IL HB4322

Amends the School Code to require school boards (except Chicago Board of Education) to appoint a 9-member district advisory committee before making any school closure decisions.

Committee membership must represent the district's ethnic, age, and socioeconomic composition; business community; landowners/renters; teachers; administrators; parents; and experts in environmental impacts, legal contracts, building codes, and land-use planning.

Committee must gather information on enrollment projections, school capacity and conditions, per-student operating costs, education programs, cost-savings from closure, transportation options, and cost-saving alternatives to closure.

Committee must hold public hearings at each school in the district to gather public comment on potential closures and their effects on students, parents, and communities, with notice published at least 5 days before each hearing.

School board must take the committee's recommendation into account when making a final school closure decision, and the committee is dissolved after making its recommendation.