Public Act 0422 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB1633 Enrolled LRB103 24964 RJT 51298 b

Public Act 103-0422

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 2-3.191, 27-20.3, and 27-21 and by adding Section 27-20.05 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/2-3.191)

Sec. 2-3.191. State Education Equity Committee.

(a) The General Assembly finds that this State has an urgent and collective responsibility to achieve educational equity by ensuring that all policies, programs, and practices affirm the strengths that each and every child brings with diverse backgrounds and life experiences and by delivering the comprehensive support, programs, and educational opportunities children need to succeed.

(b) The State Education Equity Committee is created within the State Board of Education to strive toward ensuring equity in education for all children from birth through grade 12.

(c) The Committee shall consist of the State Superintendent of Education or the State Superintendent's designee, who shall serve as chairperson, and one member from each of the following organizations appointed by the State Superintendent:

(1) At least 2 educators who each represent a different statewide professional teachers' organization.

(2) A professional teachers' organization located in a city having a population exceeding 500,000.

(3) A statewide association representing school administrators.

(4) A statewide association representing regional superintendents of schools.

(5) A statewide association representing school board members.

(6) A statewide association representing school principals.

(7) A school district serving a community with a population of 500,000 or more.

(8) A parent-led organization.

(9) A student-led organization.

(10) One community organization that works to foster safe and healthy environments through advocacy for immigrant families and ensuring equitable opportunities for educational advancement and economic development.

(11) An organization that works for economic, educational, and social progress for African Americans and promotes strong sustainable communities through advocacy, collaboration, and innovation.

(12) One statewide organization whose focus is to narrow or close the achievement gap between students of color and their peers.

(13) An organization that advocates for healthier school environments in this State.

(14) One statewide organization that advocates for partnerships among schools, families, and the community, provides access to support, and removes barriers to learning and development, using schools as hubs.

(15) One organization that advocates for the health and safety of Illinois youth and families by providing capacity building services.

(16) An organization dedicated to advocating for public policies to prevent homelessness.

(17) Other appropriate State agencies as determined by the State Superintendent.

(18) An organization that works for economic, educational, and social progress for Native Americans and promotes strong sustainable communities through advocacy, collaboration, and innovation.

(19) A individual with a disability or a statewide organization representing or advocating on behalf of individuals with disabilities. As used in this paragraph, "disability" has the meaning given to that term in Section 10 of the Disabilities Services Act of 2003.

Members appointed to the Committee must reflect, as much as possible, the racial, ethnic, and geographic diversity of this State.

(d) Members appointed by the State Superintendent shall serve without compensation, but may be reimbursed for reasonable and necessary expenses, including travel, from funds appropriated to the State Board of Education for that purpose, subject to the rules of the appropriate travel control board.

(e) The Committee shall meet at the call of the chairperson, but shall meet no less than 3 times a year.

(f) The Committee shall recognize that, while progress has been made, much remains to be done to address systemic inequities and ensure each and every child is equipped to reach the child's fullest potential and shall:

(1) guide its work through the principles of equity, equality, collaboration, and community;

(2) focus its work around the overarching goals of student learning, learning conditions, and elevating educators, all underpinned by equity;

(3) identify evidence-based practices or policies around these goals to build on this State's progress of ensuring educational equity for all its students in all aspects of birth through grade 12 education; and

(4) seek input and feedback on identified evidence-based practices or policies from stakeholders, including, but not limited to, parents, students, and educators that reflect the rich diversity of Illinois students.

(g) The Committee shall submit its recommendations to the General Assembly and the State Board of Education no later than January 31, 2022. By no later than December 15, 2023 and each year thereafter, the Committee shall report to the General Assembly and the State Board of Education about the additional progress that has been made to achieve educational equity.

(h) As part of the report required under subsection (g), by no later than December 15, 2024, the Committee shall provide recommendations that may assist the State Board of Education in identifying diverse subject matter experts to help inform policy through task forces, committees, and commissions the State Board oversees.

(i) On and after January 31, 2025, subsection (h) is inoperative.

(Source: P.A. 102-458, eff. 8-20-21; 102-813, eff. 5-13-22.)

(105 ILCS 5/27-20.05 new)

Sec. 27-20.05. Native American history study.

(a) Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, every public elementary school and high school social studies course pertaining to American history or government shall include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the events of the Native American experience and Native American history within the Midwest and this State since time immemorial. These events shall include the contributions of Native Americans in government and the arts, humanities, and sciences, as well as the contributions of Native Americans to the economic, cultural, social, and political development of their own nations and of the United States. The unit of instruction must describe large urban Native American populations in this State, including the history and experiences of contemporary Native Americans living in this State. Instruction in grades 6 through 12 shall include the study of the genocide of and discrimination against Native Americans, as well as tribal sovereignty, treaties made between tribal nations and the United States, and the circumstances around forced Native American relocation. This unit of instruction may be integrated as part of the unit of instruction required under Section 27-20.03 or 27-21 of this Code.

(b) The State Superintendent of Education may prepare and make available to all school boards instructional materials and professional development opportunities that may be used as guidelines for development of a unit of instruction under this Section. However, each school board shall itself determine the minimum amount of instructional time that qualifies as a unit of instruction satisfying the requirements of this Section.

(c) The regional superintendent of schools shall monitor a school district's compliance with this Section's curricular requirements during the regional superintendent's annual compliance visit and make recommendations for improvement, including professional development.

(105 ILCS 5/27-20.3) (from Ch. 122, par. 27-20.3)

Sec. 27-20.3. Holocaust and Genocide Study.

(a) Every public elementary school and high school shall include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the events of the Nazi atrocities of 1933 to 1945. This period in world history is known as the Holocaust, during which 6,000,000 Jews and millions of non-Jews were exterminated. One of the universal lessons of the Holocaust is that national, ethnic, racial, or religious hatred can overtake any nation or society, leading to calamitous consequences. To reinforce that lesson, such curriculum shall include an additional unit of instruction studying other acts of genocide across the globe. This unit shall include, but not be limited to, the Native American genocide in North America, the Armenian Genocide, the Famine-Genocide in Ukraine, and more recent atrocities in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Sudan. The studying of this material is a reaffirmation of the commitment of free peoples from all nations to never again permit the occurrence of another Holocaust and a recognition that crimes of genocide continue to be perpetrated across the globe as they have been in the past and to deter indifference to crimes against humanity and human suffering wherever they may occur.

(b) The State Superintendent of Education may prepare and make available to all school boards instructional materials which may be used as guidelines for development of a unit of instruction under this Section; provided, however, that each school board shall itself determine the minimum amount of instruction time which shall qualify as a unit of instruction satisfying the requirements of this Section.

Instructional materials that include the addition of content related to the Native American genocide in North America shall be prepared and made available to all school boards on the State Board of Education's Internet website no later than January 1, 2025.

Instructional materials related to the Native American genocide in North America shall be developed in consultation with members of the Chicago American Indian Community Collaborative who are members of a federally recognized tribe, are documented descendants of Indigenous communities, or are other persons recognized as contributing community members by the Chicago American Indian Community Collaborative and who currently reside in this State or their designees.

(Source: P.A. 94-478, eff. 8-5-05.)

(105 ILCS 5/27-21) (from Ch. 122, par. 27-21)

Sec. 27-21. History of United States.

(a) History of the United States shall be taught in all public schools and in all other educational institutions in this State supported or maintained, in whole or in part, by public funds.

The teaching of history shall have as one of its objectives the imparting to pupils of a comprehensive idea of our democratic form of government and the principles for which our government stands as regards other nations, including the studying of the place of our government in world-wide movements and the leaders thereof, with particular stress upon the basic principles and ideals of our representative form of government.

The teaching of history shall include a study of the role and contributions of African Americans and other ethnic groups, including, but not restricted to, Native Americans, Polish, Lithuanian, German, Hungarian, Irish, Bohemian, Russian, Albanian, Italian, Czech, Slovak, French, Scots, Hispanics, Asian Americans, etc., in the history of this country and this State. To reinforce the study of the role and contributions of Hispanics, such curriculum shall include the study of the events related to the forceful removal and illegal deportation of Mexican-American U.S. citizens during the Great Depression.

The teaching of history shall also include teaching about Native American nations' sovereignty and self-determination, both historically and in the present day, with a focus on urban Native Americans.

In public schools only, the teaching of history shall include a study of the roles and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the history of this country and this State.

The teaching of history also shall include a study of the role of labor unions and their interaction with government in achieving the goals of a mixed free enterprise system.

Beginning with the 2020-2021 school year, the teaching of history must also include instruction on the history of Illinois.

The teaching of history shall include the contributions made to society by Americans of different faith practices, including, but not limited to, Native Americans, Muslim Americans, Jewish Americans, Christian Americans, Hindu Americans, Sikh Americans, Buddhist Americans, and any other collective community of faith that has shaped America.

(b) No pupils shall be graduated from the eighth grade of any public school unless the pupils have he or she has received such instruction in the history of the United States as provided in this Section and give gives evidence of having a comprehensive knowledge thereof, which may be administered remotely.

(c) The State Superintendent of Education may prepare and make available to all school boards instructional materials that may be used as guidelines for the development of instruction under this Section; however, each school board shall itself determine the minimum amount of instructional time required for satisfying the requirements of this Section.

Instructional materials that include the addition of content related to Native Americans shall be prepared and made available to all school boards on the State Board of Education's Internet website no later than January 1, 2025.

Instructional materials related to Native Americans shall be developed in consultation with members of the Chicago American Indian Community Collaborative who are members of a federally recognized tribe, are documented descendants of Indigenous communities, or are other persons recognized as contributing community members by the Chicago American Indian Community Collaborative and who currently reside in this State.

(Source: P.A. 101-227, eff. 7-1-20; 101-341, eff. 1-1-20; 101-643, eff. 6-18-20; 102-411, eff. 1-1-22.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.

Effective Date: 8/4/2023