(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.

Each school district shall establish learning objectives consistent with the State Board of Education's goals and 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 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.)