On Wednesday, April 23, 2025, President Trump issued several Executive Orders targeting various elements of his policy agenda. Below, we discuss orders that aim to eliminate the use of disparate-impact liability under Title...more
Happy New Year! Several Illinois laws related to schools became effective January 1, 2025, and our team at Franczek P.C. has compiled them in its new School Law Legislative Update, focused on new laws in effect in 2025. A PDF...more
1/6/2025
/ Disabled Children ,
Educational Institutions ,
Illinois ,
New Legislation ,
Paid Leave ,
Pay Transparency ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Safety Standards ,
School Boards ,
School Districts ,
Special Education ,
State and Local Government ,
Student Athletes ,
Students
The PAC recently issued a non-binding opinion, finding a school district did not waive the attorney-client privilege where prior disclosures of the requested records were mandated by state law....more
Schools throughout the country are preparing to implement the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights’ (“OCR”) long-awaited final 2024 Title IX regulations. These new regulations, which replace the 2020...more
8/2/2024
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Colleges ,
Department of Education ,
Discrimination ,
Educational Institutions ,
Illinois ,
LGBTQ ,
New Regulations ,
OCR ,
School Districts ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Title IX ,
Universities
As we detailed in a prior alert, Section 10-20.21 of the School Code was amended to increase the competitive bidding threshold from $25,000 to $35,000. The amendments went into effect January 1, 2024....more
Governor Pritzker recently signed P.A. 103-0491 (previously SB 1570) into law, which will allow school districts to enter into design-build contracts—as opposed to the currently available design-bid-build delivery...more
8/22/2023
/ Construction Contracts ,
Construction Project ,
Design-Bid-Build ,
Design-Build ,
Illinois ,
New Legislation ,
Project Delivery Methods ,
Public Acts ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Request for Proposals ,
School Districts
As we previously reported, under new School Code amendments made by Faith’s Law aimed to address sexual abuse prevention and response in schools, school districts, charter and non-public schools are required to implement new...more
Recently, the Public Access Counselor (PAC) issued two non-binding opinions concerning the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), both upholding school district decisions to exert exemptions and withhold key documents under the...more
Recently, the Seventh Circuit—the circuit court governing Illinois—upheld a lower court’s judgment in favor of a school district defending against two reverse race discrimination claims brought by a longtime District...more
The Illinois Public Access Counselor (PAC) recently issued two new binding opinions concerning the FOIA—one upholding a public body’s denial of a FOIA request for union records and another finding application materials for...more
On June 29, 2022, Governor Pritzker signed Public Act 12-1101 (House Bill 4813) into law, amending Section 10-20.21 of the Illinois School Code, which generally requires contracts that are subject to the bidding process to be...more
School district practices on referrals to local law enforcement for student misconduct in schools are facing intense scrutiny in the wake of the ProPublica investigation reported these past weeks in the Chicago Tribune. ...more
Public Act 102-0339 requires each school district’s time out and physical restraint oversight team to develop a plan for reducing and eventually eliminating the use of isolated time out, time out, and physical restraint in...more
In 2019, we reported on the case of Kennedy v. Bremerton School District involving a football coach at Bremerton High School in Washington state who was placed on administrative leave by his public school district for praying...more
2/8/2022
/ Appeals ,
Certiorari ,
Coaches ,
Disciplinary Proceedings ,
Employment Litigation ,
Establishment Clause ,
First Amendment ,
Football ,
Free Speech ,
Freedom of Religion ,
Prayer ,
Public Employees ,
Public Schools ,
School Districts ,
SCOTUS
Governor Pritzker recently signed Public Act 102-0676 (HB 1975) into law, which addresses sexual abuse prevention in schools. The new law is intended to address staff-student boundaries and appropriate professional conduct,...more
1/26/2022
/ Child Abuse ,
Child Protection Laws ,
Code of Conduct ,
Crime Victims ,
Educational Institutions ,
Governor Pritzker ,
Minor Children ,
New Regulations ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Public Acts ,
School Districts ,
Sexual Abuse ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Conduct ,
Vulnerable Victims
The Public Access Counselor (PAC)—the division of the Attorney General that reviews appeals regarding the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Open Meetings Act (OMA)—recently issued two binding opinions clarifying...more
In the wake of Governor Pritzker’s recent order requiring all Illinois schools to close between March 17 and March 30, many schools and school districts have been left guessing how to best serve students with disabilities and...more
3/17/2020
/ Attendance ,
China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
Department of Education ,
Distance Learning ,
Educational Institutions ,
Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) ,
IDEA ,
Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) ,
Infectious Diseases ,
ISBE ,
Public Health ,
School Closures ,
School Districts ,
Special Education ,
State and Local Government ,
Students
In Illinois, the School Safety Drill Act requires K-12 public and private educational facilities to conduct several types of safety drills, including law enforcement drills, to address potential evacuation or lock-down...more
3/11/2020
/ Educational Institutions ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Emergency Response ,
Mass Shootings ,
Private Schools ,
Public Safety ,
Public Schools ,
Risk Management ,
Safety Management Systems ,
Safety Precautions ,
Safety Training ,
School Districts ,
School Safety ,
School Shootings ,
Students
You would be forgiven if you can’t keep up with the many changes in the Illinois laws governing education at back-to-school time this year. As if Illinois special educators and administrators don’t have enough to do already,...more
10/1/2019
/ Cannabidiol (CBD) oil ,
Cannabis Products ,
Controlled Substances ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Emergency Access ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Emergency Response ,
Healthcare ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Medical Devices ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Minor Children ,
New Legislation ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Public Schools ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
School Districts ,
School Policies ,
Students
One of our favorite sources for Franczek email alerts is our readers, and we recently received a question from a Twitter follower about the legal considerations related to randomized dog searched in public schools. ...more