Last summer, ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune analyzed data that found nearly 12,000 tickets were issued to students from August 2018 through June 2021. Despite recent laws designed to prohibit schools from issuing fines and fees as discipline and referring truant students to police, school personnel referred thousands of students to local municipalities for the purpose of issuing fines and fees as a disciplinary consequence for school-based behaviors.
This is flat out wrong. Students should NOT be punished this way. Fines and fees can also vary widely across municipalities. The system is unfair to students, who must miss school to attend a municipal hearing that does not guarantee right to due process, like access to legal counsel.
Illinois is so much better than this. I hope you’ll join me and reach out to your state representative and urge them to support a bill in Springfield designed to end this unjust practice.
Consequences for most student misbehavior can and should be handled through a district’s discipline policy.
Contact your representative with just a few clicks to urge their support. Then, I hope you’ll share this link with your friends and family, too.
