Illinois lawmakers are moving ahead with a proposal that would force schools to expel for at least one year any student found to have committed or attempted sexual assault on campus or at a school-related event. Supporters say the change is aimed squarely at cases where students accused of assault stayed in the same classrooms, rode the same buses and attended the same activities as the students who reported them.
Senate Bill 2991, paired with a matching House filing, HB5447, would write sexual-assault-related expulsions into the School Code and require that any student determined to have initiated nonconsensual sexual activity be expelled for no less than one year. The bill spells out scenarios including when a victim is unconscious, asleep, surprised, intoxicated or drugged. According to the full text on the Illinois General Assembly, district superintendents could still adjust the minimum expulsion on a case-by-case basis, and any expulsions would have to line up with federal rules such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Students facing expulsion could also be considered for transfer to an alternative-school program.
Lawmakers frame bill as shield for survivors
Sen. Steve McClure and Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer say the bill is designed to keep survivors from sitting a few desks away from the person they say harmed them. McClure argued that allowing someone found to have committed an assault to remain in school can retraumatize the victim, according to a press release from Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer. The measure cleared the Senate Criminal Law Committee in March and picked up backing from more than three dozen senators, WAND reported.
High-profile cases help drive the push
Part of the momentum behind the legislation comes from a federal complaint filed by Ashley and Chadd Peden after their 10-year-old daughter said she was assaulted on a Taylorville school bus and in other locations. The complaint and court docket filings show the family sued the district and the bus contractor in June 2025, according to the Peden complaint.
In a separate case that drew widespread attention, Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School agreed in March 2025 to pay $3.5 million to settle with a student who said she was raped during a theater class in October 2022, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Supporters want services, not just punishment
Advocates, including the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, have lined up behind the bill while warning that expulsions alone will not fix how schools handle assault. They have urged lawmakers to make sure districts provide victim advocates, access to medical care and coordination with local rape-crisis centers, as sponsors outlined in a release from Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer.
Civil-rights groups and researchers have also pointed out that exclusionary discipline has long fallen hardest on Black students and students with disabilities, a pattern documented in a 2018 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-18-258.
Where the bill stands now
The proposal currently has bipartisan support from dozens of lawmakers. After clearing a criminal-law committee, as noted by WAND, it was listed as postponed in the Senate Education Committee as of March 24, 2026, according to the Illinois General Assembly committee list.
Sponsors say their goal is to make it far more difficult for students accused of sexual assault to remain in school alongside the students who reported them, while advocates keep pressing for trauma-informed supports and clear procedures so survivors get medical care and advocacy right when a report is made.
