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| [ Introduced ] | [ House Amendment 001 ] |
91_HB0039eng HB0039 Engrossed LRB9100293NTsb 1 AN ACT to amend the School Code by adding Section 2 27-23.6. 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 adding Section 6 27-23.6 as follows: 7 (105 ILCS 5/27-23.6 new) 8 Sec. 27-23.6. Student publications. 9 (a) The General Assembly declares that public high 10 school students shall have the right to exercise freedom of 11 the press, and no expression contained in a high school 12 student newspaper, whether or not such high school newspaper 13 is school-sponsored, is supported financially by the school 14 or by the use of school facilities, or is produced in 15 conjunction with a class, shall be subject to prior restraint 16 except for the types of expression described in subsection 17 (c) of this Section. 18 (b) Each governing board of a school district that 19 publishes a high school student newspaper shall adopt rules 20 and regulations in the form of a written student freedom of 21 expression policy in accordance with this Section that shall 22 include reasonable provisions for the time, place, and manner 23 of student expression and that shall be made available to all 24 students. 25 (c) Student freedom of expression policies shall 26 recognize that truth, fairness, accuracy, research, and 27 responsibility are essential to the practice of journalism. 28 Nothing in this Section shall be interpreted to authorize the 29 publication by students of expression that, as determined by 30 the principal or designated school official, is: 31 (1) libelous as defined by State law; HB0039 Engrossed -2- LRB9100293NTsb 1 (2) obscene or harmful to minors; 2 (3) an unwarranted invasion of privacy; 3 (4) likely to cause imminent lawless action, 4 including the violation of lawful school regulations or 5 the disruption of the orderly operation of the school. 6 No expression made by students shall be deemed to be an 7 expression of school policy. 8 (d) Student editors of school-sponsored high school 9 student newspapers shall be responsible for determining the 10 news and opinion of their publications subject to the 11 limitations of this Section. The responsibilities of a 12 journalism advisor of student publications shall include but 13 not be limited to supervising the production of the 14 school-sponsored high school student newspaper, maintaining 15 professional standards of English and journalism, and 16 maintaining the provisions of this Section. 17 (e) Any student, through a parent or guardian, may 18 institute proceedings for injunctive or declaratory relief in 19 the circuit court to enforce the rights provided in this 20 Section. 21 (f) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to 22 require a school district to have a student newspaper. 23 Further, the provisions of this Section do not prohibit a 24 board of directors of a public school from adopting otherwise 25 valid rules relating to oral communications or distribution 26 of leaflets or other materials by students upon the premises 27 of each school. 28 (g) If any provision of this Section or the application 29 thereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, such 30 invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications 31 of the Section which can be given effect without the invalid 32 provision or application, and to this end the provisions of 33 this Section are declared to be severable.