Sen. Kimberly A. Lightford

Filed: 5/25/2017

 

 


 

 


 
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1
AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 453

2    AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 453 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 2-3.170 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, 2017 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.)
 
5    (105 ILCS 5/2-3.170 new)
6    Sec. 2-3.170. 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 over-criminalization 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.
7Under this program, selected school districts must reallocate
8funding for school-based law enforcement personnel in some or
9all of their schools to other evidence-based and promising
10practices designed to promote school safety and healthy
11learning environments, including, but not limited to,
12restorative justice programs; increased use of school
13psychologists, social workers, and other mental and behavioral
14health specialists; drug and alcohol treatment services;
15wraparound services for youth; and training for school staff on
16conflict resolution techniques and other disciplinary
17alternatives. For purposes of this subsection (b), "promising
18practices" means practices that present, based on preliminary
19information, potential for becoming evidence-based practices.
20    To apply for a grant under the program, school districts
21shall submit applications that outline their plans for
22reallocating their funds, including the total amount of funds
23to be reallocated. Subject to the availability of funds, for
24grant recipients, the Safe Schools and Healthy Learning
25Environments Program shall match the amount that is reallocated
26from school-based law enforcement personnel to alternative

 

 

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1methods of addressing student behavior on a dollar-for-dollar
2basis.
3    Grant funds shall be used only to fund alternatives to
4school-based arrests and law enforcement presence in schools.
5Grant funds shall not be used to increase the use of
6school-based security personnel. Grant funds may be used to
7transition from school-based law enforcement personnel to
8alternative patrol structures. Nothing in this Section shall
9prohibit school districts from involving law enforcement
10personnel when necessary and allowed by law.
11    (c) The State Board of Education, subject to appropriation
12of the grant program, shall annually disseminate a request for
13applications to this program and funds shall be distributed
14annually. The criteria to be considered by the State Board of
15Education in awarding the funds shall be (i) the arrest rates
16in the target schools over the preceding 3 years, which shall
17be calculated as the number of arrests divided by the number of
18students; (ii) the ratio of school-based law enforcement
19personnel to students in the target schools over the preceding
203 years; and (iii) the degree to which the proposal articulates
21a strong, comprehensive approach for eliminating unnecessary
22school-based arrests and the over-reliance on school-based law
23enforcement to address school disciplinary matters while
24building safer and healthier learning environments.
25    For factor (i), applicant school districts shall be ranked
26from highest arrest rates to lowest, with higher arrest rates

 

 

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1receiving priority. For factor (ii), applicant school
2districts shall be ranked from the highest ratio of
3school-based law enforcement to students to the lowest ratio,
4with the higher ratios receiving priority. For factor (iii),
5applicant school districts shall be ranked on the basis of the
6strength of their overall strategy, with all school districts
7that fail to articulate a sound approach being excluded from
8consideration. The State Board of Education shall determine a
9scoring system for each factor based on the relative ranking of
10the applicant school districts. Applicant school districts'
11overall cumulative scores shall be based on the following
12weights: factor (i): 40%; factor (ii): 20%; and factor (iii):
1340%. If the appropriated funds are insufficient to provide
14matching funds to all selected grantees, the funds shall be
15awarded to the qualified applicant school districts on a
16proportionate basis, based on the number of students within the
17school districts to be affected by the grants, unless the
18resulting allocation to qualified applicants would be less than
1925% of some or all school districts' proposed reallocation
20amounts. In that event, funds shall be awarded on a
21proportionate basis to school districts in the order of their
22respective scores, with the highest-scoring school district
23receiving top priority, up until the point at which the
24resulting allocations would be less than 25% of some or all
25selected school districts' proposed reallocation amounts. If
26the appropriated funds exceed what is required to provide

 

 

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1dollar-for-dollar matching funds to all qualified applicants,
2the surplus shall be rolled over to be used for grants the
3following year.
4    (d) The State Board of Education, subject to appropriation
5to the grant program, in cooperation with the school districts
6participating in the program, shall produce an annual report on
7the results of the program, including both quantitative and
8qualitative information on the progress being made in reducing
9both unnecessary school-based arrests and the over-reliance on
10school-based law enforcement to address school disciplinary
11matters, and the effects of the program on school safety and
12school climate. The report shall include the number of
13school-based arrests made within each participating school
14district during the school year prior to the grant compared to
15the number of school-based arrests made during the school year
16the grant was awarded. This report shall be posted on the State
17Board of Education's website by October 31st of each year,
18beginning in 2018.
19    (e) The State Board of Education may adopt rules necessary
20for the implementation of this program.".
 
21    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
22becoming law.".