(105 ILCS 5/14-9.01) (from Ch. 122, par. 14-9.01)

Sec. 14-9.01. Qualifications of teachers, other professional personnel and necessary workers. No person shall be employed to teach any class or program authorized by this Article who does not hold a valid teacher's license as provided by law and unless he has had such special training as the State Board of Education may require. No special license or endorsement to a special license issued under Section 21B-30 of this Code shall be valid for teaching students with visual disabilities unless the person to whom the license or endorsement is issued has attained satisfactory performance on an examination that is designed to assess competency in Braille reading and writing skills according to standards that the State Board of Education may adopt. Evidence of successfully completing the examination of Braille reading and writing skills must be submitted to the State Board of Education prior to an applicant's taking of the content area test required under Section 21B-30 of this Code. In addition to other requirements, a candidate for a teaching license in the area of the deaf and hard of hearing granted by the Illinois State Board of Education for teaching deaf and hard of hearing students in grades pre-school through grade 12 must demonstrate a minimum proficiency in sign language as determined by the Illinois State Board of Education. All other professional personnel employed in any class, service, or program authorized by this Article shall hold such licenses and shall have had such special training as the State Board of Education may require; provided that in a school district organized under Article 34, the school district may employ speech and language pathologists who are licensed under the Illinois Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Practice Act but who do not hold a license issued under this Code if the district certifies that a chronic shortage of licensed personnel exists. Nothing contained in this Act prohibits the school board from employing necessary workers to assist the teacher with the special educational facilities, except that all such necessary workers must have had such training as the State Board of Education may require.

The State Board of Education shall develop, in consultation with the Advisory Council on the Education of Children with Disabilities and the Advisory Council on Bilingual Education, rules governing the qualifications for licensure of teachers and school service personnel providing services to English learners receiving special education and related services.

The employment of any teacher in a special education program provided for in Sections 14-1.01 to 14-14.01, inclusive, shall be subject to the provisions of Sections 24-11 to 24-16, inclusive. Any teacher employed in a special education program, prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1987, in which 2 or more districts participate shall enter upon contractual continued service in each of the participating districts subject to the provisions of Sections 24-11 to 24-16, inclusive.

(Source: P.A. 102-894, eff. 5-20-22.)