A Closer Look: What's Next for Illinois Education Mandates?

Teachers and school administrators across Illinois who feel the weight of education mandates may soon see some relief. 

A new bipartisan group of lawmakers and education stakeholders called the School Code Mandate Reduction Council is charged with reviewing mandates considered outdated or overly burdensome and recommending whether they should be streamlined or eliminated — without compromising education quality or student safety.

Education mandates, many of which are unfunded, can impact everything from curriculum to reporting to training to licensure requirements.

“The amount of mandates that have come on board for our school districts is just enormous, and I believe that there's a lot in our code books that are outdated at this point,” said Kathy Marshall, the regional superintendent of schools for Bureau, Henry, and Stark Counties.

Marshall is a member of the School Code Mandate Reduction Council.

“There should be an evaluation and a review of mandates just to keep up with the times. As our society changes and our needs and communities change, there’s nothing wrong with looking at how these pieces fit and are we giving the education to all of our kids, K through 12, across the state,” Marshall said.

State Senator Seth Lewis, a Republican who represents parts of Chicago’s western and northern suburbs, is also on the council. Lewis' wife is a former school district superintendent and he said the topic of education mandates would often come up in their conversations.

“I’m excited to bring my knowledge, my experience and the balance I believe I can provide between the learning environment and what parents expect, what school boards are trying to do, but also giving that teacher the flexibility to be with that student and provide the education that will make them successful,” Lewis said.

According to Lewis, relief for the teachers is well-deserved.

“These teachers have done a tremendous job of trying to figure out where their students are, but they need a break,” Lewis said. “Can we just pause or can we take some of the things away that really are not going to contribute to a robust learning environment providing 21st century learning skills that these children are going to need five, ten, fifteen years from now?”

One mandate that may come up in discussion amongst council members is the current law that requires Illinois school children to learn cursive writing.

“I think this is a great example of something that at a point in time had real value and there are people who feel emotionally attached to it,” said Dr. Jennifer Kirmes, deputy superintendent of school improvement at Proviso Township High Schools District 209. “Now we word process everything. We use computers. We have computers in our pockets.”

Kirmes is not a member of the council, but she said it is always helpful for lawmakers and educators to come together and have real conversations about what is happening in schools.

“I think just like society is changing really rapidly, schools are changing really rapidly. And so what a lawmaker might remember from the time when they were in school, or even what their own children experienced when they were in school, it might be radically different from the reality of what's happening today and what's relevant and necessary and meaningful for students today,” Kirmes said.

Mandates that focus on safety and health, such as learning CPR, are generally supported.  

Still, lawmakers we interviewed said they understand why some educators may be discouraged by a growing number of mandates.

“I know that it's it's very difficult to be an environment where you don't feel that you are in control and where people who are not educators are deciding what is best for education, and before you even become sort of an expert on having worked something into the curriculum, we are already changing it and tinkering with it,” said State Rep. Michelle Mussman, a Democrat who represents several of the northwestern suburbs of Chicago.

Yet Mussman, a School Mandate Reduction Council member, said mandates that get eliminated may be replaced by something else.

“The world continues to change. And so you will say, ‘Well, maybe we could streamline this. This thing like cursive isn't as important any longer. I'm going to take away you needing to learn about cursive, but I'm going to need to teach you how to interact with AI. I'm going to need to teach you how to interact on the internet. Do safe research, determine what is a safe source of information, any number of things,'" said Mussman. “I think you will not just reduce the mandates and we will continue to not change things ever again. That is not realistic, right? We will continue to see how the world and our students change, and want to meet that need.”