Rep. Emanuel Chris Welch

Filed: 4/23/2018

 

 


 

 


 
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1
AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 4208

2    AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 4208 by replacing
3everything after the enacting clause with the following:
 
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

 

 

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1Board of Education. The report shall include data on the
2issuance of out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, and
3removals to alternative settings in lieu of another
4disciplinary action, disaggregated by race and ethnicity,
5gender, age, grade level, whether a student is an English
6learner, incident type, and discipline duration.
7    (b) The State Board of Education shall analyze the data
8under subsection (a) of this Section on an annual basis and
9determine the top 20% of school districts qualifying under any
10of for the following metrics:
11        (1) Total number of out-of-school suspensions divided
12    by the total district enrollment by the last school day in
13    September for the year in which the data was collected,
14    multiplied by 100.
15        (2) Total number of out-of-school expulsions divided
16    by the total district enrollment by the last school day in
17    September for the year in which the data was collected,
18    multiplied by 100.
19        (3) Racial disproportionality, defined as the
20    overrepresentation of students of color or white students
21    in comparison to the total number of students of color or
22    white students on October 1st of the school year in which
23    data are collected, with respect to the use of
24    out-of-school suspensions and expulsions, which must be
25    calculated using the same method as the U.S. Department of
26    Education's Office for Civil Rights uses.

 

 

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1    The analysis must be based on data collected over 3
2consecutive school years, beginning with the 2014-2015 school
3year.
4    (c) On or before October 31, 2018 and on or before October
531 of each subsequent year, the State Board of Education shall
6notify each school district Beginning with the 2017-2018 school
7year, the State Board of Education shall require each of the
8school districts that are identified in the top 20% of any of
9the metrics described in this subsection (b) of this Section
10for 3 consecutive school years that the school district must
11submit a plan in conformance with subsection (d) of this
12Section.
13    (d) School districts identified in the top 20% of any of
14the metrics described in subsection (b) of this Section for 3
15consecutive school years must, in a manner prescribed by the
16State Board of Education, submit a plan to the State Board of
17Education that identifies to submit a plan identifying the
18strategies the school district will implement to reduce the use
19of exclusionary disciplinary practices or racial
20disproportionality or both, if applicable. School districts
21that no longer meet the criteria described in any of the
22metrics described in this subsection (b) for 3 consecutive
23years shall no longer be required to submit a plan.
24    This plan may be combined with any other improvement plans
25required under federal or State law.
26    The plan must be approved at a public school board meeting

 

 

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1no later than 90 days after notification from the State Board
2of Education pursuant to subsection (c) of this Section and
3must be posted on the school district's Internet website.
4Within one calendar year after the school board's approval of
5the plan, the school district shall submit to the State Board
6of Education, in a manner prescribed by the State Board of
7Education, and post on the district's Internet website a
8progress report describing the implementation of the plan and
9the results achieved. Additional annual progress reports shall
10be required until a school district no longer meets the
11criteria in any of the metrics described in subsection (b) of
12this Section for 3 consecutive school years.
13    (e) The calculation of the top 20% of any of the metrics
14described in this subsection (b) of this Section shall exclude
15all school districts, State-authorized charter schools, and
16special charter districts that issued fewer than a total of 10
17out-of-school suspensions or expulsions, whichever is
18applicable, during the school year. The calculation of the top
1920% of the metric described in subdivision (3) of this
20subsection (b) of this Section shall exclude all school
21districts with an enrollment of fewer than 50 white students or
22fewer than 50 students of color.
23    The plan must be approved at a public school board meeting
24and posted on the school district's Internet website. Within
25one year after being identified, the school district shall
26submit to the State Board of Education and post on the

 

 

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1district's Internet website a progress report describing the
2implementation of the plan and the results achieved.
3(Source: P.A. 98-1102, eff. 8-26-14; 99-30, eff. 7-10-15;
499-78, eff. 7-20-15; revised 9-25-17.)
 
5    (105 ILCS 5/2-3.173 new)
6    Sec. 2-3.173. Safe Schools and Healthy Learning
7Environments Program.
8    (a) The General Assembly recognizes that (i) many K-12
9students around the State are arrested in school and sent into
10the justice system, often for minor offenses that do not pose a
11serious threat to school safety; (ii) many schools across the
12State have become overly reliant on law enforcement personnel
13to handle routine school disciplinary matters; (iii) many
14student behaviors that result in arrest in some schools are
15addressed without involving the justice system in others; (iv)
16the overcriminalization of K-12 students has had significant
17negative consequences for students, families, and entire
18communities; (v) these dynamics, known as the
19"school-to-prison pipeline", have disproportionately affected
20students of color; (vi) these practices impose substantial
21economic costs on both localities and the State overall; (vii)
22the use of school-based law enforcement has not been proven
23effective as a strategy to promote safe and productive schools;
24and (viii) eliminating unnecessary school-based arrests and
25law enforcement presence in school while promoting the use of

 

 

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1developmentally appropriate alternatives will protect school
2safety, improve school climate, raise academic achievement,
3and save taxpayer dollars.
4    (b) The State Board of Education, subject to appropriation,
5is authorized to award competitive grants on an annual basis
6under a Safe Schools and Healthy Learning Environments Program.
7The goal of this grant program is to promote school safety and
8healthy learning environments by reducing the reliance on law
9enforcement to address school disciplinary matters and
10implement alternative strategies that will better address the
11full range of students' intellectual, social, emotional,
12physical, psychological, and moral developmental needs. To
13receive a grant under this program, school districts must
14develop plans for implementing evidence-based and promising
15practices that are aligned with this goal, including, but not
16limited to, hiring restorative justice practitioners, school
17psychologists, social workers, and other mental and behavioral
18health specialists, providing drug and alcohol treatment
19services and wraparound services for youth, training for school
20staff on alternatives to law enforcement involvement for
21school-based offenses that include restorative justice
22approaches, conflict resolution techniques, and expanded use
23of school support personnel and community-based services,
24trauma-informed approaches to meeting students' developmental
25needs, and addressing the effects of toxic stress. For purposes
26of this subsection (b), "promising practices" means practices

 

 

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1that present, based on preliminary information, potential for
2becoming evidence-based practices.
3    Grant funds shall not be used to increase the use of
4school-based law enforcement or security personnel. Grant
5funds may be used to transition from school-based law
6enforcement personnel to alternative patrol structures.
7Nothing in this Section shall prohibit school districts from
8involving law enforcement personnel when necessary and allowed
9by law.
10    (c) The State Board of Education, subject to appropriation
11of the grant program, shall annually disseminate a request for
12applications to this program and funds shall be distributed
13annually. The criteria to be considered by the State Board of
14Education in awarding the funds shall be (i) the arrest rates
15in the target schools over the preceding 3 years, which shall
16be calculated as the number of arrests divided by the number of
17students; (ii) the ratio of school-based law enforcement
18personnel to students in the target schools over the preceding
193 years; and (iii) the degree to which the proposal articulates
20a strong, comprehensive approach for eliminating unnecessary
21school-based arrests and the over-reliance on law enforcement
22to address school disciplinary matters while building safer and
23healthier learning environments.
24    For criterion (i), applicant school districts shall be
25ranked from highest arrest rates to lowest, with higher arrest
26rates receiving priority. For criterion (ii), applicant school

 

 

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1districts shall be ranked from the highest ratio of
2school-based law enforcement to students to the lowest ratio,
3with the higher ratios receiving priority. For criterion (iii),
4applicant school districts shall be ranked on the basis of the
5strength of their overall strategy, with all school districts
6that fail to articulate a sound approach being excluded from
7consideration. The State Board of Education shall determine a
8scoring system for each criterion based on the relative ranking
9of the applicant school districts. Applicant school districts'
10overall cumulative scores shall be based on the following
11weights: criterion (i): 40%; criterion (ii): 20%; and criterion
12(iii): 40%. If the appropriated funds are insufficient to
13provide funds to all selected grantees, the State Board of
14Education shall have discretion to choose the number of school
15districts that will receive funds as well as the amount of
16their grant awards, with the highest-scoring school districts
17receiving priority. If the appropriated funds exceed what is
18required to provide funding to all qualified applicants, the
19surplus shall be rolled over to be used for grants the
20following year.
21    (d) The State Board of Education, subject to appropriation
22to the grant program, shall produce an annual report on the
23results of the Safe Schools and Healthy Learning Environments
24Program in cooperation with the school districts participating
25in the program. The report shall include both quantitative and
26qualitative information on the progress being made in reducing

 

 

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1unnecessary school-based arrests and the over-reliance on law
2enforcement to address school disciplinary matters, and the
3effects of the program on school safety and school climate. The
4report shall include the number of school-based arrests made
5within participating schools during the 3 school years prior to
6the grant compared to the number of school-based arrests made
7during the school year the grant was awarded. This report shall
8be posted on the State Board of Education's website by October
931 of each year, beginning in 2019.
10    (e) The State Board of Education may adopt rules necessary
11for the implementation of this program.
 
12    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1,
132018.".