Text of IL HB 5505 (2022)

102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2021 and 2022 HB5505 Introduced , by Rep. Adam Niemerg SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: New Act Creates the Parental Access and Curriculum Transparency Act, which may be referred to as PACT. Makes findings. Provides that no public school district or public institution of higher education shall direct, require, or otherwise compel a student to personally affirm, adopt, or adhere to specified tenets. Provides that, notwithstanding any other provision of law or administrative rule to the contrary, a school board, parent, legal guardian, or student has the right to object to and refuse any unit of instruction or required course of study that directs, requires, or otherwise compels a student to personally affirm, adopt, or adhere to any of the specified tenets. Provides that school boards have to review and resolve objections to school curriculum. Provides a list of ways to resolve objections. Provides that a school board may submit a certified question to the applicable board of elections to approve or disapprove of funding certain curriculum. Provides that, notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, no distinction or classification of students shall be made on account of race or color, but nothing in this Section shall be construed to prohibit the required collection or reporting of demographic data by public school districts or public institutions of higher education. Effective immediately. LRB102 25065 RJT 34325 b A BILL FOR HB5505LRB102 25065 RJT 34325 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. Short title; references to Act. 5 (a) Short title. This Act may be cited as the Parental 6Access and Curriculum Transparency Act. 7 (b) References to Act. This Act may be referred to as PACT. 8 Section 5. Findings. The General Assembly finds: 9 (1) Administrators, educators, support staff, and students 10in all public elementary and secondary schools and in all 11public institutions of higher education shall respect the 12dignity of others, acknowledge the right of others to express 13differing opinions, and foster and defend intellection 14honesty, freedom of inquiry and instruction, freedom of 15speech, freedom of association, and the pursuit of rational, 16objective truths. 17 (2) Instructional pedagogies that exacerbate divisions in 18society on the basis of race, biological sex, ethnicity, 19religion, color, national origin, or other criteria that are 20contrary to the unity of the nation, are counterproductive to 21the well-being of this State, its citizens, and its students. 22 (3) Under Article X of the Illinois Constitution, the 23State shall provide for an efficient system of high quality HB5505- 2 -LRB102 25065 RJT 34325 b 1public educational institutions and services. The State has 2the primary responsibility for financing the system of public 3education. 4 (4) A high quality educational institution and service is 5fundamentally undermined when parents cannot trust the quality 6of education provided to their children. When a parent or 7legal guardian of a student identifies curriculum in public 8schools that they believe undermines the ability of the 9student to succeed and thrive, or where curriculum established 10is fostering division, or factually inaccurate, that can 11prevent a school from meeting the State's constitutional goals 12for education for each student. 13 (5) The curriculum needs of students will necessarily be 14diverse, and that learning standards and guidance set at the 15state level may be incapable of fully serving student needs 16within an individual school district. 17 (6) Parents and legal guardians for students need to be 18further empowered to ensure that they have full access to and 19transparency regarding the curriculum their students are 20receiving in the classroom. School boards need to be more 21responsive regarding curriculum access, transparency, and 22oversight when a parent, legal guardian, or student has raised 23concerns regarding the substance of curriculum being presented 24in the classroom so that students are able to realize their 25best potential and so that classroom settings are not adopting 26curriculum that fosters hate and division among current HB5505- 3 -LRB102 25065 RJT 34325 b 1students, or which encourages students to hate or despise 2their nation. 3 Section 10. Prohibitions. 4 (a) No public school district or public institution of 5higher education shall direct, require, or otherwise compel a 6student to personally affirm, adopt, or adhere to any of the 7following tenets: 8 (1) That any sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color or 9 natural origin is inherently superior or inferior. 10 (2) That individuals should be adversely treated on 11 the basis of their sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, 12 or national origin. 13 (3) That individuals, by virtue of their sex, race, 14 ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin are 15 inherently responsible for actions committed in the past 16 by other members of their same sex, race, ethnicity, 17 religion, color, or national origin. 18 (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law or 19administrative rule to the contrary, a school board, parent, 20legal guardian, or student has the right to object to and 21refuse any unit of instruction or required course of study 22that directs, requires, or otherwise compels a student to 23personally affirm, adopt, or adhere to any of the tenets 24identified in paragraphs (1), (2), or (3) of subsection (a) in 25any public school district or public institution of higher HB5505- 4 -LRB102 25065 RJT 34325 b 1education. 2 (c) The school board has the duty to ensure that parents, 3legal guardians, students, and members of the public can 4access public school curriculum in a manner that provides 5clear access, immediacy, and transparency to curriculum in 6public schools. 7 (d) The school board to which a student is subject shall 8have the ultimate obligation to review and resolve objections 9to the curriculum in a manner that is open and transparent to 10the parent, legal guardian, student, instructor, and the 11public. The wishes of parents and legal guardians for a 12student shall take priority wherever and whenever possible. To 13remedy objections, a school board may, but is not limited to, 14offer the following: 15 (1) That the instructor remove the offending 16 curriculum, provide additional balance or factual basis, 17 or correct any factual bases found to be incorrect or 18 biased. 19 (2) That an alternative curriculum be offered to the 20 student in replacement of the objected-to curriculum. 21 (3) That the objected-to curriculum be excluded from a 22 student's grade or be independently graded. 23 (4) That the objected-to curriculum, or the course as 24 a whole, undergo curriculum review, with the final 25 curriculum and learning standards to be approved by the 26 school board. HB5505- 5 -LRB102 25065 RJT 34325 b 1 (5) If objections are sufficiently pervasive or 2 numerous for a class that is designed to fulfill local, 3 State, or federal requirements, a directive may be issued 4 that an alternative classroom or course curriculum be 5 prepared that will comply with the legal requirement that 6 can resolve the objections of the parent, legal guardian, 7 or student. 8 (6) That administrators or faculty members prepare an 9 improvement plan for curriculum quality or justify to the 10 school board the continued use of the objected-to 11 curriculum. 12 (e) No retaliation may occur against the student in 13connection with any curriculum objections raised by the 14student, parent, or legal guardian. Retaliation may include, 15but is not limited to: ostracism in class, singling out a 16student in class, harsher grading, transfer, isolation, or any 17other tactics associated with bullying. 18 (f) School boards shall also prepare a policy to ensure 19parental involvement in curriculum decisions particularly if 20contentious issues are to be taught and to ensure that 21providers of curriculum and those with responsibility for 22curriculum oversight are not abusing their positions of trust 23at the expense of parents and students. 24 Section 15. Referendum. Notwithstanding any provision of 25law to the contrary, for any school whose annual operational HB5505- 6 -LRB102 25065 RJT 34325 b 1expenses use in part non-state funds, a school board: 2 (1) by majority vote of the current elected membership 3 of the board; or 4 (2) upon receipt of a petition submitted to the school 5 board with either: (i) 250 signatures of individuals who 6 live within the school board's taxpaying district; or (ii) 7 a number of signatures that exceeds 10% of the total 8 number of students who are attending the school, as 9 measured by the 10th day attendance numbers of the school 10 year preceding the election period, whichever is less, 11may submit to the applicable board of elections a certified 12question to approve or to disapprove the use of taxpayer 13funding for the curriculum at the next election where members 14of the school board are up for election for an elected school 15board or at the next general election, if the school board is 16not elected. If taxpayer funds are disapproved for such 17curriculum it shall be improper for the school board to use any 18such funds in support of the curriculum or the instructor who 19seeks to present it. 20 Section 20. Permissible activity. Notwithstanding any 21provision of law to the contrary, no distinction or 22classification of students shall be made on account of race or 23color, but nothing in this Section shall be construed to 24prohibit the required collection or reporting of demographic 25data by public school districts or public institutions of HB5505- 7 -LRB102 25065 RJT 34325 b 1higher education. Nothing in this section may be construed to 2prohibit the use of federal dollars for federal programs. 3 Section 97. Severability. The provisions of this Act are 4severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes. 5 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 6becoming law.