Support Urged on Vote for Bill to Ensure Success in School

House Bill 3615, the Ensuring Success in School Act, is scheduled for a vote by the Illinois House of Representatives, and the vote must be taken no later than April 15. Please urge your state representatives to vote "Yes" on the bill.

The Illinois House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee unanimously voted House Bill 3615, the Ensuring Success in School Act, out of committee earlier this month. Committee members heard testimony on the importance of the bill, which addresses the needs of students who are expectant parents, parents, or victims of domestic or sexual violence. A recent high school graduate described her struggle to complete school safely after she was raped by a classmate. School administrators told her that they could do nothing for her when she asked to transfer to another school or at least to a different bus from that of her perpetrator. To ensure her safety, her family had to have her home-schooled for the rest of the school year.

Carmen Abrego of the Southwest Youth Collaborative, a member of the Ensuring Success in School Act (ESSA) coalition, also testified on how H.B. 3615 addresses the needs of expectant and parenting students by guiding school administrators on how to support the students’ efforts to remain in school. Abrego’s testimony resonated with legislators eager to help connect schools to community resources that can support the efforts of expectant and parenting students to remain in school.

H.B. 3615, sponsored by Rep. Karen A. Yarbrough (D), is now poised to move forward in the House pending negotiations of its final version. Currently the bill promotes school success and safety for youth who are expectant parents, parents, or the victims of domestic or sexual violence by

• adding to the list of valid causes for absences by recognizing absences related to pregnancy, parenting, and domestic or sexual violence;
• promoting safety despite domestic or sexual violence by allowing students to transfer between schools when necessary;
• holding schools accountable for connecting the students with existing resources in school and in the community; and
• encouraging parental involvement in the students’ efforts to perform well in school when such involvement is healthy and safe.

Be sure to contact your state representatives during the week of March 28 or April 4 to let them know that you support H.B. 3615. Until April 1, you can contact your representatives in their home-district offices while the state legislature is on break. After April 1, you can contact them in Springfield. If you are unsure of who your legislators are or how to contact them, go to www.elections.state.il.us/dls/pages/SelectOfficialSearch.asp and search by your address.

When you contact your representatives, tell them:

Please vote “Yes” on H.B. 3615, the Ensuring Success in School Act. This Act is extremely important for Illinois students who are expectant parents, parents, or the victims of domestic or sexual violence and who are trying to perform well in school and complete their high school education.

Please ensure that students who are expectant parents, parents, or the victims of domestic or sexual violence will get the support that they need to succeed in school.

To learn more about H.B. 3615, click here, where you may find fact sheets about the bill and view a growing list of the bill’s supporters. A copy of the H.B. 3615 endorsement form is also available in this issue of Illinois Welfare News.

The Shriver Center thanks everyone (including the Southwest Youth Collaborative, Freedom House in Princeton, Illinois, and the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault) who helped give written or oral testimony on behalf of H.B. 3615.

For more information, contact Wendy Pollack (312.263.3830 ext.238) or Aleeza Strubel (312.263.3830 ext.229).