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90_HB3344
105 ILCS 5/26-1 from Ch. 122, par. 26-1
105 ILCS 5/26-1.5 new
Amends the School Code. Provides that the exception to
the compulsory public school attendance requirements that is
accorded to children attending a private or parochial school
where instruction is provided in the English language in the
branches of education taught to children of corresponding age
or grade in the public schools does not extend to children in
a home school program unless that program meets the
requirements for a valid home school program. Provides that
a home school program in which the required instruction is
provided is not a valid home school program unless proper
notice is given to the regional superintendent of schools (or
chief administrator of an educational service center in
Chicago) of names, addresses, and birthdates of the children
in the program, unless those children (subject to certain
religious, constitutional, or medical exceptions) receive the
same immunizations and vision and hearing screenings as
public school children, unless those children who are in the
equivalent of third and fifth grade take the State IGAP tests
in reading, writing, and mathematics, and unless appropriate
arrangements are made by the parent or guardian for the
annual evaluation of the academic progress of those
home-school students who do not take the State IGAP tests in
a particular year, such evaluation to be by nationally normed
student achievement tests, a detailed portfolio of lesson
plans and the child's completed work, or some other academic
evaluation mutually agreeable to the parent or guardian and
the regional superintendent of schools or chief
administrator. Adds provisions relative to remediation.
Provides that a parent or guardian violates the compulsory
attendance laws of the State and is subject to prosecution if
the home school program in which his or her child is enrolled
is not a valid home school program.
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1 AN ACT to amend the School Code by changing Section 26-1
2 and adding Section 26-1.5.
3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
4 represented in the General Assembly:
5 Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing
6 Section 26-1 and adding Section 26-1.5 as follows:
7 (105 ILCS 5/26-1) (from Ch. 122, par. 26-1)
8 Sec. 26-1. Compulsory school age-Exemptions. Whoever has
9 custody or control of any child between the ages of 7 and 16
10 years shall cause such child to attend some public school in
11 the district wherein the child resides the entire time it is
12 in session during the regular school term, except as provided
13 in Section 10-19.1, and during a required summer school
14 program established under Section 10-22.33B; provided, that
15 the following children shall not be required to attend the
16 public schools:
17 1. Any child attending a private or a parochial school
18 where children are taught the branches of education taught to
19 children of corresponding age and grade in the public
20 schools, and where the instruction of the child in the
21 branches of education is in the English language. However,
22 the exception created by this paragraph to the compulsory
23 public school attendance requirement of this Section shall
24 not apply to a child attending a home school program under
25 which instruction is provided to a child in the child's home
26 by his or her parent or guardian unless that program
27 qualifies as a valid home school program under Section
28 26-1.5;
29 2. Any child who is physically or mentally unable to
30 attend school, such disability being certified to the county
31 or district truant officer by a competent physician or a
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1 Christian Science practitioner residing in this State and
2 listed in the Christian Science Journal; or who is excused
3 for temporary absence for cause by the principal or teacher
4 of the school which the child attends; the exemptions in this
5 paragraph (2) do not apply to any female who is pregnant or
6 the mother of one or more children, except where a female is
7 unable to attend school due to a complication arising from
8 her pregnancy and the existence of such complication is
9 certified to the county or district truant officer by a
10 competent physician;
11 3. Any child necessarily and lawfully employed according
12 to the provisions of the law regulating child labor may be
13 excused from attendance at school by the county
14 superintendent of schools or the superintendent of the public
15 school which the child should be attending, on certification
16 of the facts by and the recommendation of the school board of
17 the public school district in which the child resides. In
18 districts having part time continuation schools, children so
19 excused shall attend such schools at least 8 hours each week;
20 4. Any child over 12 and under 14 years of age while in
21 attendance at confirmation classes;
22 5. Any child absent from a public school on a particular
23 day or days or at a particular time of day for the reason
24 that he is unable to attend classes or to participate in any
25 examination, study or work requirements on a particular day
26 or days or at a particular time of day, because the tenets of
27 his religion forbid secular activity on a particular day or
28 days or at a particular time of day. Each school board shall
29 prescribe rules and regulations relative to absences for
30 religious holidays including, but not limited to, a list of
31 religious holidays on which it shall be mandatory to excuse a
32 child; but nothing in this paragraph 5 shall be construed to
33 limit the right of any school board, at its discretion, to
34 excuse an absence on any other day by reason of the
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1 observance of a religious holiday. A school board may
2 require the parent or guardian of a child who is to be
3 excused from attending school due to the observance of a
4 religious holiday to give notice, not exceeding 5 days, of
5 the child's absence to the school principal or other school
6 personnel. Any child excused from attending school under
7 this paragraph 5 shall not be required to submit a written
8 excuse for such absence after returning to school.
9 (Source: P.A. 89-610, eff. 8-6-96.)
10 (105 ILCS 5/26-1.5 new)
11 Sec. 26-1.5. Valid home school programs. In order to
12 qualify as a valid home school program within the meaning of
13 paragraph 1 of Section 26-1, a home school program in which
14 the required instruction is provided to a child in the
15 child's home by his or her parent or guardian must meet all
16 of the following requirements:
17 (1) The parent or guardian shall notify the
18 regional superintendent of schools of the educational
19 service region in which the parent resides (or, if the
20 parent resides in a city of 500,000 or more population,
21 the chief administrator of the educational service center
22 for the public school system of that city), not later
23 than November 15 of each calendar year, of the names,
24 addresses, and birthdates of all children who are then
25 enrolled as students or receiving instruction in the home
26 school program. The notice shall be in writing, shall be
27 signed by the child's parent or guardian, and shall be
28 accompanied by a copy of a birth, baptismal, or
29 equivalent certificate or record of the child's name and
30 age.
31 (2) Each child enrolled as a student or receiving
32 instruction in the home school program shall be required
33 by the parent or guardian to receive such immunizations
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1 against preventable communicable diseases and such vision
2 and hearing screening services as the Department of
3 Public Health shall require for school children generally
4 under rules and regulations promulgated by the Department
5 pursuant to the Communicable Disease Prevention Act, the
6 Child Vision and Hearing Test Act, and Section 27-8.1 of
7 the School Code. However, the parent or guardian of a
8 child who objects to immunizations on religious grounds
9 or to vision and hearing screening services on
10 constitutional grounds shall not be required to submit
11 his or her child or ward to the immunization or
12 screening, nor shall an immunization be required if a
13 physician employed by the parent or guardian to provide
14 care and treatment to the child states that the child's
15 physical condition is such that administration of one or
16 more of the required immunizing agents would be
17 detrimental to the health of the child. The parent or
18 guardian shall submit to the regional superintendent of
19 schools or chief administrator of the educational service
20 region to whom the notice required by paragraph (1) of
21 this Section is to be given, not later than November 15
22 of each calendar year, proof that each child then
23 enrolled as a student or receiving instruction in the
24 home school program has received the immunizations and
25 screenings required by this paragraph. If a child has
26 not received the immunizations or screenings, the child's
27 parent or guardian shall submit to the regional
28 superintendent of schools or chief administrator of the
29 educational service center a signed statement detailing
30 the grounds for the religious or constitutional
31 objections or the physician's statement that
32 administration of the required immunizing agent or agents
33 would be harmful to the child.
34 (3) During the common month of each school year
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1 established by the State Board of Education for the
2 administration of State assessment tests in reading,
3 writing, and mathematics to third and fifth grade
4 students of the public schools, each child who is then
5 enrolled as a student or receiving instruction in a home
6 school program as a third or fifth grade student or as a
7 student who is at a level of academic ability comparable
8 to that of a third or fifth grade student shall take the
9 same grade-appropriate level of the State assessment
10 tests as are taken by public school students in that
11 grade. The tests may be administered by the parent or
12 guardian, or the parent or guardian may elect to have the
13 tests administered at a location and under procedures
14 designated by the appropriate regional superintendent of
15 schools or chief administrator of the educational service
16 center. The tests shall be scored in the same manner as
17 all State assessment tests administered under Section
18 2-3.64 are scored, and the scores shall be reported to
19 the home school program.
20 (4) Except for those 2 years when the educational
21 progress of a child who is enrolled as a student or
22 receiving instruction in a home school program is
23 evaluated in the manner provided by paragraph (3) of this
24 Section, the educational ability and progress of the
25 child shall be evaluated annually by (i) a nationally
26 normed student achievement test, (ii) submission and
27 evaluation of a detailed portfolio of lesson plans and
28 the student's completed work over a recent consecutive 12
29 month period preceding the submission for evaluation, or
30 (iii) some alternative measurement that will document the
31 student's educational ability and progress and that is
32 mutually agreeable to the parent or guardian and the
33 regional superintendent of schools or chief administrator
34 of the educational service center, as the case may be.
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1 (5) If a child who is enrolled as a student or
2 receiving instruction in a home school program performs
3 below the thirtieth percentile range on any part of a
4 test administered to the child under paragraph (3) or (4)
5 of this Section, the parent or guardian must provide
6 remedial instruction to the child during the succeeding
7 12 month period and retest the child at the end of that
8 period on the same test or part of the test on which the
9 unacceptable score was earned. The scores on the retest
10 shall be reported by the parent or guardian to the
11 appropriate regional superintendent of schools or the
12 chief administrator of the educational service center, as
13 the case may be.
14 (6) At the time the notice required by paragraph
15 (1) of this Section is given to the regional
16 superintendent of schools or chief administrator of the
17 educational service center prescribed by that paragraph,
18 the parent or guardian also shall give written notice to
19 that regional superintendent of schools or chief
20 administrator of the number of children in the home
21 school program to whom third and fifth grade State
22 assessment tests are to be administered during the
23 ensuing calendar year as provided in paragraph (3) and
24 whether those tests are to be administered by the parent
25 or guardian or at a location and under procedures
26 designated by the regional superintendent of schools or
27 chief administrator. The notice also shall state, for
28 each child in the home school program who will not be
29 taking a State assessment test during that ensuing
30 calendar year, which of the 3 alternatives available
31 under paragraph (4) shall be used to evaluate the
32 educational progress of such child or children during the
33 current and ensuing calendar years. It shall then be the
34 responsibility of the regional superintendent of schools
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1 or chief administrator to arrange to meet or discuss with
2 the parent or guardian the manner in which the
3 requirements of paragraphs (3) and (4) of this Section
4 shall be implemented during the current and ensuing
5 calendar years. The parent or guardian shall make
6 himself or herself available on a reasonable basis to
7 meet or discuss with the regional superintendent of
8 schools or chief administrator the manner of implementing
9 those requirements.
10 If a home school program does not meet the requirements of
11 this Section and therefore does not qualify as a valid home
12 school program within the meaning of paragraph (1) of Section
13 26-1: (i) the parents or legal guardian of a child who is
14 enrolled as a student in or receives instruction in that home
15 school program and does not otherwise satisfy the compulsory
16 attendance requirements of Section 26-1 shall be considered
17 in violation of Section 26-1 and subject to any penalty
18 imposed under Section 26-10; and (ii) the child shall be
19 deemed truant and absent without cause from compulsory school
20 attendance on any school day or portion thereof when he or
21 she is enrolled as a student or receives instruction in that
22 home school program but does not otherwise satisfy the
23 compulsory attendance requirements of Section 26-1.