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* Sun-Times…
Lawmakers sent a bill designed to address racial inequities in education and the resulting divisions to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk on Monday, while a second crucial pillar of the state’s Legislative Black Caucus agenda — criminal justice reform — was discussed in a House committee.
On the fourth day of the lame duck legislative session, state Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, spoke on behalf of the education component of the Black Caucus’ omnibus bill.
The education measures passed, 40 to 18.
On Monday evening, the House gave final approval, voting in favor, 69 to 41, with eight members not voting.
* SJ-R…
The 21-page bill focuses on improving the education of minority students, including creating new programs to support early childhood education, creating a task force to support equitable environments in Illinois schools, revising the state’s standards for high school students, establishing a six-week summer program to help students in poverty, and enhancing programs to keep Black students from leaving the state to go to college. […]
Before the vote, Lightford debated with Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Champaign, about a provision in the bill that would allow schools with at least 49% of students receiving Pell Grants to match 20% of financial aid funds given to students. Schools that had less than 49% could match 60% of the funds.
Rose said the bill would derail the goals of the AIM HIGH legislation that he supported in 2019. That act allowed for schools to help low-income students discount tuition to attend public universities in Illinois. […]
“The amount of money that kids receive doesn’t change,” Lightford said. “We support AIM HIGH. We’re trying to make sure that university presidents are able to give as many scholarships as they are able to give.”
* Chalkbeat…
The omnibus legislation would create major changes to high school graduation requirements, starting in 2024-2025. Such shifts would ensure that more students meet admission standards for the University of Illinois, proponents said. The new diploma requirements include two years of laboratory sciences, two years of a foreign language, and one year of computer literacy.
The education bill also requires that schools automatically enroll qualifying students into advanced courses, such as Advanced Placement and dual credit. That move is intended to broaden access for students of color and eliminate bias in who is selected to participate in the courses.
Other parts of the legislation include initiatives to address the teacher shortage, increase educator diversity, improve access to early childhood education, and push the Illinois state board to revamp the American History curriculum to do a better job incorporating Black history.
An effort to extend the school calendar to make up for the coronavirus interruption did not make it into the final version. In its current form, the bill requires that a panel of education leaders consider short-term and long-term goals to address the digital divide and impact of school closures on students.
* Related…
* Bill to end Medicaid managed care advances in House
* Governor weighs in on criminal justice reform bill
* Economic equity bill draws scrutiny
* ADDING: Black Caucus bills include important police reforms
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jan 12, 21 @ 11:55 am
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What are the bill numbers for the LBC bills?
Comment by Former Downstater Tuesday, Jan 12, 21 @ 12:24 pm
Blue Dog Dem, glad to see we’re all staying calm and not giving into hyperbole or exaggeration.
Comment by Perrid Tuesday, Jan 12, 21 @ 12:39 pm
This is another example of good intentions gone awry. So much to unpack, but it is clear that yet again, Lightford fails to really understand the complexities of the issue. I doubt any in the ILGA have much understanding of how schools actually work.
Blago presided over a change in high school graduation requirements with a similar tilt toward college preparedness that had negative implications for students and schools.
After reading the bill their cost analysis is rudimentary at best and there is no revenue stream to cover costs. There is a statue on the books addressing unfunded mandates that is totally ignored here.
From a pragmatic standpoint- schools struggle to find qualified foreign language teachers of any kind. This problem has been ongoing since I got into education in the 90’s. It has only gotten worse with some schools dropping their programs altogether or purchasing online curricula. This requirement will put the problem into hyper drive.
Forcing students into advanced or AP courses is also a bad move. For high schools, the course registration process and creation of the master schedule is a huge and time consuming undertaking. And it differs from the large suburban schools to the smaller rural schools. They clearly have no clue. Minority underrepresentation in AP classes is a real issue. It has improved but it is still an issue. So much so that The College Board (creators of the SAT and AP) created a specific curriculum ,called Spring Board that, initially was focused on building skills for underrepresented populations. They quickly realized that it could be useful across the board. The problem also exists in rural and smaller schools.
Try getting high school students to enroll in challenging courses. It isn’t as easy as telling them to do so. They push back, mommy’s and daddies pushback when junior doesn’t want to work so hard (as a principal my office would be filled with parents that wanted their kids in easier classes).
One size fits all solutions that don’t fit all.
Just the tip of the iceberg.
Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Jan 12, 21 @ 12:51 pm
“The Economic Equity Bill, if passed in this form…”
Specify your problems with the bill or you’re just clowning.
– MrJM
Comment by @misterjayem Tuesday, Jan 12, 21 @ 12:52 pm
Where is the vocational component in his bill?Some day perhaps the educators might realize not every kid wants to go to college.
Comment by Bob Tuesday, Jan 12, 21 @ 1:13 pm
Requiring 2 years of foreign language is going to make it harder for some students to graduate from high school. Some students will give up and drop out. Foreign language should be offered, recommended, but not required.
Comment by DuPage Tuesday, Jan 12, 21 @ 1:18 pm
20 ILSC 405-535.
Comment by Blue Dog Dem Tuesday, Jan 12, 21 @ 1:25 pm
What JS Mill said. Coming off what will be 15 months of less effective COVID education, schools will be required to provide an education that 1) some students do not need and 2) for which the majority will be ill-prepared. Cookie cutter programs don’t fit all skill sets.
That doesn’t even take into account the funding. Most districts are looking at cuts for next year; HB2170 just creates more mandates that schools cannot afford.
Comment by Fan of the Game Tuesday, Jan 12, 21 @ 1:26 pm
Kudos to the Black Caucus! They came ready with an agenda and a ready to roll. Others could learn…
Comment by Southsider Tuesday, Jan 12, 21 @ 2:29 pm
Black history study currently includes: the history of the African slave trade, slavery in America and the vestiges of slavery in this country.
The bill adds: the pre-enslavement of Black people from 3,000 BCE to AD 1619, the study of the reasons why Black people came to be enslaved and and the study of the American civil rights renaissance.
Five millennium in a unit of study is ambitious. Valuable yes, but once the expanded unit is added to the rest of the curriculum mandates, a lot of the depth in learning is lost.
The separate US history mandate includes “the role and contributions of ethnic groups, including but not limited to, the African Americans, Albanians, Asian Americans, Bohemians, Czechs, French, Germans, Hispanics (including the events related to the forceful removal and illegal deportation of Mexican-American U.S. citizens during the Great Depression), Hungarians, Irish, Italians, Lithuanians, Polish, Russians, Scots, and Slovakians in the history of this country and State”
It “shall” be included, but will it be learned?
Comment by eyeball Tuesday, Jan 12, 21 @ 2:33 pm
20 ILCS 405/405-535 creates a commission who’s members aren’t compensated and who only get re-embursed for their transportation costs.
Don’t see how that’s going to break the bank for Illinois.
– MrJM
Comment by @misterjayem Tuesday, Jan 12, 21 @ 2:45 pm
=Don’t see how that’s going to break the bank for Illinois.=
That certainly doesn’t.
The costs for additional staff to teach foreign language will get pricey if you can find people.
US History is now multiple courses if you are making sure all of the mandated topics are being taught. I am not arguing wether or not these topics should be taught, but the list of required topics and courses of study has literally grown every year without additional time. These req
Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Jan 12, 21 @ 3:00 pm
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Jan 12, 21 @ 3:00 pm:
These match state university requirements, so blame them.
Comment by Precinct Captain Tuesday, Jan 12, 21 @ 3:14 pm
Like most omnibus legislation especially with education it seems a bit like a hodgepodge. What is the true focus? It all seems well-intentioned, but practicality and law do not always converge.
Instead of tackling all issues in prek-12 maybe concentrate time, energy and resources on the most important.
Comment by Mr. Hand Tuesday, Jan 12, 21 @ 3:20 pm
Why are we basing high school graduation requirements on the admission requirements of U of I? Not every student plans to go to college, and even of those that do a large majority aren’t going to U of I.
Comment by tea_and_honey Tuesday, Jan 12, 21 @ 5:17 pm
I graduated from HS in the mid 90’s, and went to a small, rural school district. In order to graduate, 2 yrs of a foreign language were required. My HS offered 2 choices - French and Spanish. I chose Spanish because I thought it would be more useful. Instead, I struggled for the required 2 years, and my overall GPA and my overall class ranking suffered as a result of taking a class I didn’t want to take and wasn’t interested in. I’m not sure how this requirement helps minority students, or any students for that matter, prepare for college. My 2 years of HS Spanish did nothing to help me in college, or in my Master’s program, or in my career. I think the Black Caucus missed the boat on this one.
Comment by CardsFan Tuesday, Jan 12, 21 @ 7:26 pm
Once again, JS Mill is correct. These additional requirements will make it hard for high school students to squeeze in more than one elective class per year. I question if many in the legislature have visited a school since they graduated themselves. The U of I is a great school, but not the only school in Illinois. They should not dictate the requirements for all high school students.
Comment by Blago’s Hare Tuesday, Jan 12, 21 @ 8:42 pm