The president of the Illinois Education Association celebrates the passage of Senate Bill 1400 in a recent Tribune op-ed, which aims to address the unintended consequences of SB 100. The latter was hailed by supporters as a monumental step toward addressing student discipline and educator safety, but the consequences were predictable and devastating. The IEA is now acknowledging the mistake and moving to restore accountability for bad student behavior.
SB 100 became law in 2015 and aimed to address racial disparities in student discipline by prohibiting zero-tolerance policies, limiting out-of-school suspensions and expulsions, and prohibiting disciplinary fines and fees. However, this led to a lack of accountability and consequences for students and their parents. According to the IEA, 20% of teachers and support staff reported being assaulted on the job the last five years.
SB 1400 aims to correct this by providing models for de-escalation strategies and restorative practices for dealing with students. It also requires the Illinois State Board of Education to provide models for professional development, data collection and increased access to school-based health centers.
The IEA is to be commended for recognizing the blunder and moving quickly to restore accountability for bad student behavior. This is in contrast to criminal justice reform advocates, who are working to reduce criminal accountability for violent offenders and instead portray them as victims. A bill that changes references to participants in the state’s Adult Redeploy Illinois program from “offender” to “justice-impacted individual” reflects the current mindset of the legislative majorities.
However, much of this return to sanity at the local school level depends on individual school districts’ willingness to recognize the need for consequences for violent and disruptive behavior. Unfortunately, Chicago Public Schools is unlikely to adopt this approach, despite the rise in student violence. Under pressure from the Chicago Teachers Union, the school board voted to remove all police personnel from schools.
The Illinois Policy Institute found that violent crime surged 26% in Chicago Public Schools while arrests hit record lows. In 2023, there were 224 violent crimes in CPS buildings or on campus grounds, including homicide, robbery, human trafficking, aggravated assault and sexual assault. There were 98 aggravated batteries and 75 aggravated assaults in 2023.
The lack of arrests is particularly concerning, as only 8% of violent crimes at schools resulted in arrests, according to the Illinois Policy Institute. This is a significant decline from the 43% arrest rate seen in 2009, when every Chicago public high school had two police officers. The district’s lax approach to student discipline and the CTU’s war on the Chicago police have created an atmosphere of lawlessness.
Meanwhile, violent crimes in Chicago committed by school-age youth are at historic levels. UIC Crime Lab reports that school age youth account for 8% of those arrested for murder, 9% for shootings, and almost 50% of carjackings.“]
While a comprehensive school safety plan must provide for restorative justice and student behavioral interventions and supports, it must also ensure that there are clear consequences for student violence, even if the violence occurs off school grounds, including suspension and expulsion. Additionally, the district needs to expand its alternative schools network to recover students who dropped out and provide a second chance for students expelled or released from incarceration.
As for school police, the district should create a school resource officer unit with officers carefully selected and trained and under a separate Chicago Police Department command. These officers would protect against active shooters and serve as first responders in emergencies inside schools. They would act as liaisons between the Police Department and schools for incidents inside and outside the school such as inappropriate behavior by adults, domestic violence, bullying, gang intimidation, and other health and safety needs that may arise.
A school resource officer could be in every public school, not just high schools, filling existing school security positions. This would create hundreds of additional police officer positions, which would become available to local police districts on the days schools are closed. Officers would be available for the city during holidays and summer when crime spikes and police officer shortages are most acute. These officers would be familiar to the youth, creating a sense of trust and security.
Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that the CTU or CPS will wake up to this reality.
Paul Vallas is an adviser for the Illinois Policy Institute. He has run for Chicago mayor twice and was previously budget director for the city and CEO of Chicago Public Schools.
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