Student Discipline Changes

With the enactment of PA 103-896 (effective August 9, 2024), the General Assembly signaled potential changes coming regarding student discipline, specifically related to suspension and expulsion. 

While the originally-introduced bill would have had more sweeping impacts, this statute will have an impact going forward.  A few changes have immediate impact, including removing the provision that students suspended in excess of 20 school days may be immediately transferred to an alternative program and expanding the training provisions from “teachers” to “all school personnel”, as well as school board members and school resource officers. 

As to the training components, in addition to the existing provisions (training on the adverse consequences of school exclusion and justice-system involvement, effective classroom management strategies, culturally responsive discipline, the appropriate and available supportive services for the promotion of student attendance and engagement, and developmentally appropriate disciplinary methods that promote positive and healthy school climates), the law also now expands the training requirements to include training on the School Code’s discipline provisions in 10-22.6 and 10-20.14 and training on  “trauma-responsive learning environments”.

The future impacts of the statute relate to the required and forthcoming ISBE guidance.  The law requires ISBE to issue guidance by July 1, 2025 on a series of topics, including:

• Guidance for the development of reciprocal reporting systems.
• Guidance for school bus safety procedures.
• Guidance for evidence-based intervention procedures, including examples. As used in this subsection (d), "evidence-based intervention" means intervention that has demonstrated a statistically significant effect on improving student outcomes as documented in peer-reviewed scholarly journals.
• Guidance for the re-engagement of students who are suspended out-of-school, expelled, or returning from an alternative school setting.