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| Public Act 098-0474 | ||||
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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 Section | ||||
27A-4 as follows:
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(105 ILCS 5/27A-4)
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Sec. 27A-4. General Provisions.
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(a) The General Assembly does not intend to alter or amend | ||||
the provisions
of any court-ordered desegregation plan in | ||||
effect for any school district. A
charter school shall be | ||||
subject to all federal and State laws and
constitutional | ||||
provisions prohibiting discrimination on the basis of
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disability, race, creed, color, gender, national origin, | ||||
religion, ancestry,
marital status, or need for special | ||||
education services.
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(b) The total number of charter schools operating under | ||||
this Article at any
one time shall not exceed 120. Not more | ||||
than 70 charter
schools
shall operate at any one time in any | ||||
city having a population exceeding
500,000, with at least 5 | ||||
charter schools devoted exclusively to students from | ||||
low-performing or overcrowded schools operating at any one time | ||||
in that city; and not more than 45
charter schools shall | ||||
operate at any one time in the remainder of the State, with not
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more than one charter school that
has been initiated by a board | ||
of education, or
by an intergovernmental agreement between or | ||
among boards of education,
operating at any one
time in the | ||
school district where the charter school is located. In | ||
addition to these charter schools, up to but no more than 5 | ||
charter schools devoted exclusively to re-enrolled high school | ||
dropouts and/or students 16 or 15 years old at risk of dropping | ||
out may operate at any one time in any city having a population | ||
exceeding 500,000. Notwithstanding any provision to the | ||
contrary in subsection (b) of Section 27A-5 of this Code, each | ||
such dropout charter may operate up to 15 campuses within the | ||
city. Any of these dropout charters may have a maximum of 1,875 | ||
enrollment seats, any one of the campuses of the dropout | ||
charter may have a maximum of 165 enrollment seats, and each | ||
campus of the dropout charter must be operated, through a | ||
contract or payroll, by the same legal entity as that for which | ||
the charter is approved and certified.
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For purposes of implementing this Section, the State Board | ||
shall assign a
number to each charter submission it receives | ||
under Section 27A-6 for its
review and certification, based on | ||
the chronological order in which the
submission is received by | ||
it. The State Board shall promptly notify local
school boards | ||
when the maximum numbers of certified charter schools | ||
authorized
to operate have been reached.
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(c) No charter shall be granted under this Article that | ||
would convert any
existing private, parochial, or non-public | ||
school to a charter school.
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(d) Enrollment in a charter school shall be open to any | ||
pupil who resides
within the geographic boundaries of the area | ||
served by the local school board, provided that the board of | ||
education in a city having a population exceeding 500,000 may | ||
designate attendance boundaries for no more than one-third of | ||
the charter schools permitted in the city if the board of | ||
education determines that attendance boundaries are needed to | ||
relieve overcrowding or to better serve low-income and at-risk | ||
students. Students residing within an attendance boundary may | ||
be given priority for enrollment, but must not be required to | ||
attend the charter school.
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(e) Nothing in this Article shall prevent 2 or more local | ||
school boards from
jointly
issuing a charter to a single shared | ||
charter school, provided that all of the
provisions of this | ||
Article are met as to those local school boards.
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(f) No local school board shall require any employee of the | ||
school district
to be employed in a charter school.
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(g) No local school board shall require any pupil residing | ||
within the
geographic boundary of its district to enroll in a | ||
charter school.
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(h) If there are more eligible applicants for enrollment in | ||
a charter school
than there are spaces available, successful | ||
applicants shall be selected by
lottery. However, priority | ||
shall be given to siblings of pupils enrolled in
the charter | ||
school and to pupils who were enrolled in the charter school | ||
the
previous school year, unless expelled for cause, and | ||
priority may be given to pupils residing within the charter | ||
school's attendance boundary, if a boundary has been designated | ||
by the board of education in a city having a population | ||
exceeding 500,000. Dual enrollment at both a
charter school and | ||
a public school or non-public school shall not be allowed.
A | ||
pupil who is suspended or expelled from a charter school shall | ||
be deemed to
be suspended or expelled from the public schools | ||
of the school district in
which the pupil resides. | ||
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this subsection | ||
(h): , | ||
(1) any charter school with a mission exclusive to | ||
educating high school dropouts may grant priority | ||
admission to students who are high school dropouts and/or | ||
students 16 or 15 years old at risk of dropping out and any | ||
charter school with a mission exclusive to educating | ||
students from low-performing or overcrowded schools may | ||
restrict admission to students who are from low-performing | ||
or overcrowded schools; "priority admission" . "Priority | ||
admission" for charter schools exclusively devoted to | ||
re-enrolled dropouts or students at risk of dropping out | ||
means a minimum of 90% of students enrolled shall be high | ||
school dropouts; and .
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(2) any charter school located in a school district | ||
that contains all or part of a federal military base may | ||
set aside up to 33% of its current charter enrollment to | ||
students with parents assigned to the federal military | ||
base, with the remaining 67% subject to the general | ||
enrollment and lottery requirements of subsection (d) of | ||
this Section and this subsection (h); if a student with a | ||
parent assigned to the federal military base withdraws from | ||
the charter school during the course of a school year for | ||
reasons other than grade promotion, those students with | ||
parents assigned to the federal military base shall have | ||
preference in filling the vacancy. | ||
(i) (Blank).
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(j) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the | ||
contrary, a
school district in a city having a population | ||
exceeding 500,000 shall not
have a duty to collectively bargain | ||
with an exclusive representative of its
employees over | ||
decisions to grant or deny a charter school proposal
under | ||
Section 27A-8 of this Code, decisions to renew or revoke a | ||
charter
under Section 27A-9 of this Code, and the impact of | ||
these decisions,
provided that nothing in this Section shall | ||
have the effect of negating,
abrogating, replacing, reducing, | ||
diminishing, or limiting in any way
employee rights, | ||
guarantees, or privileges granted in Sections 2, 3, 7, 8,
10, | ||
14, and 15 of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act.
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(k) In this Section: | ||
"Low-performing school" means a public school in a school | ||
district organized under Article 34 of this Code that enrolls | ||
students in any of grades kindergarten through 8 and that is | ||
ranked within the lowest 10% of schools in that district in | ||
terms of the percentage of students meeting or exceeding | ||
standards on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test. | ||
"Overcrowded school" means a public school in a school | ||
district organized under Article 34 of this Code that (i) | ||
enrolls students in any of grades kindergarten through 8, (ii) | ||
has a percentage of low-income students of 70% or more, as | ||
identified in the most recently available School Report Card | ||
published by the State Board of Education, and (iii) is | ||
determined by the Chicago Board of Education to be in the most | ||
severely overcrowded 5% of schools in the district. On or | ||
before November 1 of each year, the Chicago Board of Education | ||
shall file a report with the State Board of Education on which | ||
schools in the district meet the definition of "overcrowded | ||
school". "Students at risk of dropping out" means students 16 | ||
or 15 years old in a public school in a district organized | ||
under Article 34 of this Code that enrolls students in any | ||
grades 9-12 who have been absent at least 90 school attendance | ||
days of the previous 180 school attendance days. | ||
(Source: P.A. 96-105, eff. 7-30-09; 97-151, eff. 1-1-12; | ||
97-624, eff. 11-28-11; 97-813, eff. 7-13-12.)
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Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1, | ||
2013.
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