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Illinois legislators passed the law Wednesday, ending a practice in which police explicitly blocked students from issuing and fines for mild fraud at schools and harming students throughout the state.
The new law applies to all public schools, including charters. School districts starting in grades 2027-28 must report to the state at the frequency of police involved in student issues each year, and separate data by race, gender and disability. The state is necessary to make the data public.
The law comes three years after the Propublica and Chicago Tribune’s investigation into The Price Kids Pay.
“The Price Kids Pay” discovered that thousands of Illinois students have received tickets for adolescent behavior in recent years due to adolescent behavior processed in the principal’s office. It also found that black students are twice as likely to get tickets at school than their white peers.
From the house floor, Rep. Lashawnford, a Democrat from Chicago, thanked the press for exposing his practice, saying the goal of the bill was to “see if there are violations of the school code and that schools should train students rather than disciplining students through police issued tickets.
State Sen. Karina Villa, a Democrat from suburban West Chicago and sponsor of the measure, said in a statement that ticket students were unable to address the reasons for the fraud. “The bill would ban financial fines as a form of discipline for students in Illinois,” she said.
The law also prevents police from issuing tickets to students for school transport or for school-related events or activities.
The Illinois State Police Commissioner’s Association opposed the law. The group said in a statement that school-based officials should not be liable for disciplining students, but they should have the option of issuing quotations as one of “diverse resolutions” for criminal conduct. The group said they are concerned that the lack of the option to issue tickets could lead to students facing arrests and criminal charges instead.
The law passed House 69-44. It headed to Governor JB Pretzker, who passed away last month in the Senate 37-17 and now spoke to students on school tickets. A spokesperson said he “supports the initiative” on Wednesday night, and plans to consider the bill.
The law makes it clear that students can be arrested for crimes and violence committed by police, but students cannot be ticketed to violate local ordinances that prohibit various minor violations.
This distinction was not clear in previous versions of the law, leading to concerns that schools could not engage police in serious issues, and was an important reason for ticketing for tickets established in previous legislative sessions. Students may still be ordered to pay for lost, stolen or damaged property.
“The bill will help create an environment where students can learn from mistakes without being unnecessarily involved in the judicial system,” said Aimee Galvin, director of Aimee Affairs at Stand for Children, one of the groups that advocated for banning local government tickets as a school-based discipline.
The news survey details how students were double punished. When punished at school, punished for detention or suspension, and when issued to police for mild misconduct. The investigation revealed how children were thrown into legal processes designed for adults to resolve tickets. Illinois law allows fines of up to $750 for violations of local government ordinances. It is difficult to fight fees and you can send them to the collection without paying students and families.
Illinois lawmakers want civil rights for “Trump Proof” students.
After the investigation was announced, some school districts stopped asking police for tickets for students. However, this practice continues in many other districts.
The law also adds restrictions on districts that employ school-based police officers known as school resource officers. Starting next year, districts with school resource officers will have to enter into contracts with local police to lay out the roles and responsibilities of officers on campus. The contract must specify that officers are prohibited from issuing quotations relating to school property and that they must be trained to cooperate with students with disabilities. The contract should also outline the data collection and reporting process. School staff will also be prohibited from referring to truant students to the police in order to receive tickets as punishment.
Before the new law there was fragmentary change and effort in reform. The state attorney’s office in a large suburb of Chicago has confirmed that school administrators are exploiting loopholes in state law when they ask police to issue tickets to students. The district denied fraud, but the investigation found that the district had broken the law and the practice disproportionately affected Black and Latino students. The state’s largest legal authority declared the practice illegal and said it should stop.
