SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — A state Democratic plan to stop police giving tickets and citations to students for breaking school rules passes the Illinois Senate Wednesday.
The bill will also require police officers to be trained how to handle students with disabilities if they will enforce the law on school grounds.
It’s an answer to a significant rise in police ticketing students for breaking school rules. According to ProPublica, 11,800 tickets were handed to students from 2019-2022.
From the same article, a 12-year-old boy named Kameron in East Peoria was cited for "assault, battery and affray" for shoving a friend in the school cafeteria over a Lipton iced tea.
According to Juvenile Justice, most of these tickets are given for non-violent offences, such as vaping, truancy and disorderly conduct, with fines reaching up to $750.
State Sen. Karina Villa (D-West Chicago) said Black students are two times more likely to be ticketed for breaking school rules than White kids.
"Disciplinary action, such as ticketing, has not and will not ever address the root cause of these behaviors," Villa said. "The practice of issuing tickets instead transfers the responsibility of paying the ticket on families, which can create an overwhelming financial hardship."
This would not give kids a free pass on the law. If a student is late to school and runs a red light, they would still be penalized by police.
GOP Lawmakers opposed the proposal. State Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) said while this bill is in good faith, the plan will only hurt students.
"The chiefs of police are concerned that this will force them to place previously unnecessary criminal charges on students that commit criminal acts on school grounds because they can no longer issues the smaller fines," Tracy said. "I don’t think that’s what this legislation is intended to do."
The policy passed out of the Senate on a partisan 37-17 vote. It will now head to the House floor for further debate.
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