Legislation Archives

What Happened During Legislative Session?

Legislation | 06/3/2025

Stand for Children

The Illinois legislative session wrapped up in early hours of Sunday morning after some long, late nights. It was in these final hours that a budget package came together during an especially difficult year of revenue challenges. And we’ve seen a lot of education wins and movement toward progress this session. Here’s a recap of some key pieces of legislation and budget highlights that moved this year:

No school-based municipal tickets. SB 1519 (Villa/Ford) prohibits municipal ticketing as a disciplinary consequence in Illinois schools.
Professional development aligned to the literacy plan. HB 1368 (Faver Dias/Lightford) ensures professional development activities related to literacy instruction are aligned to the evidence-based strategies defined in ISBE’s Comprehensive Literacy Plan.
Literacy screening data. SB 1672 (Belt/Mussman) requires school districts to report what early literacy screeners they use, how often, and what skill areas are measured with each. This data will help us understand the holistic picture of a fundamental component of high-quality literacy instruction.
Right to public education regardless of citizenship. HB 3247 (Jimenez/Villa) supports all students to receive a free public education regardless of their or their family’s perceived or actual citizenship status.
$307 million for Evidence-Based Funding. Though we wish we could share even better news, we acknowledge this was a tough budget year and appreciate that the budget still found $300 million to bring schools closer to full funding. The $50 million property tax relief grants, which are a component of EBF, are paused this year. (The extra $7 million are for alternative schools.)
$1.5 million for literacy plan implementation and the development of a numeracy plan. This is $1.5 million dollars less than the ISBE-recommended $3 million dollar appropriation. This is disappointing news, knowing that $3 million was an already modest appropriation, but we hope this funding can still help districts make small steps toward high-quality literacy and numeracy instruction across the state.

Thank you so much for all of your emails, witness slips, petition signatures, and social media outreach to support these endeavors! Each education win we see is only possible because of advocates like you. We will not slow our fight to creating a better future for our students and will continue to advocate for strong legislation and funding in Illinois.

DUAL CREDIT BILL ADVANCES AT THE CAPITOL

Legislation | 04/23/2024

Mea Anderson Marketing and Communications Manager

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 23, 2024

CONTACT: Mea Anderson | [email protected]

Stand for Children Celebrates the Passage of House Bill 5020, Bringing Illinois One Step Closer to Equitable Access to Dual Credit Courses

(Springfield) – Stand for Children celebrated a huge win for Dual Credit last week after the Illinois House passed House Bill 5020 (Blair-Sherlock). “Student access to dual credit has increased over the last five years, but those gains have not been equitable across student groups. HB5020 knocks down roadblocks to enable more Dual Credit access through strong local partnerships between high schools and community colleges, while maintaining a high bar for rigor,” said Stand for Children Government Affairs Director Aimee Galvin.

Dual Credit courses allow high school students to get a jump start on their postsecondary and professional careers by providing them with opportunities to earn college credit while simultaneously earning high school credits. Inequitable access to Dual Credit persists and is felt more acutely in high-need regions of the state. This bill improves access for students across Illinois by providing multiple avenues for eligibility and better communication with families, helping more educators become fully qualified Dual Credit instructors, and prioritizing local partnerships. It also significantly improves access to Dual Credit within Career and Technical Education, where instructors will now qualify to teach based on relevant experience.

HB5020 passed with a near unanimous vote of 105-1-0 in the House on Thursday, thanks to the committed negotiations of the bill’s sponsor and education stakeholders. It now moves to the Senate for consideration.

“Education is the key to economic mobility. Community college was my path to escape poverty, and that’s why we were so committed to working out this bill,” said Illinois State Representative Diane Blair-Sherlock, the bill’s House sponsor. “A student’s access to Dual Credit should not be driven by their zip code. A patchwork of inconsistent local policies around instructor qualifications is a recipe for inequitable access. We are grateful to the many education stakeholders who came to table to help us negotiate this bill to help students and protect the quality of Dual Credit courses.”

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Stand for Children Illinois is a non-partisan education advocacy organization that fights for educational equity. Stand partners with parents to support their education journey and become strong advocates, and it advocates for proven policies and funding so that all students receive a high-quality, relevant education. Learn more about our work at stand.org/illinois.

Literacy and Justice for All: HB4902 (Faver Dias)

Legislation | 03/7/2024

Stand for Children

HB4902-Factsheet-V5 Download

Increase Access to Dual credit: HB5020 (Blair-Sherlock/Castro)

Legislation | 03/5/2024

Stand for Children

HB5020-Factsheet_CASTRO Download

Springfield Budget Priorities

High School Success | 05/17/2023

Aimee Galvin Government Affairs Director

The final week of legislative session is a sprint. The General Assembly’s big focus is wrapping up the budget for the new fiscal year. There are plenty of priorities included, but we are focused on a few and wanted to flag them for you.

Of course, we are aiming to continue boosting Evidence-Based Funding yet again. We expect that number to land at $350 million in new funding but continue to urge the legislature to accelerate that investment to close the funding gap more quickly.

We’re also focused on these budget priorities. We hope you’ll join us and ask your legislators to support these issues in the FY24 budget!

$3.15 million to grow Dual Credit opportunities across the state and to expand equitable access to these life – and career! – changing courses. Let’s support their futures!
$3 million to support the Minority Teachers of Illinois scholarship program. This will help address the teacher shortage AND increase the gender and racial diversity in the teacher corps, something that’s especially important for students of color to see representation like that in their classrooms.

We’ve got our work cut out for us, friends. With your help, and the help of folks across the state, I’m confident we can make a positive impact for Illinois youth and families in the new budget.

Add Your Voice for a Better Illinois

Youth Justice | 05/12/2023

Aimee Galvin Government Affairs Director

Together, we are making progress in our work toward economic justice for all Illinois families through the elimination of juvenile court fees and fines.

Now that bill to eliminate juvenile court fees and fines is up for final approval on the House floor. We must take a stand and urge our representatives to support this bill. We can fix this problem and move our state closer to economic justice.

TELL SPRINGFIELD: ELIMINATE FEES & FINES

We know that these fees and fines are not an effective accountability tool and can actually increase recidivism. They punish families living in poverty and deepen the economic injustice they already face.

Removing fees and fines does not impact a judge’s ability to order victim’s restitution, community service, or other appropriate non-monetary conditions that provide better opportunities for young people to take accountability for their actions.

We can hold young people accountable without pushing them into a deep financial hole. With your help, we can fix this problem! It’s on us to stand up and do what’s right. Tell Springfield to eliminate juvenile court fees and fines.

Let’s get this done – for Illinois youth, families, and communities.

It’s Go Time

Early Childhood Literacy | 05/5/2023

Jessica Handy Executive Director

We’re this close to comprehensive literacy legislation passing the Illinois House. This is the time of year when the Illinois legislature finishes up bills and increasingly turns its attention to the budget. So this blog is doing double duty…we need a pro-literacy bill AND a pro-literacy budget!

The facts are stark: about 40% of Illinois students can’t read at even a ‘basic’ level. Most states have acted recently to ensure literacy instruction is evidence-based. It’s time to add Illinois to the list. Urge your representative to support SB2243, soon to be voted on the House floor AND increase early childhood education funding in the budget!

Support Illinois Readers!

Literacy is complex. It starts with spoken language and exposure to rich vocabulary, experiences to build background knowledge, reading books out loud and learning about concepts of print. (Early childhood programs are SO important for this!) It also requires strong foundational skills with explicit instruction so students can connect the letters on the page to the sounds of speech to the meaning of the words.

Illinois needs a literacy plan so that all students, regardless of where they live or their home language, have access to evidence-based literacy instruction. Working together, we can set more Illinois students on the path of lifelong reading.

We’re nearly there, friends. With your help, we’ll get this done.

Crafting Chicago’s Elected School Board

Chicago Public Schools | 04/17/2023

Scott McDonald Marketing & Communications Director

The next step on CPS’s journey to an elected 21-member school board is the drawing of district maps. The Illinois Senate has its last hearing tonight at 6pm – and it’s virtual! I hope you can tune in, share your perspective, and hear community input.

As a Chicagoan and CPS parent, it’s important to me that the elected school board structure works to support safe, equitable, stable, high-quality schools for our children. I testified last week at an earlier community hearing to share my perspective supporting:

A Functional Board Size. A 21-member board – the largest elected governing body for any school district in the country – makes it more likely that messy politics and factions will overshadow good stewardship of our schools.
Compensation to Enhance Representation. The new map must reflect the diversity of CPS and the voices of parents. Compensating members for their service on the board will enable everyday Chicagoans to serve.

I hope you’ll tune in this evening to watch the virtual Senate committee hearing or even weigh in with your own input. We’ll be in touch soon with ways to stay involved as this issue progresses in the General Assembly.

Time to Fight for Literacy

Early Childhood Literacy | 04/15/2023

Jessica Handy Executive Director

The legislative spring break is drawing to a close, so members of the General Assembly return to Springfield next week for the 5-week sprint to the end of session. Next week also brings another chance to fight for improving reading outcomes in Illinois.

The House is holding a committee hearing on Wednesday, April 19 for SB2243, a bill to create a statewide literacy plan at the State Board of Education. That means we need to rev up the advocacy machine and show the committee the deep support behind this bill.

Send Your Witness Slip

Sending a witness slip to the committee is the surest way to show your support for this bill. Last time we had over 300 witness slips – let’s run up the score and get even more!

Follow these straightforward steps to submit your witness slip:

Click this link.
Fill in your information.
- For “Representation,” you can enter Illinois Early Literacy Coalition, or something like “parent” or “self”
- For “Position,” check “Proponent”
- For “Testimony,” check “Record of Appearance Only”
Agree to the “Terms of Service.”
Click “Create Slip”

Thank you for taking a stand for Illinois readers. Be sure to share this email with your friends and family and ask them to submit a witness slip ahead of the April 19 hearing.

We’re Halfway There

Legislation | 03/29/2023

Jessica Handy Interim Executive Director

Last week was a whirlwind at the Capitol and we’ve got progress to show for it! The pace was fast and furious all week, with a Friday deadline spurring legislators to debate bills well into the night.

The good news? Three bills in the ‘Literacy and Justice for All’ bill package passed the House or the Senate on Friday!

We couldn’t have done this without you! Advocates continue to send a strong signal to Springfield that these initiatives have deep support across the state. This month, we’ve sent over 1,500 emails to legislators in support of literacy and youth justice. (Did you send yours yet? Click these links and check it off your to-do list!)

A quick update on where things stand with these (and a few other momentous bills we’re supporting!):

Early Literacy: HB2872 and SB2243, bills instructing the State Board of Education to create a statewide literacy plan, and HB3147, the comprehensive Literacy and Justice for All bill to help fix the literacy crisis, passed their first major hurdle! (That is, the House bills passed the House and the Senate bill passed the Senate. Now they will switch places and work their way through the other chamber.)
Youth Justice: SB1463 and HB3120 passed committee and we anticipate a floor vote in the Senate this week. The bills would eliminate juvenile court fees and fines, a step toward economic justice for our state.
Full-Day Kindergarten: HB 2396 requires school districts to offer full-day kindergarten by 2027. It passed the House and moves to the Senate.
Trauma-Responsive Schools: HB 342 responds to the Whole Child Task Force, created by the Legislative Black Caucus’s historic “education pillar” two years ago. Under the bill, which passed the House, the state would develop a Children’s Adversity Index, make licensure recommendations to ensure teachers are prepared to support children with trauma, and add ratios of social workers to the school report card.
Dual-Credit Teacher Shortage: HB 1213 passed the House, creating a scholarship program for teachers to pursue the coursework needed to teach Dual Credit.

We will keep you posted as things continue to move in Springfield. Get ready for more advocacy opportunities to keep up the growing momentum on our legislative priorities!

Thank you for your partnership and support.