LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Spring 2025 Review +
Spring 2026 Preview
Emily Warnecke, Chief of Staff
Illinois Association of School Administrators
Contact: ewarnecke@iasaedu.org or
(217)503-5551
Introduction
PA 104-0391 Mandate Reduction Council
This Public Act included the creation a committee to review and evaluate existing mandates in the IL school code. The bill did consolidate and “clean-up” some school code language, as well as created the committee, which held its first meeting in January to begin the work of evaluating existing mandates.
Student Growth in Teacher Evaluations
PA 104-0020 was an initiative of the IFT, IEA and IPA, and aimed to eliminate the use of student growth in teacher evaluations, unless all parties on the PERA committee agreed to keep that component in the district’s evaluation system.
Intent:
The default was intended to be that student growth would NOT be included in the evaluation process unless all members of the PERA committee unanimously agreed to keep it IN the evaluation plan.
Language:
“Beginning July 1, 2025, each school district may, in good faith cooperation with its teachers or, where applicable, with the exclusive bargaining representatives of its teachers, incorporate the use of data and indicators on student growth as a factor in rating teacher performance…”
Impact:
There has been confusion about implementation when there is ambiguous language around the teacher evaluation process embedded into collective bargaining agreements. Some grievances/ mediations are underway, and the IEA has asked for trailer bill language to clear it up.
Spring 2026 Evaluation Bills
If a school district and its teachers cannot reach an agreement regarding the incorporation of student growth into the evaluation system by July 1, 2026, the student growth component shall be removed. This does not apply if there is a collective bargaining agreement that references the teacher evaluation plan.
Prohibits an evaluator from using an AI tool to assign a numerical score or qualitative rating for any component of a teacher’s evaluation, or any task that requires professional judgment. Does allow the use of AI to support the evaluator in administrative tasks.
SB 2913: Timeline
SB 2909: AI in Evals
SB 2914: Notice to Remedy Restrictions
This initiative of the IEA aims to place restrictions on the issuance of a Notice to Remedy, due to allegations that school districts are issuing these warnings for minor misconduct that should be addressed through other disciplinary procedures.
Allows the issuance of a Notice to Remedy to be subject to the grievance procedure to determine if there was just cause for the issuance.
The Notice must clearly and specifically outline the exact nature of the alleged misconduct.
The Notice can not be in effect for longer than 4 years, and the district must make reasonable efforts to remove the notice from the personnel file.
HB 4480: Employment History Reviews
Conversations on Faith’s Law and the law’s implementation continue to occur. This bill is the culmination of ongoing discussions related to issues with implementation.
Allows ROEs and ISCs to conduct EHRs for substitutes seeking employment in more than one school district overseen by the ROE or ISC.
Clarifies an applicant’s current employer must only be contacted for the EHR if they had direct contact with children in their current position.
Adds elements of the original statute that must be posted on the district’s website, including methods for how to report staff-student boundary violations.
Sexual Harassment Reporting Procedures
“The policy shall include a method for reporting instances of sexual harassment; however, it may not require that a report be made in a particular manner for a complaint to be considered formal or official for the purposes of initiating an investigation.
Under the policy, a school district employee who is found to have engaged in sexual harassment, as defined in the Illinois Human Rights Act, shall be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination.”
HB 4432
Unemployment Protections
Allows all ESPs eligibility for unemployment during school breaks of longer than one week.
HB 4805
Division of Shared Property
HB 4416
Requires all employers with more than 75 employees to submit required claim information to DES on behalf of any employee the employer lays off.
Un/Paid Leave Bills
Blood Donation
Menstrual Health Conditions
HB 4844:
Requires employers to pay employees their full rate of pay for days they are absent to fulfill a jury duty summons.
Jury Duty
SB 3188:
Provides employees one hour of unpaid leave every 56 days to donate blood if they do not have available paid leave time.
SB 2967:
Creates the Menstrual Health Workplace Equity Act. Allows 40 hours of paid leave per year for menstrual health reasons. The employee may request up to 40 more hours or a remote/hybrid work option.
Special Education Supports and Caseloads
There has been increased attention in Springfield to the case/workloads for special education teachers and support staff.
SJR 49
SB 2905:
Creates the Special Education Workload Task Force to develop guidance on the calculation of workload limits for special educators. The Task Force shall submit its final report no later than June 30, 2027.
Required the PRP to review the impact of mandating the following caseload ratios in all IL schools:
School Counselor: 1:250
School Nurse: 1:750
School Psychologist: 1:500
School Social Worker: 1:250
SJR 2
Requires the PRP to review the impact of mandating a caseload of 28 students for special education teachers and report to the GA by Dec 31, 2026.
Other Items of Interest
SB 2953:
Extends the allowance for a retiree to work for 120 days/600 hours until June 30, 2029.
Anticipating: Clean-up on the bill from Spring 2025 that walked back reciprocity from other states with content area tests required for licensure.
HB 4440:
Creates a short-term approval for a paraprofessional license, good for three years.
FY25 Education Budget
PA 104-0430: Prohibits students from being issued municipal tickets as a school-based consequence for behavior that occurs on school grounds or during school hours.
Tier 2 Pension Reform
Tier 2 pension reform continues to be a top priority of labor groups, which have created the We Are One Coalition to work on advancing the proposal. During veto session, the House held its 20th public hearing on the need for reform, and proponents indicated they hoped to finalize the proposal for a full vote in the Spring 2026 session. SB1937 passed out of House Committee, but is being held on the floor as negotiations continue.
Wage Cap Increase to SSWB
3% Simple COLA
Age 62 with 35 Years of Service
Age 65 with 20 Years of Service
Best 6 of Last 10 Years’ Salary
Questions?
THANK YOU!