Public Act 100-1112
 
HB5770 EnrolledLRB100 19591 AXK 34861 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 Section
14-6.01 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. A school board shall publish a public notice in its
newsletter of general circulation or in the newsletter of
another governmental entity of general circulation in the
district or if neither is available in the district, then in a
newspaper of general circulation in the district, the right of
all children with disabilities to a free appropriate public
education as provided under this Code. 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.
    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.
    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.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.