Hundreds of bills are introduced in Springfield every session. Here's some of the bills that we'll be supporting or following closely during the spring 2024 session of the 103nd IL General Assembly. 

Bills we support

Clean Air for Healthy Equitable Schools - HB 3713 [Fact Sheet] Initiative of Illinois Stakeholders for Air Quality in Schools. It includes not just ventilation verification assessments but the distribution of high-quality HEPA filters and air quality monitors to immediately improve air quality for all children, teachers, and staff in IL public schools.

Child Tax Credit -  HB 4917/SB 3329, [Fact Sheet] Illinois has long had one of the most regressive state tax systems in the country, in part because the Illinois constitution bars the state from levying a graduated income tax, and so Illinois does not have the ability to raise income tax rates for the people who can afford to pay the most. Until the constitution is amended, advocacy orgs from around the state, including IL Families for Public Schools, are partnering with the Cost of Living Refund Coalition to ameliorate the effects of IL’s regressive tax policies with tax credits for lower-income brackets. This session the coalition is again supporting a child tax credit; eligible low- and middle-income Illinois families would receive a $300 tax credit for each child under the age of 17. This would benefit half of Illinois households with children. ("Capitol Briefs: Tax credits for children, manufacturers among new legislative proposals")

Bills we're following

[PASSED] Elected School Board Districts and Elections -  SB15 This bill created a map of districts and an election calendar for electing 10 seats in November 2024, 21 seats in November 2026 and a portion of the 21 seats every two years going forward. The map boundaries can be viewed here.  

Voucher programs - While the General Assembly did not take any action before the end of 2023 to extend the Invest in Kids tax credit scholarship voucher program, bills to extend the program continue to be introduced. We're monitoring for any of these bills moving although we do not think that's likely. There could also be trailer legislation introduced to allow scholarship granting organizations to spend remaining funds donated to them as well.  

 Looking for our past legislative agendas? 2023 - 103rd GA, 2022 - 102nd GA, 2021 - 102nd GA; 2020 - 101st GA; 2019 - 101st GA; 2018 - 100th GA

Hundreds of bills are introduced in Springfield every session. Here's some of the bills that we'll be supporting or following closely during the spring 2023 session of the 103nd IL General Assembly. 

Key legislative initiative

Sunset Invest in Kids voucher program  - [Fact Sheet] The Invest in Kids Act created a school voucher program in the form of a tax credit scholarship scheme in 2017. The Act was to sunset after five years, but has already been extended for one year. More than three dozen local, state and national orgs have endorsed letting this program sunset as planned. If no new legislation is passed to amend the act, next school year will be the final year of the program with a sunset date for all provisions of Jan 1, 2025. (As such, there is more than one bill which may move that would implement a sunset or none at all.) Read more about our campaign to end it here.

Other bills we support

Clean Air for Healthy Equitable Schools - HB 3713 [Fact Sheet] Initiative of Illinois Stakeholders for Air Quality in Schools. It will be amended to include not just ventilation verification assessments but the distribution of high-quality HEPA filters and air quality monitors to immediately improve air quality for all children, teachers, and staff in IL public schools.

Racism Free Schools -  SB 90/HB 2049 [Fact Sheet] Requires school districts to create and implement a policy on race-related harassment and discrimination and classifies racial harassment as a civil rights violation. Read more details about the bill content here.

Child Tax Credit -  SB 1444/HB 3950 [Fact Sheet] Illinois has long had one of the most regressive state tax systems in the country, in part because the Illinois constitution bars the state from levying a graduated income tax, and so Illinois does not have the ability to raise income tax rates for the people who can afford to pay the most. Until the constitution is amended, advocacy orgs from around the state, including IL Families for Public Schools, are partnering with the Cost of Living Refund Coalition to ameliorate the effects of IL’s regressive tax policies with tax credits for lower-income brackets. This session the coalition is supporting a child tax credit; eligible low- and middle-income Illinois families would receive a $700 tax credit for each child under the age of 17. This would benefit half of Illinois households with children.

Minimum Funding Level - HB 2792 Increases the minimum required increase to Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) to $550M instead of the current $350M. State funding for public schools is billions short of what each district needs to adequately educate its students. With an increase to EBF each year of only $350M, we will not reach full funding until 2054. Resetting the minimum to $550M would be a positive step to accelerating the path to fair funding for Illinois' public schools. 

No Book Bans - HB 2789 Protects against attempts to ban, remove, or otherwise restrict access to books or other materials in the State's public libraries and public school libraries by requiring school and public libraries to adopt policies against censorship and book banning in order to receive grants from the Illinois State Library, including the School District Library Grant. (Many school districts already have existing policies on the books that would meet the requirements of this bill.)

 Looking for our past legislative agendas? 2022 - 102nd GA, 2021 - 102nd GA; 2020 - 101st GA; 2019 - 101st GA; 2018 - 100th GA

Hundreds of bills are introduced in Springfield every session. Here's some of the bills that we'll be supporting or following closely during the spring 2022 session of the 102nd IL General Assembly. (This is an unusually short session that is scheduled to end April 8th instead of May 31st; there's a smaller volume of legislation under consideration than in a typical year.)

Key initiative

Too Young to Test  HB 5285 / SB 3986- [Fact Sheet] This bill would prohibit state developing, funding or requiring standardized testing before 3rd grade with exceptions for assessment for diagnostic and screening purposes, federally-required tests for English-language learners, the KIDS observational assessment tool that the state requires in kindergarten and tests paid for with local/district dollars. The federal government has never included K-2 in its regimen for annual math and reading tests; this is because large-scale standardized testing is not a valid or reliable measure of what children under 8 years know and can do. Expanding the state testing system into PreK-2nd grade shouldn't even be an option; this legislation would protect those grades from that encroachment going forward.

Other bills we support

Earned Income and Child Tax Credit HB 4920 Expands and modernizes the earned income credit, which will especially help low- and middle-income families with children, including adding credit for unpaid caregivers. The failure of the Fair Tax amendment on the ballot in November 2020 means that Illinois' tax system is still deeply regressive. Those who can pay the least, pay the most, and we can't increase revenue without hurting those who can least afford to pay. Advocacy orgs from around the state, including IL Families for Public Schools, are partnering with the Cost of Living Refund Coalition to ameliorate the effects of IL’s regressive tax policies with tax credits for lower-income brackets to offset the impact of a flat tax, including supporting this legislation. Read more about the legislation the coalition is advocating for here. 

Limit 3-8th grade testing to once/year - HB 5149 [Fact Sheet] Prohibits the IL State Board of Education from requiring more than annual math and reading testing in grades 3rd-8th. The federal government only requires annual testing in 3rd-8th grades in math and reading, but the ISBE would like to increase this to three times per year.

Better School Lunches HB 4813 This bill allows school districts to select a food service contractor based on factors other than the lowest bid. Illinois is one of only two states where districts are forced to pick the lowest bid. Read more about this bill here.

Looking for our past legislative agendas? 2021 - 102nd GA; 2020 - 101st GA; 2019 - 101st GA; 2018 - 100th GA

Hundreds of bills are introduced in Springfield every session. Here's some of the bills that we'll be supporting or following closely during the spring 2021 session of the 102nd IL General Assembly.

Key initiative

Right to Play Every Day - SB654/HB3282 [Fact Sheet] Provides all students in public schools grades kindergarten through eighth 60 minutes of unstructured, screen-free play time every day. Time can be subdivided into breaks at least fifteen minutes long. Schools are encouraged to hold this time outdoors, but may hold it indoors. This bill is an initiative of IL Families for Public Schools. More info about the bill and how to support it on this page.

SB654 has the support of Access Living, Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, Chicago Teachers Union, Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI), Defending the Early Years, Illinois Association for the Education of Young Children, Illinois Federation of Teachers, Illinois Optometric Association, Legal Council for Health Justice, National Association of Social Workers - IL Chapter, Northside Action for Justice, Parents 4 Teachers, POWER-PAC IL, Raise Your Hand, Sierra Club - IL Chapter.

Other bills we support

No Videotaping for Teacher Licensure SB808 [Fact Sheet] Prohibits any requirement of submitting video of student teachers or their students in order for the student teacher to receive their license. Currently, ISBE requires student teachers to pass the edTPA an assessment for which video is uploaded and sent to Pearson, Inc. for evaluation. You can read more about the problems with the edTPA including the video component here.

Elected Representative School Board for Chicago - SB2497/HB2908 [Fact Sheet] Chicago is the only school district in the state with a mayoral appointed school board. This bill would give CPS an elected board starting in 2022 with 20 members from voting districts and one board president elected at-large. Future elections would be aligned with municipal elections starting in 2027.

Seclusion/Restraint- HB219/SB2296 Prohibits schools from placing students in isolation rooms. This legislation was addressed in response to an investigation by ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune of how students across the state were being tragically harmed by the use of seclusion. More about this legislation here

Inclusive Local School Councils - HB251/SB148 [Fact Sheet] Reduces barriers for civically engaged parents and community leaders to serve as Local School Council (LSC) members in CPS. Allows CPS to amend the LSC candidate eligibility to that of parent and community members classified as Level II volunteers while ensuring that LSC candidates are screened against the Sex Offender and Violent Offender Against Youth Databases.

LSCs for All - SB2042 Establishes elected Local School Councils for Chicago charter schools and other district-run CPS schools that currently have appointed LSCs ("ALSCs"). It also adds an appointed student member to LSCs that serve students in 7th and 8th grade but don't currently have a student member, and creates new support for LSC certification training.

Test Optional Admissions for Public Universities - HB226 Makes it optional for applications to submit a standardized test score to gain admission to any Illinois public institution of higher education. (For more information about the key role in test-optional admissions for resisting the misuse and overuse of standardized testing, see Fair Test's extensive list of resources.)

Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History (TEAACH)- HB376/SB648 [Fact Sheet] Requires every public elementary school and high school to include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the events of Asian American history

Contributions & History of Muslims in America Bill - HB3430/SB564 [Fact Sheet] Amends the school code to incorporate the history of Muslim-Americans into the curriculum of US History

Absences for mental health - HB576 Adds mental or behavioral health issue to list of excused absence causes by illness 

Special education maximum age extension - HB40/SB531 Extends special education services throughout the school year of a student’s 22nd birthday, rather than cutting off services on their 22nd birthday. 

Schools closed for Election Day - HB27 Replaces Columbus Day with Election Day for a state holiday. Schools would be closed for Election Day

Cost of living refund - HB2792 /SB2184 Expands and modernizing the earned income credit, which will especially help low- and middle-income families with children, including adding credit for unpaid caregivers. The failure of the Fair Tax amendment means that Illinois' tax system is still deeply regressive. Those who can pay the least, pay the most, and we can't increase revenue without hurting those who can least afford to pay. 

Indigenous Peoples Day - HB3982 Designates the second Monday in October as a new state holiday, Indigenous Peoples Day, replacing Columbus Day. IL Families for Public Schools is part of the coalition of over 80 organizations supporting this change for Illinois and Chicago.

Looking for our past legislative agendas? 2020 - 101st GA; 2019 - 101st GA; 2018 - 100th GA

IL Families for Public Schools wants to hear from you about which legislation you think is a top priority this session! There are a number of important bills already filed or about to be, and we want to know what you would like to see passed---and also what you’d like to help support.

You can read the list of bills here, and then take the survey to the right (or below if on a phone!) where you an indicate your level of interest in each bill on the list. (Not sure about a bill? You can skip to the next bill.) At the beginning of the survey you can also indicate if you are interested in volunteering to get more involved in working on any of these bills.

If you are having difficulties with this interface on your device, you can use this form instead. Questions? Let us know!

[Spring 2018] Hundreds of bills are introduced in Springfield every session. Here's the bills we're tracking the most closely during the current session of the 100th IL General Assembly.

Key legislation

• HB5481: Class Size Goals Requires districts to report data on class sizes to ISBE as well as sets targets for class sizes for K-12 classrooms. Read more here. Mobile-friendly version here. [Update 5.24: Passed both chambers.]
• HB5721: Facilities and School Actions CPS continues to make decisions about opening and closing schools without adhering to a long-term facilities plan or engaging with communities. This bill requires public input and more transparency for capital spending. It reduces the need for school actions through increased supports for under enrolled schools. And it provides additional assistance to students and school communities subjected to school actions. Read our HB5721 fact sheet here. Mobile-friendly version here.
• HB1295: Student Data Transparency As computer usage and data collection increases in public ed, parents have the right to know who is collecting, storing and sharing what data on their children; this bill would require public disclosure of this information and would establish procedures for how parents could examine, correct and request for such data to be deleted. Read a one-pager about this bill here and a backgrounder from Raise Your Hand about why we need better student data privacy protections in IL here.
• SB3592: Elected School Board Last spring, an elected school board bill, HB1774 passed both chambers with overwhelming majorities, but was blocked from being sent to the Governor's desk by the Senate and House leadership. This new bill is intended to resolve those issues. More here. Mobile-friendly version here.
• SB454-HFA3: Enhancing Parent Participation in CPS Special Education. Introduced in response to the ISBE Public Inquiry and remedies for CPS's violation of federal special education law, this bill goes beyond ISBE's corrective actions to provide additional support and transparency and accountability for families seeking a free, appropriate public education for their children with disabilities. Read the details of the bill and a list of organizational supporters here.

Other bills we support

• HB4208: Safe Schools and Healthy Learning Intended to mitigate factors, like suspensions, expulsions and in-school arrests, leading to the school-to-prison pipeline via targeted matching grants. More here. Mobile friendly version here.
• SB2236: Limits any allocation to the tax credit scholarship program until after the minimum statutory funding level is achieved for districts. Read more here. Mobile-friendly version here.
• SB2468: Requires that if a student’s IEP team determines a student does not need an assistive device they must notify parents of the decision and the basis for the decision.
• SB3514: Special education staffing. This bill would require CPS to fund special ed positions from the board level and gets rid of commingling of funds. It bases funding on IEP minutes.
• HB4657: Requires professional development for teachers to recognize signs of mental health issues in students. The school code now only requires this for grades 7 and up.

Bills we oppose

• SB3183: LSC Disempowerment/Principal Evaluation Seeks to reduce the current authority LSCs have to not renew a principal’s four year contract with the school, thereby diminishing the single most important power LSCs have in shaping the direction of their schools. Local School Councils are currently the only democratically-elected bodies of governance within CPS. The strongest power they are afforded is discretion in selecting a principal and renewing their contract. Reducing that power effectively waters down an LSC’s ability to enact change. Read more here. Mobile-friendly version here.
• SB3099: Allows sale of student data after obtaining written consent from the student or parent/guardian of the student in some cases as well as allowing for more cases of use of data outside of research. More here.
• HB4227: Expands the schools eligible for grants under the tax credit program to schools not currently under “recognized” status from ISBE.
• HB4563: Expands tax credits to include donations to school foundations and reduces funding from the evidence based funding model by the same amount.
• HB4376: Allows the use of BrightStart 529 funds for use for K-12 schools.
• SB2855: Would prohibit IL State Board of Education from establishing class sizes for special ed unless full funding were provided to cover costs of class size limitations. Would end any existing rules and regulations of class sizes for special ed.

Hundreds of bills are introduced in Springfield every session. Here's the bills we're following the most closely during the current session of the 101st IL General Assembly, including our own initiatives, HB3606 and HB254. Bills are marked with their PA number if they've been signed into law.

Fall veto session begins Oct 28, 2019. Bills that we expect may be called in veto session, having passed one chamber in the spring, are SB453 and HB256. Please ask your state representative to support SB453 and your state senator to support HB256.

• SB453 Promoting Inclusive Local School Councils [Fact Sheet] Reduces barriers for civically engaged parents and community leaders to serve as Local School Council (LSC) members in CPS. Allows CPS to amend the LSC candidate eligibility to that of parent and community members classified as Level II volunteers while ensuring that LSC candidates are screened against the Sex Offender and Violent Offender Against Youth Databases.
• HB256: No Videotaping for Student Teacher Licensure [Fact Sheet] Prohibits any requirement of videotaping of student teachers or their students in order for the student teacher to receive their license. Currently, ISBE requires student teachers to pass the edTPA an assessment for which video is uploaded and sent to Pearson, Inc. for evaluation. You can read more about the problems with the edTPA including the video component here.

Key legislation

• PA 101-0516 (HB3606/SB2089) Student Data Protection [Fact Sheet] Parents have a right to know and a right to control how their child’s personal data is being used by schools, companies and government agencies. Read more about why we need better student data protection legislation here. The law will go into effect July 2021.
• HB2267 Elected School Board for Chicago Chicago is the only school district in the state with a mayoral appointed school board. This bill would give CPS an elected board via an election in 2023 with members from 20 districts and one at-large president.
• PA 101-0451 (HB254): Class Size Goals [Fact Sheet] Requires districts to report detailed data on individual class sizes to ISBE as well as how many classes meet the class size recommendations used in the state funding formula. Reporting begins fall of 2020.
  

Other bills we support

Charter schools

• PA 101-0543 (SB1226 /HB2100) Abolish State Charter Commission. Transfer powers to ISBE. Replace appeal process for charters with judicial review. The unelected State Charter Commission allows for the operation of charters schools over the wishes of local school boards. The Commission can override local decisions and approve charter schools that a local school board has rejected. Schools that are approved by the Commission get increased funding over local district amounts, and this comes from the local district's budget even though they have no say on how the charter school is run.
• HB278 No new for-profit CMOs Charter schools must be non-profit, but non-profit charters can hire for-profit Charter Management Organizations to run the school and receive all of the funding. This law would close that loophole. (See also HB811)
• HB279 No new charters in financially-distressed districts Places moratorium  on the establishment of new charter schools (or new campuses of existing charter schools) in financially distressed districts. Financially distressed districts are those districts which are unable to fund their schools at least 90% of what the state has determined to be adequate.
• HB334/SB188 LSCs for all Establishes elected Local School Councils for Chicago charter schools and other district-run CPS schools that currently have appointed LSCs ("ALSCs"). It also adds an appointed student member to LSCs that serve students in 7th and 8th grade but don't currently have a student member, and creates new support for LSC certification training. 

Special Education and Nursing

• PA 101-0507 (HB3302) [Fact sheet] Extend statute of limitations on filing complaints on inquiry-related loss of services. Parents have two years after the creation of a state compensatory education plan to file a complaint about delay or denial of special ed services by CPS during 2016-2018
• PA 101-0515 (HB3586) [Fact sheet]Transparency on special education policies and services. Parents have three days to review documentation before an IEP meeting. CPS must post any special ed policy changes publicly 45 days before adoption. 
• PA 101-0050 (HB1475) Seizure Smart School. Many students at CPS (and other districts) have no one in the school trained on their child’s emergency medication for seizures. This bill allows willing staff to be trained.  
• PA 101-0428 (HB822) Undesignated Glucagon. Glucagon is an emergency life-saving medication for students with Type1 diabetes. This bill allows doctors to prescribe the medicine to schools so they can keep a supply in the office. It also also allows willing staff to administer in the event a nurse is not available.

Hundreds of bills are introduced in Springfield every session. Here's the bills we're following the most closely during the spring 2020 session of the 101st IL General Assembly, including our own initiative, SB3717. Bills are marked with their Public Act number if they've been signed into law.

Key initiative

• SB3717/HB5131 Right to Play Every Day [Fact Sheet] Provides all students in public schools grades kindergarten through eighth 60 minutes of unstructured, screen-free play time every day. Time can be subdivided into breaks at least fifteen minutes long. Schools are encouraged to hold this time outdoors, but may hold it indoors. This bill is an initiative of IL Families for Public Schools. More info about the bill and how to support it on this page.

  SB3717 has the support of Access Living, Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, Chicago Teachers Union, Defending the Early Years, Free Forest School, Illinois Optometric Association, Illinois Federation of Teachers, Legal Council for Health Justice, National Association of Social Workers - IL Chapter, Northern Illinois Nature Preschool Association, Parents 4 Teachers and the Sierra Club - IL Chapter.

Other bills we support

• HB2267 Elected School Board for Chicago Chicago is the only school district in the state with a mayoral appointed school board. This bill would give CPS an elected board via an election in 2023 with members from 20 districts and one at-large president.
• SB453 Promoting Inclusive Local School Councils [Fact Sheet] Reduces barriers for civically engaged parents and community leaders to serve as Local School Council (LSC) members in CPS. Allows CPS to amend the LSC candidate eligibility to that of parent and community members classified as Level II volunteers while ensuring that LSC candidates are screened against the Sex Offender and Violent Offender Against Youth Databases.
• HB256 No Videotaping for Student Teacher Licensure [Fact Sheet] Prohibits any requirement of videotaping of student teachers or their students in order for the student teacher to receive their license. Currently, ISBE requires student teachers to pass the edTPA an assessment for which video is uploaded and sent to Pearson, Inc. for evaluation. You can read more about the problems with the edTPA including the video component here.
• HB334/SB188 LSCs for all Establishes elected Local School Councils for Chicago charter schools and other district-run CPS schools that currently have appointed LSCs ("ALSCs"). It also adds an appointed student member to LSCs that serve students in 7th and 8th grade but don't currently have a student member, and creates new support for LSC certification training. 
• HB4064 Test Optional Admissions for Public Universities Makes it optional for applications to submit a standardized test score to gain admission to any Illinois public institution of higher education. (For more information about the key role in test-optional admissions for resisting the misuse and overuse of standardized testing, see Fair Test's extensive list of resources.)
• HB3975/SB2315 Seclusion Prohibited Prohibits schools from placing students in isolation rooms. This legislation was addressed in response to an investigation by ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune of how students across the state were being tragically harmed by the use of seclusion. More about this legislation here.
• HB5012/SB3788 Healthy Youth [Fact Sheet] ensures that sexual health education in Illinois is inclusive and affirming of communities who historically have been stigmatized or excluded including LGBTQIA and pregnant or parenting youth. More info from the coalition supporting the bill here.
  

Public Acts passed in 101st General Assembly

• PA 101-0516 (HB3606/SB2089) Student Data Protection [Fact Sheet] Parents have a right to know and a right to control how their child’s personal data is being used by schools, companies and government agencies. Read more about why we need better student data protection legislation here. The law will go into effect July 2021.
• PA 101-0451 (HB254): Class Size Goals [Fact Sheet] Requires districts to report detailed data on individual class sizes to ISBE as well as how many classes meet the class size recommendations used in the state funding formula. Reporting begins fall of 2020.
• PA 101-0543 (SB1226 /HB2100) Abolish State Charter Commission. Transfer powers to ISBE. Replace appeal process for charters with judicial review. The unelected State Charter Commission allows for the operation of charters schools over the wishes of local school boards. The Commission can override local decisions and approve charter schools that a local school board has rejected. Schools that are approved by the Commission get increased funding over local district amounts, and this comes from the local district's budget even though they have no say on how the charter school is run.

Special Education and Nursing

• PA 101-0507 (HB3302) [Fact sheet] Extend statute of limitations on filing complaints on inquiry-related loss of services. Parents have two years after the creation of a state compensatory education plan to file a complaint about delay or denial of special ed services by CPS during 2016-2018
• PA 101-0515 (HB3586) [Fact sheet]Transparency on special education policies and services. Parents have three days to review documentation before an IEP meeting. CPS must post any special ed policy changes publicly 45 days before adoption. 
• PA 101-0050 (HB1475) Seizure Smart School. Many students at CPS (and other districts) have no one in the school trained on their child’s emergency medication for seizures. This bill allows willing staff to be trained.  
• PA 101-0428 (HB822) Undesignated Glucagon. Glucagon is an emergency life-saving medication for students with Type1 diabetes. This bill allows doctors to prescribe the medicine to schools so they can keep a supply in the office. It also also allows willing staff to administer in the event a nurse is not available.