SCH CD-BULLYING PREVENTION-AGE
HB1411 amends the Illinois School Code’s bullying prevention section to strengthen and expand school bullying policies, reporting, and oversight. The bill keeps the existing prohibition on bullying and cyberbullying in public schools, charter schools, and non-public, non-sectarian elementary and secondary schools, while adding more detailed requirements for school policies, including anonymous reporting procedures, parent notification timelines, investigation steps, intervention options, retaliation protections, and annual distribution of policies to students, parents, and staff.
The bill also requires schools to evaluate their bullying policies every two years, file updated policies with the State Board of Education, and submit non-identifiable annual bullying data for the 2024-2025 through 2030-2031 school years. It creates the Illinois Bullying and Cyberbullying Prevention Fund and authorizes grants for anti-bullying programming, with ineligible status for schools that fail to comply with reporting requirements. The act takes effect July 1, 2025.
HB1411 would amend Section 27-23.7 of the School Code and impose more specific compliance obligations on school districts, charter schools, and non-public, non-sectarian schools. It expands the operational duties of schools and the State Board of Education by requiring updated bullying policies, data collection and reporting, public posting of model policy guidance, and state monitoring of policy compliance. It also creates a dedicated special fund for anti-bullying grants and ties grant eligibility to reporting compliance, affecting both school administrative practices and state education oversight.
The available voting history suggests strong bipartisan support and little opposition: the bill passed Third Reading in the House on April 7, 2025 by a vote of 106-0. No committee transcripts were provided, so there is no recorded debate in the supplied materials. Overall, the bill appears to have been viewed favorably as a school safety and student protection measure.
No notable opposition is reflected in the provided record, but the bill’s most likely points of discussion are the expanded reporting and compliance requirements for schools, including parent-notification timelines, annual data submission, and State Board monitoring. The bill also preserves First Amendment and religious-freedom protections, which suggests awareness of potential concerns about overbreadth or speech-related enforcement. Another possible issue is the administrative burden on schools, especially around policy reviews, data reporting, and implementation of restorative and support-based interventions.