Illinois schools can face civil rights violations for failure to report discrimination or harassment under new state law

A new law in Illinois will ensure that public schools implement at least one new anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policy related to race and racism on campus.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed Senate Bill 90 into law on Aug. 4. The law, dubbed the “Racism-Free Schools Law,” aims to prevent so-called “education harassment” by mandating that schools keep track of discrimination and harassment and implement policies that ban such practices.

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The bill was introduced by Democratic State Senator Laura Murphy and State Representative Maurice West. 

”This is a bill that would define racial discrimination, prohibit it in schools, and provide an avenue for some restitution and correction of that behavior,” Murphy told local news outlet WAND.

Beginning in the 2024-2025 school year, the law requires Illinois schools to “create, implement, and maintain at least one written policy that prohibits discrimination and harassment based on race, color, and national origin and prohibits retaliation.” 

The policy must be in writing and publicly available in an accessible location like a public website or an employee intranet, as well as the student handbook. It must also be distributed to students and parents annually.

The law also mandates that schools implement a system to report incidents of discrimination or harassment. The system must allow the reports to be anonymous, and also protect students from “adverse consequences” because he or she filed a report.

Schools and school districts will be required to submit the total number of allegations of discrimination and harassment in a given year, and the status of those allegations. If a school or school district fails to report these incidents in a given time frame, the state Board of Education can level a civil rights violation against the district with the Department of Human Rights.

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“Here in Illinois, we will not tolerate racism or discrimination within schools – period,” West said in a press release when the bill passed the State Assembly. “But with incidents of hateful conduct on the rise across our country, we must do more to protect students and teachers.”

The Director of the Illinois Department of Human Rights, Jim Bennett, told WAND his department will begin a training program to prevent harassment and discrimination in elementary and high schools, in compliance with the law.

”I will say there are no easy answers to racism or bullying. This bill is a start, and I’m so thankful for all who have worked on it,” Bennett told WAND. “I truly believe the vast majority of our teachers, our administrators, and our schools want and our trying to do the very best thing for our students.”

Campus Reform reached out to all available parties for comment and will update this article accordingly.