IASB Legislative Report 104-08
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Date PostedMarch 28, 2025
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CategoryLegislative Update
This Week at the Capitol
Following the flurry of activity leading up to last week's legislative deadline, the Illinois House of Representatives returned for a much quieter week at the Capitol. The Senate did not convene at the Capitol, but did hold several virtual subject matter hearings.
Despite most committees being canceled, the House Appropriations – Elementary & Secondary Education Committee met to consider House Floor Amendment 1 to HB1861 (Rep. William “Will” Davis), which clarified if a child in a long-term care facility in West Harvey-Dixmoor Public Schools District 147 or Thornton Township High School District 205 has a parent who moves out of state, that parent must enroll the child in a school there to secure reimbursement for Illinois, and if the parent's location is unknown, officials must attempt to find them three times before Illinois assigns a resident district to cover tuition.
The committee also held a subject matter hearing on several bills, including HB1599 (Rep. William “Will” Davis), which increases alternative school program funding to $100,000 per fiscal year (up from $30,000); HB3090 (Rep. Daniel Didech), which allows local gifted and talented education programs to seek state funding if available and if they submit a comprehensive application; and HB2365 (Rep. Maurice West, II), which appropriates $67 million to provide school lunches for schools where at least 40% of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals.
Additionally, the House Appropriations: Pension & Personnel Committee met March 27 for a subject matter hearing on FY26 proposals and budget requests of the five pension systems. Illinois’ pension underfunding stems from the 1994 “pension ramp,” which set increasing state contributions but was undermined by pension holidays in 2006-2007 and investment losses during the 2008 financial crisis. In FY25 the state’s unfunded pension liability stands at $139.7 billion, with a 44.1% overall funded ratio. Currently, the Teachers’ Retirement System is funded at just over 46% with a .07% increase in the last year. The overall health of the pension system was positive, as the systems experienced better-than-anticipated investments, but adequacy remains well below the desired goal.
In the Senate, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Social Media subcommittee met on Wednesday to hold subject matter hearings on legislation related to protection of sensitive information. Of the 21 bills assigned to the subcommittee, two impact K-12 education. SB1239 (Sen. Karina Villa) would prohibit a school district from purchasing or using systems that use student or staff biometric information, including facial recognition software. The advocates provided testimony about the risk of personal information being compromised with facial recognition security systems in schools. Opponents expressed concern that this legislation would ban the use of all biometric information in schools, not just facial recognition software, including student fingerprint technology, often used for food service accounts. IASB has been engaged in discussions with the sponsor on our concerns with this bill, specifically highlighting current educational uses of biometric information in schools including foreign language classes and students with assistive technology needs. In addition to SB1239, the sub-committee also heard testimony on SB1677 (Sen. Christopher Belt), which would prohibit evaluators from using AI tools for performing teacher evaluation tasks. Advocates said that the legislation is necessary because AI tools would compromise education data and create bias with the algorithms.
In the Coming Weeks
While this week was quieter than last, the IASB Governmental Relations team has continued negotiations on bills that passed out of committee with the sponsor’s commitment to continue discussions and bring back an amendment in the coming weeks. Although many problematic bills did not advance past the deadline last week, there remains a possibility that these measures could be revived through a shell bill, the Budget Implementation Bill (BIMP), or a comprehensive omnibus package before the final adjournment on May 31.
Looking ahead, the House will be on break next week; the Senate will reconvene on April 1. Both chambers will return the week of April 7 to meet the Third Reading deadline on April 11, after which they will both recess for spring break.
Advocacy Ambassador
The IASB Governmental Relations team would like to invite registered Advocacy Ambassadors to join us virtually on April 25 from noon until 1 p.m. for the Advocacy Ambassador April webinar. The meeting will provide an opportunity to learn more about what is happening at the State Capitol, and bills that are being monitored, and an opportunity for members to ask questions and provide feedback to the IASB Governmental Relations team.
To register to become an Advocacy Ambassador, visit the Advocacy Tab on the IASB website. If you are already registered as an Advocacy Ambassador, you will be able to register to attend the April webinar by visiting the IASB Events Calendar.
Legislative Tracking Lists
The IASB Governmental Relations team tracks all legislation that may impact K-12 public education and makes regular updates to those lists. As a reminder, although a bill may be filed, many factors influence whether it makes its way through the legislative process. Some of those factors include whether the bill gets assigned by leadership to a committee, the extent of any opposition, and the priorities of the sponsor.
In an effort to ensure that IASB members can monitor all bills the Governmental Relations team is tracking, legislation has been broken down into ten different topics:
Boards of Education
Insurance
Open Meetings Act
Personnel
Regional Office of Education
School Finance
School Safety and Health
State Board of Education
Students
Taxation
IASB will continue to monitor all bills and keep you informed as bills start to move through the legislative process.
Following the flurry of activity leading up to last week's legislative deadline, the Illinois House of Representatives returned for a much quieter week at the Capitol. The Senate did not convene at the Capitol, but did hold several virtual subject matter hearings.
Despite most committees being canceled, the House Appropriations – Elementary & Secondary Education Committee met to consider House Floor Amendment 1 to HB1861 (Rep. William “Will” Davis), which clarified if a child in a long-term care facility in West Harvey-Dixmoor Public Schools District 147 or Thornton Township High School District 205 has a parent who moves out of state, that parent must enroll the child in a school there to secure reimbursement for Illinois, and if the parent's location is unknown, officials must attempt to find them three times before Illinois assigns a resident district to cover tuition.
The committee also held a subject matter hearing on several bills, including HB1599 (Rep. William “Will” Davis), which increases alternative school program funding to $100,000 per fiscal year (up from $30,000); HB3090 (Rep. Daniel Didech), which allows local gifted and talented education programs to seek state funding if available and if they submit a comprehensive application; and HB2365 (Rep. Maurice West, II), which appropriates $67 million to provide school lunches for schools where at least 40% of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals.
Additionally, the House Appropriations: Pension & Personnel Committee met March 27 for a subject matter hearing on FY26 proposals and budget requests of the five pension systems. Illinois’ pension underfunding stems from the 1994 “pension ramp,” which set increasing state contributions but was undermined by pension holidays in 2006-2007 and investment losses during the 2008 financial crisis. In FY25 the state’s unfunded pension liability stands at $139.7 billion, with a 44.1% overall funded ratio. Currently, the Teachers’ Retirement System is funded at just over 46% with a .07% increase in the last year. The overall health of the pension system was positive, as the systems experienced better-than-anticipated investments, but adequacy remains well below the desired goal.
In the Senate, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Social Media subcommittee met on Wednesday to hold subject matter hearings on legislation related to protection of sensitive information. Of the 21 bills assigned to the subcommittee, two impact K-12 education. SB1239 (Sen. Karina Villa) would prohibit a school district from purchasing or using systems that use student or staff biometric information, including facial recognition software. The advocates provided testimony about the risk of personal information being compromised with facial recognition security systems in schools. Opponents expressed concern that this legislation would ban the use of all biometric information in schools, not just facial recognition software, including student fingerprint technology, often used for food service accounts. IASB has been engaged in discussions with the sponsor on our concerns with this bill, specifically highlighting current educational uses of biometric information in schools including foreign language classes and students with assistive technology needs. In addition to SB1239, the sub-committee also heard testimony on SB1677 (Sen. Christopher Belt), which would prohibit evaluators from using AI tools for performing teacher evaluation tasks. Advocates said that the legislation is necessary because AI tools would compromise education data and create bias with the algorithms.
In the Coming Weeks
While this week was quieter than last, the IASB Governmental Relations team has continued negotiations on bills that passed out of committee with the sponsor’s commitment to continue discussions and bring back an amendment in the coming weeks. Although many problematic bills did not advance past the deadline last week, there remains a possibility that these measures could be revived through a shell bill, the Budget Implementation Bill (BIMP), or a comprehensive omnibus package before the final adjournment on May 31.
Looking ahead, the House will be on break next week; the Senate will reconvene on April 1. Both chambers will return the week of April 7 to meet the Third Reading deadline on April 11, after which they will both recess for spring break.
Advocacy Ambassador
The IASB Governmental Relations team would like to invite registered Advocacy Ambassadors to join us virtually on April 25 from noon until 1 p.m. for the Advocacy Ambassador April webinar. The meeting will provide an opportunity to learn more about what is happening at the State Capitol, and bills that are being monitored, and an opportunity for members to ask questions and provide feedback to the IASB Governmental Relations team.
To register to become an Advocacy Ambassador, visit the Advocacy Tab on the IASB website. If you are already registered as an Advocacy Ambassador, you will be able to register to attend the April webinar by visiting the IASB Events Calendar.
Legislative Tracking Lists
The IASB Governmental Relations team tracks all legislation that may impact K-12 public education and makes regular updates to those lists. As a reminder, although a bill may be filed, many factors influence whether it makes its way through the legislative process. Some of those factors include whether the bill gets assigned by leadership to a committee, the extent of any opposition, and the priorities of the sponsor.
In an effort to ensure that IASB members can monitor all bills the Governmental Relations team is tracking, legislation has been broken down into ten different topics:
Boards of Education
Insurance
Open Meetings Act
Personnel
Regional Office of Education
School Finance
School Safety and Health
State Board of Education
Students
Taxation
IASB will continue to monitor all bills and keep you informed as bills start to move through the legislative process.
