On August 1, 2024, the Racism-Free Schools Law went into effect. As we previously reported, the Racism-Free Schools Law established several requirements for Illinois school districts, charter schools, and nonpublic, nonsectarian schools regarding policies prohibiting discrimination and retaliation based on race, color, and national origin; procedures for responding to discrimination complaints; and reporting allegations to ISBE. The law also includes a training requirement for all new and existing employees of these schools. Specifically, all employees are required to complete the Illinois Department of Human Rights’ (“IDHR”) Racism-Free Schools training or an equivalent anti-discrimination and anti-harassment training by July 31, 2026, and repeat that training at least once every two years thereafter. New employees must receive the training as a component of their new employment training program and then every two years thereafter.
The IDHR just recently released the long-awaited Racism-Free Schools training. The training provides guidance on how to prevent harassment and discrimination based on race, color, and national origin in elementary and secondary education, as well as training on identifying and reporting incidents and accessing existing civil rights protections.
Schools that wish to use their own training materials in lieu of the IDHR Racism-Free Schools training must ensure the training meets or exceeds the minimum standards set forth in Section 5A-103 of the Illinois Human Rights Act.
Regardless of whether the IDHR training or an appropriate equivalent training is used, each school district, charter school, or non-public school will be responsible for documenting and verifying employee training compliance with the appropriate regional office of education.
