SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — A bill by Illinois House Democrats have three major goals. One, ban expulsions from kindergarten through second grade. Two, require superintendent approval for K-2 suspensions. Three, report annual discipline data to Illinois State Board of Education.
Most of the pushback comes from the first two proposals. Some school groups oppose the new plan, but advocate for the bill State Rep. Will Davis (D-Hazel Crest) said that these expulsions don’t make a lot of sense.
"From an education standpoint, it really doesn’t serve any real good," Davis said. "For kids that young who may have started school, seeing their friends everyday and all of a sudden it’s taken away."
Davis, alongside ISBE, hopes to pass the new bill before the next general assembly. They’ve received a fair amount of support from other Democrat lawmakers as the bill passed committee.
According to the representative and ISBE, the kids at the highest risk of being expelled are Black students. Advocates worry that if kids don’t reach a certain reading threshold by third/fourth grade, they are much more likely to spend time in prison.
"When states are planning to grow their corrections sector, when they look at that data and that data is extremely high, then the expectations is a lot of those young people will end up in the corrections system," Davis said.
"The Illinois Principals Association urges lawmakers to not limit school disciplinary options without adequately addressing the critical shortage of behavioral health personnel and supports in schools," Alison Maley with IPA said.
"We support and have trained school leaders on trauma-informed, equitable discipline practices. However, this legislation—without necessary resources—places students and staff at risk. Principals across Illinois report increasing incidents of severe student behavior disrupting classrooms and threatening the safety and well-being of both students and educators."
Under the plan, schools can still expel or suspend students if they are violent to their teachers and peers, or if they brought a weapon to school.
Davis said he’s currently working with some opponents to make some possible amendments, but he will not kill the bill.
"We are taking the concerns of the advocacy groups very seriously and are working through some ideas to help address some of their concerns, but we’re not going to gut the bill," Davis said.
The plan is currently on the House floor where lawmakers could talk about it in the coming weeks.
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