SB1303 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB101 07089 AXK 52126 b

101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2019 and 2020
SB1303

Introduced 2/7/2019, by Sen. Andy Manar

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

105 ILCS 5/2-3.176 new

Amends the School Code. Requires the State Board of Education to create the Freshman Success pilot program. Provides that, subject to appropriation, the State Board must award grants to school districts to implement Freshman Success plans; specifies grant eligibility requirements. Provides that, on or before December 1, 2019 and on or before each December 1 thereafter, the State Board shall make grant applications available and issue a list of all school districts eligible to apply. Requires each grant applicant to describe its plan and how the grant funds will be allocated; provides for allowable grant uses. Provides that the State Board must review all submitted applications to determine if an applicant has developed a promising plan to increase on-track freshman rates and has demonstrated the leadership and capacity to implement its plan with the grant assistance. If so, provides that the State Board may award the applicant a grant of up to $100,000 per qualifying high school in the school district. Effective immediately.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning education.

WHEREAS, The freshman year of high school is a critically important year for getting students started on the right foot in high school; and

WHEREAS, Students who complete freshman year on track, where they earn 6 credits and fail no more than one core course, are 3 times more likely to graduate from high school; and

WHEREAS, Illinois is the birthplace of extensive research on the value of focusing on keeping freshmen on track, building from a 2008 report of the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research; and

WHEREAS, Illinois' new accountability system incorporates on-track freshman rates for high schools across the State; and

WHEREAS, This Act may be referred to as the Freshman Success Act; therefore

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The School Code is amended by adding Section 2-3.176 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/2-3.176 new)

Sec. 2-3.176. Freshman Success pilot program.

(a) In this Section, "qualifying high school" means a high school that has a 5-year graduation rate and an on-track freshman rate of 80% or less on its most recent school report card.

(b) The State Board shall create a Freshman Success pilot program. Subject to appropriation, the State Board must award grants to school districts under this Section to implement Freshman Success plans. To be eligible for a grant, a school district must meet all of the following criteria:

(1) The district must be identified as a Tier 1 or Tier 2 Organizational Unit under Section 18-8.15.

(2) The district must have at least one qualifying high school within the district.

(c) On or before December 1, 2019 and on or before each December 1 thereafter, the State Board must make grant applications available and issue a list of all school districts eligible to apply. Each applicant must describe its Freshman Success plan and how the grant funds will be allocated. Allowable uses for grant funds include, but are not limited to, all of the following:

(1) Hiring a dedicated staff member to support freshmen students.

(2) Providing professional development to existing staff members to integrate practices that improve freshman attendance.

(3) Increasing tutoring or other support services for freshmen students who are failing a core course.

(4) Providing in-school mentoring opportunities to freshmen students to boost the number of students who have a strong relationship with an adult in the school building.

(5) Any other practice that is likely to lead to improved freshman success.

(d) The State Board must review all submitted applications to determine if an applicant has developed a promising plan to increase on-track freshman rates and has demonstrated the leadership and capacity to implement its plan with the grant assistance. If so, the State Board may award the applicant a grant of up to $100,000 per qualifying high school in the school district.

(e) As a condition of receiving a grant under this Section, an applicant must agree to produce and submit a report to the State Board and the General Assembly that accounts for the expenditure of the grant funds and the results of the school district's effort to increase on-track freshman rates.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.