- Published: 20 May 2015
SPRINGFIELD –State Senator Patricia Van Pelt (D-Chicago) has passed legislation, proposed by the Illinois State Board of Education and Cabrini Green Legal Aid, to limit the types of convictions that would automatically disqualify individuals from employment within a school district, disqualify individuals from obtaining an educator’s license or result in revocation of an educator’s license.
House Bill 494 states that persons convicted of possession of less than 30 grams of cannabis as well as those convicted of misdemeanor public indecency and prostitution will not be automatically disqualified for school district employment or obtaining licensing. The legislation also allows convicted drug offenders who have turned their lives around to apply for employment and licensing after seven years without committing new offenses.
“Those who have made mistakes in their lives should not be shut completely out of society. Those who have paid their debts to society and turned their lives around deserve second chances, and it is my hope that his bipartisan legislation will help do just that,” Van Pelt said.
The legislation was co-sponsored by both Democrats and Republicans and was promoted by the State Board of Education, along with other community stakeholders.
