Bill Text: IL HB0856 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the School Code. Prohibits the State Board of Education from revising its teaching standards or learning standards without the approval of the General Assembly through adoption of a joint resolution outlining the State Board's specific revisions and granting the State Board the authority to revise those standards. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-27 - Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB0856 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2021-HB0856-Introduced.html

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102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2021 and 2022 HB0856 Introduced , by Rep. Chris Miller SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
105 ILCS 5/21B-5
105 ILCS 5/27-1 from Ch. 122, par. 27-1
Amends the School Code. Prohibits the State Board of Education from revising its teaching standards or learning standards without the approval of the General Assembly through adoption of a joint resolution outlining the State Board's specific revisions and granting the State Board the authority to revise those standards. Effective immediately.
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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY
A BILL FOR
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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 Sections
21B-5 and 27-1 as follows:
(105 ILCS 5/21B-5)
Sec. 21B-5. Licensure powers of the State Board of
Education.
(a) Recognizing that the education of our citizens is the
single most important influence on the prosperity and success
of this State and recognizing that new developments in
education require a flexible approach to our educational
system, the State Board of Education, in consultation with the
State Educator Preparation and Licensure Board, shall have the
power and authority to do all of the following:
(1) Set standards for teaching, supervising, or
otherwise holding licensed employment in the public
schools of this State and administer the licensure process
as provided in this Article, except that the State Board
may not revise its teaching standards without the approval
of the General Assembly through adoption of a joint
resolution outlining the State Board's specific revisions
and granting the State Board the authority to revise the

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teaching standards.
(2) Approve, evaluate, and sanction educator
preparation programs.
(3) Enter into agreements with other states relative
to reciprocal approval of educator preparation programs.
(4) Establish standards for the issuance of new types
of educator licenses.
(5) Establish a code of ethics for all educators.
(6) Maintain a system of licensure examination aligned
with standards determined by the State Board of Education.
(7) Take such other action relating to the improvement
of instruction in the public schools as is appropriate and
consistent with applicable laws.
(b) Only the State Board of Education, acting in
accordance with the applicable provisions of this Article and
rules, shall have the authority to issue or endorse any
license required for teaching, supervising, or otherwise
holding licensed employment in the public schools; and no
other State agency shall have any power or authority (i) to
establish or prescribe any qualifications or other
requirements applicable to the issuance or endorsement of any
such license or (ii) to establish or prescribe any licensure
or equivalent requirement that must be satisfied in order to
teach, supervise, or hold licensed employment in the public
schools.
(Source: P.A. 100-596, eff. 7-1-18.)

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(105 ILCS 5/27-1) (from Ch. 122, par. 27-1)
Sec. 27-1. Areas of education taught - discrimination on
account of sex. The State of Illinois, having the
responsibility of defining requirements for elementary and
secondary education, establishes that the primary purpose of
schooling is the transmission of knowledge and culture through
which children learn in areas necessary to their continuing
development and entry into the world of work. Such areas
include the language arts, mathematics, the biological,
physical and social sciences, the fine arts and physical
development and health.
Each school district shall give priority in the allocation
of resources, including funds, time allocation, personnel, and
facilities, to fulfilling the primary purpose of schooling.
The State Board of Education shall establish goals and
learning standards consistent with the above purposes and
define the knowledge and skills which the State expects
students to master and apply as a consequence of their
education. However, the State Board may not revise its
learning standards without the approval of the General
Assembly through adoption of a joint resolution outlining the
State Board's specific revisions and granting the State Board
the authority to revise the learning standards.
Each school district shall establish learning objectives
consistent with the State Board of Education's goals and

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learning standards for the areas referred to in this Section,
shall develop appropriate testing and assessment systems for
determining the degree to which students are achieving the
objectives, and shall develop reporting systems to apprise the
community and State of the assessment results.
Each school district shall make available to all students
academic and vocational courses for the attainment of learning
objectives.
No student shall be refused admission into or be excluded
from any course of instruction offered in the common schools
by reason of that person's sex. No student shall, solely by
reason of that person's sex, be denied equal access to
physical education and interscholastic athletic programs or
comparable programs supported from school district funds. This
Section is violated when a high school subject to this Act
participates in the post-season basketball tournament of any
organization or association that does not conduct post-season
high school basketball tournaments for both boys and girls,
which tournaments are identically structured. Conducting
identically structured tournaments includes having the same
number of girls' teams as boys' teams playing, in their
respective tournaments, at any common location chosen for the
final series of games in a tournament; provided, that nothing
in this paragraph shall be deemed to prohibit the selection
for the final series of games in the girls' tournaments of a
common location that is different than the common location

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selected for the final series of games in the boys'
tournaments. Except as specifically stated in this Section,
equal access to programs supported by school district funds
and comparable programs will be defined in rules promulgated
by the State Board of Education in consultation with the
Illinois High School Association.
(Source: P.A. 94-875, eff. 7-1-06.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.