implemented within 10 school days after a date or | ||
frequency set forth by the child's individualized education | ||
program the team's determination, then the local education | ||
agency school board shall provide the child's parent or | ||
guardian with written notification that those services have not | ||
yet been administered to the child. The notification must be | ||
provided to the child's parent or guardian within 3 school days | ||
of the local education agency's non-compliance with the child's | ||
individualized education program and must include information | ||
on the parent's or guardian's ability to request compensatory | ||
services. In this subsection (d), "school days" does not | ||
include days where a child is absent from school for reasons | ||
unrelated to a lack of individualized education program | ||
services. | ||
(e) The State Board of Education may create a telephone | ||
hotline to address complaints regarding the special education | ||
services or lack of special education services of a school | ||
district subject to this Section. If a hotline is created, it | ||
must be available to all students enrolled in the school | ||
district, parents or guardians of those students, and school | ||
personnel. If a hotline is created, any complaints received | ||
through the hotline must be registered and recorded with the | ||
State Board's monitor of special education policies. No | ||
student, parent or guardian, or member of school personnel may | ||
be retaliated against for submitting a complaint through a | ||
telephone hotline created by the State Board under this | ||
subsection (e). | ||
(f) A school district subject to this Section may not use | ||
any measure that would prevent or delay an individualized | ||
education program team from adding a service to the program or | ||
create a time restriction in which a service is prohibited from | ||
being added to the program. The school district may not build | ||
functions into its computer software that would remove any | ||
services from a student's individualized education program | ||
without the approval of the program team and may not prohibit | ||
the program team from adding a service to the program.
| ||
(Source: P.A. 100-993, eff. 8-20-18.) | ||
(105 ILCS 5/14-8.02g new) | ||
Sec. 14-8.02g. Response to scientific, research-based | ||
intervention. | ||
(a) In this Section, "response to scientific, | ||
research-based intervention" or "multi-tiered systems of | ||
support" means a tiered process of school support that utilizes | ||
differentiated instructional strategies for students, provides | ||
students with scientific, research-based interventions, | ||
continuously monitors student performance using | ||
scientifically, research-based progress monitoring | ||
instruments, and makes educational decisions based on a | ||
student's response to the interventions. Response to | ||
scientific, research-based intervention or multi-tiered | ||
systems of support use a problem-solving method to define the | ||
problem, analyze the problem using data to determine why there | ||
is a discrepancy between what is expected and what is | ||
occurring, establish one or more student performance goals, | ||
develop an intervention plan to address the performance goals, | ||
and delineate how the student's progress will be monitored and | ||
how implementation integrity will be ensured. | ||
(b) A school district must utilize response to scientific, | ||
research-based intervention or multi-tiered systems of support | ||
as part of an evaluation procedure to determine if a child is | ||
eligible for special education services due to a specific | ||
learning disability. A school district may utilize the data | ||
generated during the response to scientific, research-based | ||
intervention or multi-tiered systems of support process in an | ||
evaluation to determine if a child is eligible for special | ||
education services due to any category of disability. | ||
(c) The response to scientific, research-based | ||
intervention or multi-tiered systems of support process must | ||
involve a collaborative team approach, with the parent or | ||
guardian of a student being part of the collaborative team. The | ||
parent or guardian of a student must be involved in the data | ||
sharing and decision-making processes of support under this | ||
Section. The State Board of Education may provide guidance to a | ||
school district and identify available resources related to | ||
facilitating parental or guardian participation in the | ||
response to scientific, research-based intervention or | ||
multi-tiered systems of support process. | ||
(d) Nothing in this Section affects the responsibility of a | ||
school district to identify, locate, and evaluate children with | ||
disabilities who are in need of special education services in | ||
accordance with the federal Individuals with Disabilities | ||
Education Improvement Act of 2004, this Code, or any applicable | ||
federal or State rules. | ||
Section 10. The Illinois School Student Records Act is | ||
amended by changing Section 2 as follows:
| ||
(105 ILCS 10/2) (from Ch. 122, par. 50-2)
| ||
Sec. 2.
As used in this Act,
| ||
(a) "Student" means any person enrolled or previously | ||
enrolled in a school.
| ||
(b) "School" means any public preschool, day care center,
| ||
kindergarten, nursery, elementary or secondary educational | ||
institution,
vocational school, special educational facility | ||
or any other elementary or
secondary educational agency or | ||
institution and any person, agency or
institution which | ||
maintains school student records from more than one school,
but | ||
does not include a private or non-public school.
| ||
(c) "State Board" means the State Board of Education.
| ||
(d) "School Student Record" means any writing or
other | ||
recorded information concerning a student
and by which a | ||
student may be individually identified,
maintained by a school | ||
or at its direction or by an employee of a
school, regardless | ||
of how or where the information is stored.
The following shall | ||
not be deemed school student records under
this Act: writings | ||
or other recorded information maintained by an
employee of a | ||
school or other person at the direction of a school for his or
| ||
her exclusive use; provided that all such writings and other | ||
recorded
information are destroyed not later than the student's | ||
graduation or permanent
withdrawal from the school; and | ||
provided further that no such records or
recorded information | ||
may be released or disclosed to any person except a person
| ||
designated by the school as
a substitute unless they are first | ||
incorporated
in a school student record and made subject to all | ||
of the
provisions of this Act.
School student records shall not | ||
include information maintained by
law enforcement | ||
professionals working in the school.
| ||
(e) "Student Permanent Record" means the minimum personal
| ||
information necessary to a school in the education of the | ||
student
and contained in a school student record. Such | ||
information
may include the student's name, birth date, | ||
address, grades
and grade level, parents' names and addresses, | ||
attendance
records, and such other entries as the State Board | ||
may
require or authorize.
| ||
(f) "Student Temporary Record" means all information | ||
contained in
a school student record but not contained in
the | ||
student permanent record. Such information may include
family | ||
background information, intelligence test scores, aptitude
| ||
test scores, psychological and personality test results, | ||
teacher
evaluations, and other information of clear relevance | ||
to the
education of the student, all subject to regulations of | ||
the State Board.
The information shall include information | ||
provided under Section 8.6 of the
Abused and Neglected Child | ||
Reporting Act and information contained in service logs | ||
maintained by a local education agency under subsection (d) of | ||
Section 14-8.02f of the School Code.
In addition, the student | ||
temporary record shall include information regarding
serious | ||
disciplinary infractions that resulted in expulsion, | ||
suspension, or the
imposition of punishment or sanction. For | ||
purposes of this provision, serious
disciplinary infractions | ||
means: infractions involving drugs, weapons, or bodily
harm to | ||
another.
| ||
(g) "Parent" means a person who is the natural parent of | ||
the
student or other person who has the primary responsibility | ||
for the
care and upbringing of the student. All rights and | ||
privileges accorded
to a parent under this Act shall become | ||
exclusively those of the student
upon his 18th birthday, | ||
graduation from secondary school, marriage
or entry into | ||
military service, whichever occurs first. Such
rights and | ||
privileges may also be exercised by the student
at any time | ||
with respect to the student's permanent school record.
| ||
(Source: P.A. 92-295, eff. 1-1-02.)
| ||
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | ||
becoming law.
| ||