In the News
Advance Illinois serves as a resource for media outlets from across the state and beyond on policy issues in education from birth to career. Here’s our recent coverage.
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Even as advocates say more needs to be done to increase the number of teachers of color in classrooms, the Minority Teachers of Illinois Scholarship program has become the target of a lawsuit claiming it discriminates against white students by limiting awards to Black, Latino, Asian American, and Native American students.
With budget forecasters predicting flat revenue growth over the next year and continued demands for increased spending in other areas of the budget such as pension costs and health care, members of the Illinois State Board of Education were told December 18 that they are now in a different fiscal environment.
To learn more about the Commission’s proposed changes, the legislative climate in Illinois, and the road to implementation, Bellwether spoke with leaders at Advance Illinois and the Partnership for College Completion.
Legislators in Illinois have taken up the cause of getting more state funding for public higher education. Illinois State Senate Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford and Illinois State Representative Carol Ammons recently announced the filing of SB3965, the Adequate and Equitable Funding Formula for Public Universities Act.
Drafted to make college more accessible for Illinois students by increasing state funding to prevent tuition hikes and filling funding gaps between flagships and regional institutions, the bill would be one of the first of its kind in the nation if it ultimately passes.
State Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, and state Rep. Carol Ammons, D-Urbana, held a press conference with education advocacy group Advance Illinois to discuss a bill they hope will create equitable funding making college more accessible.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday signed a law creating a separate Department of Early Childhood that will make it “simpler, better and fairer” for families seeking assistance and care for the state’s youngest residents.
Administrators, teachers and parents in the Chicago Public Schools system and districts throughout the region are grappling with the end of federal pandemic aid, a looming fiscal cliff because of the steep decline in the one-time funding.
Illinois is among a small minority that places virtually no rules on parents who homeschool their children: The parents aren’t required to register with any governmental agency, and no tests are required.
Explore how shifts in education laws from funding to mental health support impact schooling in Illinois, with expert insights on new policies.
The Illinois House passed a $53.1 billion budget with increases for early childhood education, K-12 public schools, and the state’s literacy plan early Wednesday morning by a vote of 65-45. The bill heads to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk for final approval.
Years of cuts and a state budget impasse caused students to look for colleges and universities outside of Illinois to further their education, with many even making the unfortunate decision not to go to college at all.
Gov. Pritzker’s proposed FY25 budget includes significant investments in young learners and early childhood, but not nearly enough for the Early Childhood Access Consortium for Equity, a program to help educators get degrees and credentials.
Illinois lawmakers are debating a bill that would pay student teachers as they’re learning to teach students.
A pair of competing bills in the House would, for the first time in Illinois, offer state-funded stipends for student teachers. Supporters of the idea say it’s needed to ease some of the financial burden on teachers-in-training, which some argue is one source of the state’s teacher shortage.
The state’s funding model for public universities needs an overhaul, a report from a commission created by the Illinois General Assembly concluded.
Illinois lawmakers have a new road map to fund public colleges and universities across the state. The Illinois Commission on Equitable Public University Funding released its recommendations Wednesday.
A state commission created in 2021 has issued a new report calculating that public universities in Illinois are underfunded by approximately $1.4 billion.
For the past six years, the state has mostly upheld an agreement to pay 350 million dollars into k through 12 each year.
But advocates say the state should consider upping that annual contribution to help schools reach full funding faster.
WNIJ's Peter Medlin spoke with commission member & Advance Illinois president Robin Steans about what that would mean for students.