It was a very busy spring session in Springfield this year, with almost 6,700 bills introduced in the General Assembly. Our advocacy campaigns this spring were also incredibly successful, with our highest ever response rate and with almost all of our targeted legislation passing both houses and signed into law by the governor. Thank you to all who took the time to contact your legislators. During the fall veto session in October and November, we will be focusing on our one remaining targeted bill (HB1375: Financial Education) that still needs to pass in the Senate, as well as ensuring that the Invest in Kids voucher program ends as scheduled. Here’s what happened this spring (Yes, it’s a long list, but as we said, very busy and incredibly successful. There are headings to help you find topics of interest.).

School Funding

Illinois PTA, as part of the Funding Illinois’s Future coalition, was a leader in the push to increase the Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) formula appropriation to $550 million in FY24, from testifying at the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) budget hearings through final passage of the budget. Increasing EBF funding to $550 million from $350 million would cut the time until all schools are at 90% adequate funding from 2037 to 2032. 

It looked like this funding increase might happen until early May, when a report showing April tax revenues were unexpectedly down from the previous year and another projected the costs of medical coverage of undocumented migrants increasing to over $1 billion in FY25. Both made legislators reluctant to increase EBF funding beyond the $350 million they had done in years past. 

However, the good news was that almost all legislators agreed that $350 million was a minimum funding level for EBF (we’ve had to fight for even that in years past), and there was even some interest in making EBF funding at $550 million a continuing appropriation until schools were fully funded (which means it would automatically be included in the budget at that level).

Invest in Kids Voucher Program

When the EBF formula was originally passed, Governor Rauner vetoed the legislation, and the Invest in Kids voucher program was added to get his signature. The program was scheduled to last just five years, but had been extended once for an additional year. It is currently scheduled to end January 1, 2024.

Illinois PTA joined a coalition led by Illinois Families for Public Schools to advocate for allowing the program to end as scheduled. Private schools and the families that have benefited from the voucher program (the vast majority of whom have never had their children in public schools) lobbied almost continuously throughout the spring session to extend the program. Fortunately, legislators were not persuaded that providing up to $75 million in tax credits for vouchers was a responsible budget approach when our public schools remain underfunded.

Proponents of extending the program have not given up and are planning to make another push during the fall veto session in October and November. Illinois PTA will continue to advocate ending the program, and with your help in contacting your legislators, we can finally do so. The veto session begins October 24th, so keep an eye peeled for our call to action and respond quickly. The more legislators hear from us, the greater effect we have.

Whole Child Task Force Recommendations

ISBE’s Whole Child Task Force produced a report in March 2022 with some 30 recommendations on teacher and staff training, processes, data needs, and restorative justice that would address all child needs in school. Far too often, these legislatively-mandated committees meet, produce their report, and the report ends up sitting there without any recommendations being implemented. Advance Illinois contacted Illinois PTA about working together to implement some of the recommendations regarding child trauma in education.

The supporting legislation, HB0342 (now PA 103-0413), focused on four key recommendations:

  • Reporting the number of school counselors, social workers, psychologists, and nurses by school on the Illinois Report Card.
  • Creating a standard set of definitions around childhood trauma and implementing consistent education programs using these definitions and recommended best practices for both teacher training at state universities and professional development for current teachers. This would eliminate the various terminology and practices that districts might be implementing on their own, enabling best practices to be more easily shared between districts.
  • Creating a Children’s Adversity index by May 31, 2025 that would measure community childhood trauma exposure across the population of children between ages 3 and 18. The development of this index would focus on using data already collected across a wide variety of state agencies. The index is to be designed to measure progress and compare school districts to the state average. The index may be used to provide additional funding to schools with above average childhood adversity in the future to better serve and educate the children in those districts.

E-Cigarettes

Illinois PTA has been at the forefront of educating families on the risks associated with e-cigarettes (vaping) since 2014, and the 2018 Illinois PTA Convention delegates adopted a resolution on Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS). Since then, Illinois PTA has advocated for a variety of legislation to keep children safe from e-cigarettes. HB1540 (PA 103-0272) will ban vaping in any location where smoking tobacco is currently prohibited, effective January 1, 2024.

Healthy School Meals for All

Illinois PTA has worked with the Greater Chicago Food Depository (a statewide organization despite the name) on child hunger issues for several years now. While our original focus at the start of the legislative session was a bill providing grants to help schools implement Breakfast After the Bell, HB2471 (PA 103-0532) moved to the forefront when a supplemental nutrition aid bill was amended to provide healthy school meals for all Illinois children. 

Implementation of the bill is subject to appropriation, and since the bill was signed after the budget was enacted, the program will not begin this fiscal year. Look for Illinois PTA to campaign for funding next spring when the budget is being discussed. During the pandemic when schools were closed, many provided meals to all children and discovered that didn’t just increase participation in the school lunch program among all students, but also increased it among those students who would have qualified under the free and reduced lunch program. Providing school meals to all children can reduce the stigma associated with the school lunch program and ensure that fewer Illinois children go hungry.

Opioid Antagonists

Previously, Illinois law said that schools may have opioid antagonists (e.g., Narcan) available on campus if they chose to do so. HB3428 (PA 103-0348) changed that “may” to a “shall,” with some caveats should supplies be limited and schools find it difficult to obtain. Requiring schools to have these on campus has the potential to save children’s lives, as many of the opioid overdoses are not from taking opioids directly, but rather through “fentanyl poisoning” where fentanyl has been mixed in with another drug without the user being aware that it was there.

School Bus Stop Arms

Last year, Illinois PTA successfully advocated for exempting school buses with longer stop arms from being classified as “oversized loads” on Illinois roads. This session, SB2340 (PA 103-0404) requires school districts to install longer stop arms that block the adjacent lane of traffic on all school buses, effective July 28, 2023. Given that the Illinois Department of Transportation estimated that there are 1.9 million stop arm violations every year, having a longer arm that blocks the adjacent lane of traffic should make it safer for children getting on and off the school bus.

Juvenile Justice

Illinois PTA has been advocating for the end of youth solitary confinement for years, and HB3140 (PA 103-0178) finally ends the practice except for limited circumstances (e.g., the child is a threat to themselves or others, the child is awaiting transfer to another facility or their release) and only for a limited time (e.g., until they get themselves under control and do not present a threat to themselves or others). Given the strong correlation between youth solitary confinement and suicide (more than half of the suicides in juvenile facilities occur while in solitary confinement), it is long past time that the practice was ended in Illinois.

SB1463 (PA 103-0379) bans imposing fees or fines (e.g., administrative or court costs) on minors in Juvenile Court or transferred to adult court.

HB3414 (PA 103-0191) provides judges the ability to cancel the prosecution of a minor if there is clear and convincing evidence that the minor could benefit from the care, treatment, and training programs available through the juvenile courts system based on an evaluation of involvement with the child welfare system, the role that outside pressure (e.g., peer pressure or familial pressure) may have played, and the minor’s degree of participation and specific role in the offense. In addition, at sentencing, the judge is to also take a minor’s experience with domestic or sexual violence, sexual exploitation, and other adverse childhood experiences; the minor’s involvement in the child welfare system; their involvement in the community; and the results of a comprehensive mental health evaluation if one was conducted.

Graduation Dress Codes

Schools may no longer prohibit students from wearing or accessorizing their graduation attire with their cultural, ethnic, or religious identity, or any other protected characteristic or category in the Illinois Human Rights Act now that SB1446 (PA 103-0463) has been signed into law.

Special Education

HB3680 (PA 103-0197) requires that schools take into consideration any extra accommodation a student might need during an emergency (e.g., natural disaster or active shooter) when developing a student’s Section 504 plan or Individualized Education Program (IEP). A student’s IEP or Section 504 plan also must be taken into consideration when deciding whether to exempt a student from participating in a walk-through lockdown drill.

HB3224 (PA 103-0181) provides that both a student with an IEP and their parent or guardian (instead of just the student) shall receive information from the school district on the district’s career and technical education opportunities, as well as dual credit courses offered, as part of their transition planning. The district shall include participation in dual credit courses, even if taken just for high school credit, in the student’s transition IEP.

Mental Health

In order to increase the availability and accessibility of mental health resources for students, SB1709 (PA 103-0222) requires the Department of Human Resources to partner with ISBE to provide technical assistance in providing mental health care during school days.

HB2156 (PA 103-0143) requires that student ID cards shall also include the contact information for the Safe2Help Illinois helpline.

School Safety

In addition to including accommodations a student might need during an emergency in their Section 504 plan or IEP (see Special Education section above), other bills signed into law address school safety issues.

HB3559 (PA 103-0194) requires a school building’s emergency and crisis response plan, protocol, and procedures to include a plan for local law enforcement to rapidly enter a school building in the event of an emergency.

While it is a sad statement about where we are today, HB1561 (PA 103-0128) states that schools may maintain an on-site trauma kit at each school in the district for bleeding emergencies, but such kits are not required. In addition, all school district employees in all districts are to receive training in how to respond to trauma every two years, including how to use a trauma kit if the school district provides them.

Bullying and Harassment

HB3425 (PA 103-0047) requires that school bullying prevention policies must include notification of the parents or guardians of all students involved in an alleged bullying incident within 24 hours of the school’s administration being made aware of the incident. In addition, schools (including charter and non-public, non-sectarian schools) must report annual data on each verified allegation of bullying and the action taken to ISBE starting with the 2024-2025 school year. Personally identifying information is not to be included in the reporting.

Under SB0090 (PA 103-0472), school districts (including charter and non-public, non-sectarian schools) will need to develop a harassment policy that includes how to make a complaint, a prohibition on retaliation for making a complaint, and the legal recourse available through the Illinois Department of Human Rights or through federal agencies. Schools must also report annually to ISBE all reported allegations sexual harassment; discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, or disability; and retaliation against those making complaints.

Full-Day Kindergarten

HB2396 (PA 103-0410) requires schools to provide full-day kindergarten beginning with the 2027-2028 school year. School districts may apply for a two-year extension to the deadline if the district is below 76% adequate funding as calculated by the EBF formula, the district is in the top 25% of the capital funding need by the Full-Day Kindergarten Task Force but hasn’t received the capital funding yet, and in other limited circumstances.

The Full-Day Kindergarten Task Force is also charged with creating a report that identifies how many kindergarten students there are in Illinois, whether they are full-day or part-day students, and whether they are on waitlists; how many districts do not currently provide full-day kindergarten; an analysis of districts without full-day kindergarten space utilization rate and capacity to provide space for full-day kindergarten; an estimate of the costs of providing full-day kindergarten in districts without it; and recommendations on how capital funds might be prioritized and disbursed to the districts most in need. The task force may also add additional deadline extension criteria based on the report.

State Literacy Plan

Numerous bills were introduced this session targeted at specific issues in literacy, pushing specific approaches to literacy, or favoring specific literacy diagnostic tools. As the literacy teachers on our board routinely point out, there is no one silver bullet to teach literacy—teachers need a toolbox full of diagnostic tools, approaches, and best practices. That’s why Illinois PTA supported the creation of a State Literacy Plan in SB2243 (PA 103-0402).

The plan, already under development by ISBE, will potentially transform how every school district in Illinois teaches literacy from early childhood through high school. On Thursday, September 21, at 7:00pm, Illinois PTA will be hosting Advocacy & You: Starting a Conversation with Your School District, using the State Literacy Plan as an example of how your PTA or PTA Council can work with your school district to be at the table as they implement the plan for your children. We will have experts in both literacy and advocacy to help you work effectively with your district. Register to join us on the 21st.

Education Changes

Several bills passed into law this session will change what is taught to your child in school. HB1633 (PA 103-0422) requires every elementary or high school social studies course pertaining to American history or government include a unit of instruction on Native American history, beginning with the 2024-2025 school year. 

HB3932 (PA 103-0212) provides that safety education in high school shall include allergen safety, including recognizing the signs and symptoms of an allergic reaction, including anaphylaxis; steps to take to prevent exposure to allergens; and how to safely administer emergency epinephrine (e.g., Epi-Pens), beginning in the 2024-2025 school year.

HB3924 (PA 103-0365) will include instruction, study, and discussion on the dangers of fentanyl in every required high school health class starting in 2024-2025.

SB2223 (PA 103-0399) requires ISBE to work with relevant stakeholders, including the Illinois Opioid Crisis Response Advisory Council, to develop and update substance use prevention and recovery resource materials to include the latest information opioids in an age-appropriate, comprehensive, reality-based, safety-focused, medically accurate, and evidence-informed manner.

Child Labor

This one probably doesn’t affect you or your child unless the two of you are running a “kid influencer” website. SB1782 (PA 103-0556) requires tracking specific data if you or a family member help produce online content that receives compensation (e.g., a piece of the ad sales revenues) featuring a minor under 16, including setting up a trust fund for the child with a portion of the revenues. Note that this law does not apply to minors under 16 producing their own content.