Shifts in education laws might seem like faraway chatter with little to do with kids in a classroom, but those changes can impact everything from bus routes to school lunches.
In the past several years, education laws with considerable impact have been adopted, says Jennifer Kirmes, director of policy for nonprofit, nonpartisan education advocacy group Advance Illinois.
Changes to laws in the post-pandemic years have high stakes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, education was historically disrupted. Since schools have reopened and kids have gone back to in person learning, lawmakers have been tasked with addressing many school issues laid bare by the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic.
One of the biggest hurdles for school leaders now is finding funds to fill the gaps when pandemic money runs out. During the COVID-19 pandemic, federal funds to the tune of $190 billion were given to schools across the country to use as they saw fit. Now, schools must spend the last of their COVID-19 relief dollars by 2025 (though schools can apply for extensions to use some of the funds in 2026.)
A state’s action toward filling that funding gap is increasingly important, say education advocacy nonprofits like The Education Law Center. In its 2023 report, the ELC ranked Illinois 44th out of all 50 states in its equitable funding ranking, although compared to other states, Illinois does invest a high percentage of its state budget in education.
To address these challenges, some of the biggest recent changes in Illinois’s education laws center on how money is allocated to the neediest schools, increasing access to early childhood education, implementing mental health resources and correcting historic disparities in which students benefit from elective programs.
Changes to how Illinois gives money to schools
One of the biggest changes to how Illinois funds its schools started seven years ago when the state adopted an evidence based funding formula (EBF), says Kirmes.
The formula moves new state dollars into districts that are farthest away from being fully or adequately funded, as opposed to giving the same amount of money to every district.
“To give you a sense of the fiscal impact this has had, before the formula, there were 169 districts that had less than 60% than what they would need, and now there are 0 districts below 60%,” Kirmes says. “The reason that that has happened is because the formula drives those resources to the states most underfunded districts that serve students.”
Those dollars translate into resources that matter for students, she says. During the pandemic, schools that received more funding thanks to the formula were also better prepared to deal with the challenges that came with school shutdowns.
“The investments that districts made from those early EBF dollars really helped buffer them against the pandemic–districts that invested in technology, lower class sizes and more staff had an easier time working through the pandemic and were able to make immediate adjustments for public health reasons,” she says.
Kirmes emphasizes that continuing to fund the EBF is even more important now as the pandemic dollars are running out.
Changes to early childhood education
“In the early childhood spaces, it’s currently a really exciting time for Illinois because of the work that happened in late 2019 when the governor established the Illinois Commission on Early Childhood and Care,” says Kirmes.
In March 2021, the commission released three big recommendations: a long term funding goal, centralization and coordination of funding, and a recommendation to create a brand new state agency to manage early childhood and care.
Those commissions and their recommendations “brought us to this moment in the spring legislative session that actually created this agency,” she says. “It’s so important because it will make access simpler and fairer to families.”
“Parents should know that while that is happening, the programs as they exist will continue,” she adds. “The state has increased investments in many of the legacy programs so it’s not the case that everything is on hold.”
Parents should also know that during the two-year process, changemakers are looking for parent feedback on the new system. Families who want their voice to be heard will have the opportunity to get involved with the system redesign.
Addressing student mental health
“We all know student mental health and well being are important and how much they matter to learning” Kirmes says. “The system has to respond and to provide better support for this.”
In some schools, teachers were able to meet the needs of students, but in many places, educators were not trained nor given the proper resources to respond to the mental health of students.
“In some places, educators did not have a consistent understanding of what ‘good’ looks like in the mental health space,” she adds.
In response to the need for mental health resources, The Resilience Education to Advance Community Healing (REACH) Statewide Initiative was launched in 2020 out of a partnership between the Center for Childhood Resilience at Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and the Peoria Regional Office of Education.
REACH created Social Emotional Learning (SEL) hubs spread across the state for teacher training that focuses on trauma informed best practices as well as tools for educators that are effective and evidence based, says Kirmes.
Thousands of teachers have trained at the SEL hubs. Parents who have questions about their child’s mental health can now expect better informed and consistent responses from school leaders.
Landmark pillar bill from the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus
“The tremendous impact of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus’ pillar bill —passed in 2021—on Illinois children and students cannot be overstated,” says the team at Advance Illinois.
The bill moves the state to take a systemic approach to supporting the Whole Child, expanding the Minority Teachers of Illinois Scholarship Program, creating Freedom Schools that expand teaching of Black history and more.
Article 65 of the bill requires schools to automatically enroll students in the next level of advanced coursework if they meet or exceed state standards in that subject matter – including Advanced Placement courses.
That change is crucial for making sure every student is invited to move into more rigorous courses and programs, especially students who are historically underrepresented in programs like dual enrollment and AP courses, says Kirmes.
Parents should know that dual credit programs have tangible outcomes on whether kids graduate college, she adds.
“What we’ve seen is that the grad rate for students who took one dual credit course is 20% higher than for students who don’t,” she says. “Especially for those that historically may not have been made as aware of the dual credit opportunities, it’s important to know how beneficial it can be.”
Recent educational reforms in Illinois
- The Evidence Based Funding Formula has been one of the most impactful laws in the past several years. The neediest schools have used the new funds to increase staff, invest in new technology and more.
- In 2023, Gov. Pritzker, in Executive Order 2023-09, created one state agency to oversee early childhood care and education. The change is expected to increase access and ease for parents looking for care.
- The REACH Initiative, launched in 2020,established Social Emotional Learning Hubs to train teachers in addressing student mental health.
- The 2021 Illinois Legislative Black Caucus’ pillar bill creates many new laws designed to increase equity in school systems. Some include auto-accelerate policies to increase the number of historically underrepresented students in AP classes and dual credit programs.
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