100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2017 and 2018
HB4208

 

Introduced , by Rep. Emanuel Chris Welch

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
105 ILCS 5/2-3.162
105 ILCS 5/2-3.173 new

    Amends the School Code. With respect to school discipline improvement plans, makes changes to how the State Board of Education determines the top 20% of school districts, when notification is given that a plan must be submitted, which school districts are required to submit a plan, the timeframe for school board approval of a plan and submission of that plan to the State Board, and when additional annual progress reports are required. Establishes the Safe Schools and Healthy Learning Environments Program and grants under the program. Sets forth requirements for grant applicants and provisions for the distribution of funds appropriated for the program. Requires the State Board of Education to issue a yearly report on the results of the program in cooperation with school districts participating in the program. Provides that the State Board may adopt rules necessary for the program. Effective July 1, 2018.


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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

HB4208LRB100 16263 AXK 31386 b

1    AN ACT concerning education.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section
52-3.162 and by adding Section 2-3.173 as follows:
 
6    (105 ILCS 5/2-3.162)
7    Sec. 2-3.162. Student discipline report; school discipline
8improvement plan.
9    (a) On or before October 31, 2015 and on or before October
1031 of each subsequent year, the State Board of Education,
11through the State Superintendent of Education, shall prepare a
12report on student discipline in all school districts in this
13State, including State-authorized charter schools. This report
14shall include data from all public schools within school
15districts, including district-authorized charter schools. This
16report must be posted on the Internet website of the State
17Board of Education. The report shall include data on the
18issuance of out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, and
19removals to alternative settings in lieu of another
20disciplinary action, disaggregated by race and ethnicity,
21gender, age, grade level, whether a student is an English
22learner, incident type, and discipline duration.
23    (b) The State Board of Education shall analyze the data

 

 

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1under subsection (a) of this Section on an annual basis and
2determine the top 20% of school districts qualifying under any
3of for the following metrics:
4        (1) Total number of out-of-school suspensions divided
5    by the total district enrollment by the last school day in
6    September for the year in which the data was collected,
7    multiplied by 100.
8        (2) Total number of out-of-school expulsions divided
9    by the total district enrollment by the last school day in
10    September for the year in which the data was collected,
11    multiplied by 100.
12        (3) Racial disproportionality, defined as the
13    overrepresentation of students of color or white students
14    in comparison to the total number of students of color or
15    white students on October 1st of the school year in which
16    data are collected, with respect to the use of
17    out-of-school suspensions and expulsions, which must be
18    calculated using the same method as the U.S. Department of
19    Education's Office for Civil Rights uses.
20    The analysis must be based on data collected over 3
21consecutive school years, beginning with the 2014-2015 school
22year.
23    (c) On or before October 31, 2018 and on or before October
2431 of each subsequent year, the State Board of Education shall
25notify each school district Beginning with the 2017-2018 school
26year, the State Board of Education shall require each of the

 

 

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1school districts that are identified in the top 20% of any of
2the metrics described in this subsection (b) of this Section
3for 3 consecutive school years that the school district must
4submit a plan in conformance with subsection (d) of this
5Section.
6    (d) School districts identified in the top 20% of any of
7the metrics described in subsection (b) of this Section for 3
8consecutive school years must, in a manner prescribed by the
9State Board of Education, submit a plan to the State Board of
10Education that identifies to submit a plan identifying the
11strategies the school district will implement to reduce the use
12of exclusionary disciplinary practices or racial
13disproportionality or both, if applicable. School districts
14that no longer meet the criteria described in any of the
15metrics described in this subsection (b) for 3 consecutive
16years shall no longer be required to submit a plan.
17    This plan may be combined with any other improvement plans
18required under federal or State law.
19    The plan must be approved at a public school board meeting
20no later than 90 days after notification from the State Board
21of Education pursuant to subsection (c) of this Section and
22must be posted on the school district's Internet website.
23Within one calendar year after the school board's approval of
24the plan, the school district shall submit to the State Board
25of Education, in a manner prescribed by the State Board of
26Education, and post on the district's Internet website a

 

 

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1progress report describing the implementation of the plan and
2the results achieved. Additional annual progress reports shall
3be required until a school district no longer meets the
4criteria in any of the metrics described in subsection (b) of
5this Section for 3 consecutive school years.
6    (e) The calculation of the top 20% of any of the metrics
7described in this subsection (b) of this Section shall exclude
8all school districts, State-authorized charter schools, and
9special charter districts that issued fewer than a total of 10
10out-of-school suspensions or expulsions, whichever is
11applicable, during the school year. The calculation of the top
1220% of the metric described in subdivision (3) of this
13subsection (b) of this Section shall exclude all school
14districts with an enrollment of fewer than 50 white students or
15fewer than 50 students of color.
16    The plan must be approved at a public school board meeting
17and posted on the school district's Internet website. Within
18one year after being identified, the school district shall
19submit to the State Board of Education and post on the
20district's Internet website a progress report describing the
21implementation of the plan and the results achieved.
22(Source: P.A. 98-1102, eff. 8-26-14; 99-30, eff. 7-10-15;
2399-78, eff. 7-20-15; revised 9-25-17.)
 
24    (105 ILCS 5/2-3.173 new)
25    Sec. 2-3.173. Safe Schools and Healthy Learning

 

 

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1Environments Program.
2    (a) The General Assembly recognizes that (i) many K-12
3students around the State are arrested in school and sent into
4the justice system, often for minor offenses that do not pose a
5serious threat to school safety; (ii) many schools across the
6State have become overly reliant on law enforcement personnel
7to handle routine school disciplinary matters; (iii) many
8student behaviors that result in arrest in some schools are
9addressed without involving the justice system in others; (iv)
10the overcriminalization of K-12 students has had significant
11negative consequences for students, families, and entire
12communities; (v) these dynamics, known as the
13"school-to-prison pipeline", have disproportionately affected
14students of color; (vi) these practices impose substantial
15economic costs on both localities and the State overall; (vii)
16the use of school-based law enforcement has not been proven
17effective as a strategy to promote safe and productive schools;
18and (viii) eliminating unnecessary school-based arrests and
19law enforcement presence in school while promoting the use of
20developmentally appropriate alternatives will protect school
21safety, improve school climate, raise academic achievement,
22and save taxpayer dollars.
23    (b) The State Board of Education, subject to appropriation,
24is authorized to award competitive grants on an annual basis
25under a Safe Schools and Healthy Learning Environments Program.
26Under this program, selected school districts must reallocate

 

 

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1funding for school-based law enforcement personnel in some or
2all of their schools to other evidence-based and promising
3practices designed to promote school safety and healthy
4learning environments, including, but not limited to,
5restorative justice programs; increased use of school
6psychologists, social workers, and other mental and behavioral
7health specialists; drug and alcohol treatment services;
8wraparound services for youth; and training for school staff on
9conflict resolution techniques and other disciplinary
10alternatives. For purposes of this subsection (b), "promising
11practices" means practices that present, based on preliminary
12information, potential for becoming evidence-based practices.
13    To apply for a grant under the program, school districts
14shall submit applications that outline their plans for
15reallocating their funds, including the total amount of funds
16to be reallocated. Subject to the availability of funds, for
17grant recipients, the Safe Schools and Healthy Learning
18Environments Program shall match the amount that is reallocated
19from school-based law enforcement personnel to alternative
20methods of addressing student behavior on a dollar-for-dollar
21basis.
22    Grant funds shall be used only to fund alternatives to
23school-based arrests and law enforcement presence in schools.
24Grant funds shall not be used to increase the use of
25school-based security personnel. Grant funds may be used to
26transition from school-based law enforcement personnel to

 

 

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1alternative patrol structures. Nothing in this Section shall
2prohibit school districts from involving law enforcement
3personnel when necessary and allowed by law.
4    (c) The State Board of Education, subject to appropriation
5of the grant program, shall annually disseminate a request for
6applications to this program and funds shall be distributed
7annually. The criteria to be considered by the State Board of
8Education in awarding the funds shall be (i) the arrest rates
9in the target schools over the preceding 3 years, which shall
10be calculated as the number of arrests divided by the number of
11students; (ii) the ratio of school-based law enforcement
12personnel to students in the target schools over the preceding
133 years; and (iii) the degree to which the proposal articulates
14a strong, comprehensive approach for eliminating unnecessary
15school-based arrests and the over-reliance on school-based law
16enforcement to address school disciplinary matters while
17building safer and healthier learning environments.
18    For factor (i), applicant school districts shall be ranked
19from highest arrest rates to lowest, with higher arrest rates
20receiving priority. For factor (ii), applicant school
21districts shall be ranked from the highest ratio of
22school-based law enforcement to students to the lowest ratio,
23with the higher ratios receiving priority. For factor (iii),
24applicant school districts shall be ranked on the basis of the
25strength of their overall strategy, with all school districts
26that fail to articulate a sound approach being excluded from

 

 

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1consideration. The State Board of Education shall determine a
2scoring system for each factor based on the relative ranking of
3the applicant school districts. Applicant school districts'
4overall cumulative scores shall be based on the following
5weights: factor (i): 40%; factor (ii): 20%; and factor (iii):
640%. If the appropriated funds are insufficient to provide
7matching funds to all selected grantees, the funds shall be
8awarded to the qualified applicant school districts on a
9proportionate basis, based on the number of students within the
10school districts to be affected by the grants, unless the
11resulting allocation to qualified applicants would be less than
1225% of some or all school districts' proposed reallocation
13amounts. In that event, funds shall be awarded on a
14proportionate basis to school districts in the order of their
15respective scores, with the highest-scoring school district
16receiving top priority, up until the point at which the
17resulting allocations would be less than 25% of some or all
18selected school districts' proposed reallocation amounts. If
19the appropriated funds exceed what is required to provide
20dollar-for-dollar matching funds to all qualified applicants,
21the surplus shall be rolled over to be used for grants the
22following year.
23    (d) The State Board of Education, subject to appropriation
24to the grant program, shall produce an annual report on the
25results of the Safe Schools and Healthy Learning Environments
26Program in cooperation with the school districts participating

 

 

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1in the program. The report shall include both quantitative and
2qualitative information on the progress being made in reducing
3unnecessary school-based arrests and the over-reliance on
4school-based law enforcement to address school disciplinary
5matters, and the effects of the program on school safety and
6school climate. The report shall include the number of
7school-based arrests made within participating schools during
8the 3 school years prior to the grant compared to the number of
9school-based arrests made during the school year the grant was
10awarded. This report shall be posted on the State Board of
11Education's website by October 31 of each year, beginning in
122019.
13    (e) The State Board of Education may adopt rules necessary
14for the implementation of this program.
 
15    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect on July
161, 2018.