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| Public Act 102-0321
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| SB1577 Enrolled | LRB102 12923 CMG 18266 b |
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AN ACT concerning education.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Sections |
26-1 and 26-2a as follows:
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(105 ILCS 5/26-1) (from Ch. 122, par. 26-1)
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Sec. 26-1. Compulsory school age; exemptions. Whoever has |
custody or control of any child (i) between the ages of 7 and |
17
years (unless the child has already graduated from high |
school) for school years before the 2014-2015 school year or |
(ii) between the ages
of 6 (on or before September 1) and 17 |
years (unless the child has already graduated from high |
school) beginning with the 2014-2015 school year
shall cause |
such child to attend some public school in the district
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wherein the child resides the entire time it is in session |
during the
regular school term, except as provided in Section |
10-19.1, and during a
required summer school program |
established under Section 10-22.33B; provided,
that
the |
following children shall not be required to attend the public |
schools:
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1. Any child attending a private or a parochial school |
where children
are taught the branches of education taught |
to children of corresponding
age and grade in the public |
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schools, and where the instruction of the child
in the |
branches of education is in the English language;
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2. Any child who is physically or mentally unable to |
attend school, such
disability being certified to the |
county or district truant officer by a
competent physician |
licensed in Illinois to practice medicine and surgery in |
all its branches, a chiropractic physician licensed under |
the Medical Practice Act of 1987, a licensed advanced |
practice registered nurse, a licensed physician assistant, |
or a Christian Science practitioner residing in this
State |
and listed in the Christian Science Journal; or who is |
excused for
temporary absence for cause by
the principal |
or teacher of the school which the child attends, with |
absence for cause by illness being required to include the |
mental or behavioral health of the child for up to 5 days |
for which the child need not provide a medical note, in |
which case the child shall be given the opportunity to |
make up any school work missed during the mental or |
behavioral health absence and, after the second mental |
health day used, may be referred to the appropriate school |
support personnel; the exemptions
in this paragraph (2) do |
not apply to any female who is pregnant or the
mother of |
one or more children, except where a female is unable to |
attend
school due to a complication arising from her |
pregnancy and the existence
of such complication is |
certified to the county or district truant officer
by a |
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competent physician;
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3. Any child necessarily and lawfully employed |
according to the
provisions of the law regulating child |
labor may be excused from attendance
at school by the |
county superintendent of schools or the superintendent of
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the public school which the child should be attending, on |
certification of
the facts by and the recommendation of |
the school board of the public
school district in which |
the child resides. In districts having part-time
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continuation schools, children so excused shall attend |
such schools at
least 8 hours each week;
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4. Any child over 12 and under 14 years of age while in |
attendance at
confirmation classes;
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5. Any child absent from a public school on a |
particular day or days
or at a particular time of day for |
the reason that he is unable to attend
classes or to |
participate in any examination, study or work requirements |
on
a particular day or days or at a particular time of day, |
because the tenets
of his religion forbid secular activity |
on a particular day or days or at a
particular time of day. |
Each school board shall prescribe rules and
regulations |
relative to absences for religious holidays including, but |
not
limited to, a list of religious holidays on which it |
shall be mandatory to
excuse a child; but nothing in this |
paragraph 5 shall be construed to limit
the right of any |
school board, at its discretion, to excuse an absence on
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any other day by reason of the observance of a religious |
holiday. A school
board may require the parent or guardian |
of a child who is to be excused
from attending school due |
to the observance of a religious holiday to give
notice, |
not exceeding 5 days, of the child's absence to the school
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principal or other school personnel. Any child excused |
from attending
school under this paragraph 5 shall not be |
required to submit a written
excuse for such absence after |
returning to school; |
6. Any child 16 years of age or older who (i) submits |
to a school district evidence of necessary and lawful |
employment pursuant to paragraph 3 of this Section and |
(ii) is enrolled in a graduation incentives program |
pursuant to Section 26-16 of this Code or an alternative |
learning opportunities program established pursuant to |
Article 13B of this Code;
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7. A child in any of grades 6 through 12 absent from a |
public school on a particular day or days or at a |
particular time of day for the purpose of sounding "Taps" |
at a military honors funeral held in this State for a |
deceased veteran. In order to be excused under this |
paragraph 7, the student shall notify the school's |
administration at least 2 days prior to the date of the |
absence and shall provide the school's administration with |
the date, time, and location of the military
honors |
funeral. The school's administration may waive this 2-day |
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notification requirement if the student did not receive at |
least 2 days advance notice, but the student shall notify |
the school's administration as soon as possible of the |
absence. A student whose absence is excused under this |
paragraph 7 shall be counted as if the student attended |
school for purposes of calculating the average daily |
attendance of students in the school district. A student |
whose absence is excused under this paragraph 7 must be |
allowed a reasonable time to make up school work missed |
during the absence. If the student satisfactorily |
completes the school work, the day of absence shall be |
counted as a day of compulsory attendance and he or she may |
not be penalized for that absence; and |
8. Any child absent from a public school on a |
particular day or days or at a particular time of day for |
the reason that his or her parent or legal guardian is an |
active duty member of the uniformed services and has been |
called to duty for, is on leave from, or has immediately |
returned from deployment to a combat zone or |
combat-support postings. Such a student shall be granted 5 |
days of excused absences in any school year and, at the |
discretion of the school board, additional excused |
absences to visit the student's parent or legal guardian |
relative to such leave or deployment of the parent or |
legal guardian. In the case of excused absences pursuant |
to this paragraph 8, the student and parent or legal |
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guardian shall be responsible for obtaining assignments |
from the student's teacher prior to any period of excused |
absence and for ensuring that such assignments are |
completed by the student prior to his or her return to |
school from such period of excused absence. |
(Source: P.A. 99-173, eff. 7-29-15; 99-804, eff. 1-1-17; |
100-185, eff. 8-18-17; 100-513, eff. 1-1-18; 100-863, eff. |
8-14-18.)
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(105 ILCS 5/26-2a) (from Ch. 122, par. 26-2a) |
Sec. 26-2a. A "truant" is defined as a child who is subject |
to compulsory school
attendance and who is absent without |
valid cause, as defined under this Section, from such |
attendance for more than 1% but less than 5% of the past 180 |
school days. |
"Valid cause" for absence shall be illness, including the |
mental or behavioral health of the student, observance of a |
religious
holiday, death in the immediate family,
or family |
emergency, and shall include such other situations beyond the |
control
of the student, as determined by the board of |
education in each district,
or such other circumstances which |
cause reasonable concern to the parent
for the mental, |
emotional, or physical health or safety of the student. |
"Chronic or habitual truant" shall be defined as a child |
who is subject to compulsory
school attendance and who is |
absent without valid cause from such attendance
for 5% or more |
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of the previous 180 regular attendance days. |
"Truant minor" is defined as a chronic truant to whom |
supportive
services, including prevention, diagnostic, |
intervention and remedial
services, alternative programs and |
other school and community resources
have been provided and |
have failed to result in the cessation of chronic
truancy, or |
have been offered and refused. |
A "dropout" is defined as any child enrolled in grades 9 |
through 12 whose
name has been removed from the district |
enrollment roster for any reason
other than the student's |
death, extended illness, removal for medical non-compliance, |
expulsion, aging out, graduation, or completion of a
program |
of studies and who has not transferred to another public or |
private school and is not known to be home-schooled by his or |
her parents or guardians or continuing school in another |
country. |
"Religion" for the purposes of this Article, includes all |
aspects of
religious observance and practice, as well as |
belief. |
(Source: P.A. 100-810, eff. 1-1-19; 100-918, eff. 8-17-18; |
101-81, eff. 7-12-19.)
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