Text of IL HB 2381 (2025)

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 HB2381 Introduced , by Rep. Laura Faver Dias SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: 105 ILCS 5/10-16a Amends the School Boards Article of the School Code. Includes LGBTQ+ inclusivity in the topics covered in the required 4-hour training for every voting member of a school board of a school district. Lists information that must be included in the LGBTQ+ inclusivity training. Requires the State Board of Education to develop a training program in collaboration with individuals or organizations that affirm LGBTQ+ people and have recognized expertise in supporting LGBTQ+ young people or adopt a training program previously developed by such individuals or organizations. LRB104 06875 LNS 16911 b STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT MAY APPLY A BILL FOR HB2381LRB104 06875 LNS 16911 b 1 AN ACT concerning education. 2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 3represented in the General Assembly: 4 Section 1. Findings and purpose. 5 (a) The General Assembly finds that: 6 (1) research confirms that there are negative effects 7 associated with a lack of a healthy and inclusive learning 8 environment; 9 (2) the Trevor Project's National Survey on LGBTQ+ 10 Youth Mental Health in 2019 showed that LGBTQ+ youth who 11 reported having at least one accepting adult in their 12 lives were 40% less likely to report a suicide attempt in 13 the past year; 14 (3) by giving school board members the necessary tools 15 and insight on understanding their LGBTQ+ students better, 16 policies can be implemented by the school board that 17 protect those students and make them more comfortable in 18 school; and 19 (4) it is of the utmost importance that students feel 20 comfortable and safe and are protected in their learning 21 environment, which sets students up for success. 22 (b) It is the purpose of this Act to create an 23understanding of the challenges LGBTQ+ individuals face and to 24clarify language and terminology. This recognition of the HB2381- 2 -LRB104 06875 LNS 16911 b 1issues faced by the LGBTQ+ community in schools would aid 2school board members with addressing those issues and 3bettering students as the school board members would be more 4aware of the challenges faced by different groups in their 5community. 6 Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section 710-16a as follows: 8 (105 ILCS 5/10-16a) 9 (Text of Section before amendment by P.A. 103-771) 10 Sec. 10-16a. School board member's leadership training. 11 (a) This Section applies to all school board members 12serving pursuant to Section 10-10 of this Code who have been 13elected after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 1497th General Assembly or appointed to fill a vacancy of at 15least one year's duration after the effective date of this 16amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly. 17 (a-5) In this Section, "trauma" has the meaning ascribed 18to that term in subsection (b) of Section 3-11 of this Code. 19 (b) Every voting member of a school board of a school 20district elected or appointed for a term beginning after the 21effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General 22Assembly, within a year after the effective date of this 23amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly or the first year 24of his or her first term, shall complete a minimum of 4 hours HB2381- 3 -LRB104 06875 LNS 16911 b 1of professional development leadership training covering 2topics in education and labor law, financial oversight and 3accountability, fiduciary responsibilities of a school board 4member, and, beginning with the 2023-2024 school year, 5trauma-informed practices for students and staff. The school 6district shall maintain on its Internet website, if any, the 7names of all voting members of the school board who have 8successfully completed the training. 9 (b-5) The training regarding trauma-informed practices for 10students and staff required by this Section must include 11information that is relevant to and within the scope of the 12duties of a school board member. Such information may include, 13but is not limited to: 14 (1) the recognition of and care for trauma in students 15 and staff; 16 (2) the relationship between staff wellness and 17 student learning; 18 (3) the effect of trauma on student behavior and 19 learning; 20 (4) the prevalence of trauma among students, including 21 the prevalence of trauma among student populations at 22 higher risk of experiencing trauma; 23 (5) the effects of implicit or explicit bias on 24 recognizing trauma among various student groups in 25 connection with race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual 26 orientation, socio-economic status, and other relevant HB2381- 4 -LRB104 06875 LNS 16911 b 1 factors; and 2 (6) effective district and school practices that are 3 shown to: 4 (A) prevent and mitigate the negative effect of 5 trauma on student behavior and learning; and 6 (B) support the emotional wellness of staff. 7 (c) The training on financial oversight, accountability, 8fiduciary responsibilities, and, beginning with the 2023-24 9school year, trauma-informed practices for students and staff 10may be provided by an association established under this Code 11for the purpose of training school board members or by other 12qualified providers approved by the State Board of Education, 13in consultation with an association so established. 14 (d) The State Board of Education may adopt rules that are 15necessary for the administration of the provisions of this 16Section. 17(Source: P.A. 102-638, eff. 1-1-23; 103-413, eff. 1-1-24.) 18 (Text of Section after amendment by P.A. 103-771) 19 Sec. 10-16a. School board member's training. 20 (a) This Section applies to all school board members 21serving pursuant to Section 10-10 of this Code. 22 (a-5) In this Section, "trauma" has the meaning ascribed 23to that term in subsection (b) of Section 3-11 of this Code. 24 (b) Every voting member of a school board of a school 25district, within the first year of his or her first term, shall HB2381- 5 -LRB104 06875 LNS 16911 b 1complete a minimum of 4 hours of professional development and 2leadership training covering topics in education and labor 3law, financial oversight and accountability, fiduciary 4responsibilities of a school board member, trauma-informed 5practices for students and staff, and, improving student 6outcomes, and LGBTQ+ inclusivity. The school district shall 7maintain on its Internet website, if any, the names of all 8voting members of the school board who have successfully 9completed the training. 10 (b-5) The training regarding trauma-informed practices for 11students and staff required by this Section must include 12information that is relevant to and within the scope of the 13duties of a school board member. Such information may include, 14but is not limited to: 15 (1) the recognition of and care for trauma in students 16 and staff; 17 (2) the relationship between staff wellness and 18 student learning; 19 (3) the effect of trauma on student behavior and 20 learning; 21 (4) the prevalence of trauma among students, including 22 the prevalence of trauma among student populations at 23 higher risk of experiencing trauma; 24 (5) the effects of implicit or explicit bias on 25 recognizing trauma among various student groups in 26 connection with race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual HB2381- 6 -LRB104 06875 LNS 16911 b 1 orientation, socio-economic status, and other relevant 2 factors; and 3 (6) effective district and school practices that are 4 shown to: 5 (A) prevent and mitigate the negative effect of 6 trauma on student behavior and learning; and 7 (B) support the emotional wellness of staff. 8 (b-10) The training regarding improving student outcomes 9required by this Section must include information that is 10relevant to and within the scope of the duties of a school 11board member. 12 (b-15) The training regarding LGBTQ+ inclusivity required 13by this Section must include information that is relevant to 14and within the scope of the duties of a school board member. 15Such information shall include, but not be limited to: 16 (1) understanding the difference between sex, gender, 17 gender identity, and sexual orientation; 18 (2) understanding sexual orientation and gender 19 identity development in children and adolescents; 20 (3) understanding the rights of LGBTQ+ students and of 21 Illinois policies related to creating an affirming school 22 environment, including, but not limited to, State laws 23 such as the Illinois Human Rights Act, administrative 24 rules, and any relevant guidance approved by the State 25 Board of Education; 26 (4) knowledge of diverse family structures; HB2381- 7 -LRB104 06875 LNS 16911 b 1 (5) nondiscriminatory education on the basis of 2 gender, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual 3 orientation; 4 (6) understanding the struggles and lived experiences 5 of LGBTQ+ youth in schools; 6 (7) the contributions of LGBTQ+ individuals in the 7 fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, 8 history, social sciences, arts, and humanities; and 9 (8) the effects and risks of outing a student's gender 10 identity or sexual orientation. 11 (c) The training on financial oversight, accountability, 12fiduciary responsibilities, trauma-informed practices for 13students and staff, and improving student outcomes, and LGBTQ+ 14inclusivity shall be provided by a statewide association 15established under this Code for the purpose of training school 16board members or by other qualified providers approved by the 17State Board of Education, in consultation with an association 18so established. 19 For the training regarding LGBTQ+ inclusivity, the State 20Board of Education shall either develop a training program in 21collaboration with individuals or organizations that affirm 22LGBTQ+ people and have recognized expertise in supporting 23LGBTQ+ young people or adopt a training program previously 24developed by such individuals or organizations. Thereafter, 25the State Board of Education shall periodically review and 26update, as necessary, the training regarding LGBTQ+ HB2381- 8 -LRB104 06875 LNS 16911 b 1inclusivity, in collaboration with individuals or 2organizations that affirm LGBTQ+ people and have recognized 3expertise in supporting LGBTQ+ young people. 4 (d) The State Board of Education may adopt rules that are 5necessary for the administration of the provisions of this 6Section. 7(Source: P.A. 102-638, eff. 1-1-23; 103-413, eff. 1-1-24; 8103-771, eff. 6-1-25; revised 10-21-24.) 9 Section 95. No acceleration or delay. Where this Act makes 10changes in a statute that is represented in this Act by text 11that is not yet or no longer in effect (for example, a Section 12represented by multiple versions), the use of that text does 13not accelerate or delay the taking effect of (i) the changes 14made by this Act or (ii) provisions derived from any other 15Public Act.