Illinois Lawmakers Push to End Police Ticketing in Schools to Protect Student Civil Rights

New legislation seeks to close loopholes, mandate data reporting, and address racial disparities in school policing practices.

Illinois lawmakers have introduced bills in both the House and Senate to prohibit police from ticketing students for non-criminal infractions such as vaping and truancy.
The proposed legislation aims to close loopholes that allow schools to involve police in issuing fines for minor misbehavior, a practice disproportionately affecting Black and Latino students.
The bills would require school districts to track and report police interactions with students, addressing concerns over potential federal rollbacks of civil rights enforcement.
Advocates and state officials, including the governor, support the measures as a means to combat the school-to-prison pipeline and ensure equitable treatment of students.
The bills follow investigations revealing widespread misuse of ticketing practices in Illinois schools, with some families facing fines as high as $450 for minor infractions.