The Impact of Divorce on a Child’s Education - PDF document

The Impact of Divorce on a Child’s Education School is an essential part of a child’s life and comes with many difficult decisions. If you are no longer in a relationship with your child’s other parent, you likely have many questions about how these decisions will be made, and what happens if you disagree. Do bo th parents have to agree to change a child’s school? Illinois law specifies four areas considered “major” decisions; education, health/medical, extracurriculars, and religion. If you share joint decision - making responsibility for learning with the other p arent, you must agree before moving your child to a different school or filing a petition for the court to make a decision . The School Code states that the residence of a person who has legal custody of a student is considered the student’s home for enroll ment purposes. But what if both parents have joint custody (or decision - making responsibilities as it is now called)? To resolve this problem, all parenting plans must include a provision that designates which parent is designated the custodial parent for other laws requiring a designation, such as the School Code. This designation does not give one parent any rights or responsibilities over the other and is solely for bureaucratic purposes. This does not mean that the residential parent needs the other pa rent’s consent to move to a different school district, so such a move could require the child to change schools regardless of agreement . If no parenting plan has been entered and the other parent disagrees, you must initiate proceedings in court to resolve the issue. Generally, the court will require the child to stay at their current school while the case is pending, but in certain circumstances, it may be permitted for them to be enrolled at a new school temporarily . Can both parents access school records ? Even if one parent has sole decision - making responsibility for education, the other parent is still allowed access to the child’s school records unless there is a reason to deny that for the child’s safety. Both parents have a right to be informed of an d attend parent - teacher conferences, and independently contact teachers . Who pays for school costs ? The court can order either or both parents to contribute to reasonable school and extracurricular expenses. This is in addition to child support . Although it is not specified by law, reasonable school costs typically include registration and application fees, books and supplies, field trips, graduation expenses, and other required fees. It is essential to keep careful records of these payments and ask for reimbursement from the other parent as soon as possible .