From the Desk—On the 2025 Spring Legislative Session
A few weeks ago, the spring 2025 session of the 104th General Assembly adjourned amid continued uncertainty about how federal changes might impact Illinois. Although there is still a great deal that we don’t know about what comes next, there are some education wins to celebrate, as well as conversations that must continue. Here, we spotlight some key outcomes and urge stakeholders to keep fighting for the education system our students deserve.
FY26 Budget Highlights
As we shared in our initial statement, this General Assembly passed a budget filled with hard choices and took efforts to protect important investments for Illinois children and students. At the same time, the state missed some critical opportunities to shore up progress. As expected, it was a challenging budget year, and increases in education spending were hard fought. That said, the addition of more than $630 million new education dollars in the FY26 budget underscores the degree to which the Governor and General Assembly value and prioritize the education and care of Illinois children and students, even when money is tight. Kudos and appreciation to every organization and individual who worked to remind our leaders about the critical importance of investing in education, including the Funding Illinois’ Future Coalition, the Minority Teachers of Illinois champions, the We, the Village Coalition, and the Coalition for Transforming Higher Education Funding. You made yourselves known, and you were heard!
The state continued to make strong investments in early childhood education and care, with an additional $250 million for programming and $7.5 million more than last year to establish the Illinois Department of Early Childhood (IDEC) as it prepares to administer programs starting in FY27. In a break with historical precedent, the state appropriated just $307 million for the Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) Formula, which is less than the minimum funding level of $350 million, but preserves the statutorily called-for $300 million increase for districts.¹ While it is good news that $300 million will go out to districts in “tier” funding, as planned and promised, the state is going to face some hard choices in the coming year, as it continues to wrestle with budget deficits and federal funding cuts and uncertainty. Because the hard reality remains: if we truly aspire to reach full funding before another generation of students graduate, we must increase the pace of investment. This is especially true given the ongoing underfunding of mandated categoricals – funding that supports required programming and costs. As proration of that funding worsens, it puts pressure on district budgets and forces them to divert other funds, like EBF, away from their intended purpose.
Higher education also faces real needs, and appropriations also broke from the norm. Specifically, FY26 appropriations to universities and community colleges were split, with some increases coming right away (1-1.5%), and additional increases (2%) held in a reserve fund for the Governor to release as needed and depending on federal actions. The total increase could be as high as 3%, if the Governor releases all the funds, but this structure both underfunds what is needed, and makes it difficult for universities and community colleges to plan for the year ahead. We both understand the pressures that may have led to this structure, but hope the Governor will promptly make clear his intention to direct the funds out, and caution the state against such measures going forward.
Legislative Highlights
The education bills that passed both houses of the General Assembly include legislation that will strengthen the educator pipeline, address barriers to learning, and improve education data infrastructure and transparency.
Successful bills that address the educator pipeline include: HB3446, which will help clarify the early childhood education coursework that counts toward credentials and degrees, and SB1947, which addresses the pipeline in several ways: adding a content test requirement for out of state applicants seeking reciprocity as they apply for Illinois educator licensure, removing content testing licensure requirements for all support personnel (such as social workers and counselors) if they already hold a professional license in their field, and introducing a process for Illinois to develop and pilot its own teacher performance assessment. In addition, SB0028 will allow each district’s joint committee to decide whether to include student growth in teacher evaluations, after a study indicated that the requirement to include a student growth component was not having the desired effect on overall evaluations. Critically, the General Assembly ensured we maintain efforts to support new teachers during their crucial first years in the classroom. As we have said consistently, there is no single solution to strengthening the educator pipeline, so we appreciate that the state continues to take a hard look at the system as a whole – from recruitment to retention – and keeps adjusting and tightening to maintain a high bar for quality, even as it expands access.
This spring, lawmakers also passed bills that remove barriers and increase access to education across the entire birth through postsecondary education continuum.
In early childhood, HB3327 will help infants born prematurely get connected to early intervention services before they even leave the hospital.
Importantly, the passage of the Safe Schools for All Act (HB3247) ensures that all students and families have access to public education regardless of immigration status and protects the integrity of the classroom environment from enforcement actions.
Generally, K-12 students are missing far too much school. SB407 establishes a Chronic Absence Task Force to study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on chronic absenteeism and to support the development of a state strategy to help more students get back into school every day.
Access to postsecondary education remains out of reach for too many Illinoisians, so two bills address college and university access: HB3522 establishes a statewide direct admissions initiative to proactively offer college admission to Illinois high school students & community college transfer students based on GPA or credits earned, and SB1958 requires public universities to enter formal articulation agreements at the request of community colleges to promote transparency, equity, and seamless credit transfer, making it easier and faster for students to earn a bachelor’s degree after completing an associate degree.
And while it may not be as eye-catching, lawmakers also acted this spring to strengthen the state’s education data infrastructure and transparency.
SB406 establishes an Early Childhood Integrated Data System (ECIDS) to enable the newly formed Illinois Department of Early Childhood to make equity driven, inclusive, and data-informed decisions. Through this legislation, the department must also develop tools for parents and communities to access aggregated data from the ECIDS system and must ensure that the system is designed and maintained to allow for data integration and sharing with other state agencies and other entities that maintain state data.
On the other end of the education continuum, SB2039 requires Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE), Illinois Community College Board (ICCB), and Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) to develop a centralized, public-facing dashboard of institutional data to support better policy decisions and equity outcomes. Both of these developments are significant steps forward toward a more transparent and equitable education system in Illinois, and we can’t wait to use the dashboards and tools when they are available!
Looking Forward: There's more to do!
While there is much to celebrate, there were substantive legislative proposals that did not make it across the finish line this spring – and we look forward to continuing to work with you on these as the 104th continues in the fall and next spring.
By way of example, HB1375, a bill creating a stipend for student teachers, stalled in the Senate, after passing the House. The bill is designed to (a) provide stipends to student teachers, to reduce financial barriers into the profession, and (b) provide stipends and training to cooperating teachers to strengthen this critical role. As the state continues to grapple with ongoing shortages of fully qualified teachers, we cannot afford to miss clear opportunities to make the teaching profession more supportive, accessible, and attractive for aspiring educators.
On another front, when the Commission on Equitable Public University Funding released its recommendations for advancing a healthier, more accessible public university system last spring, Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford and Representative Carol Ammons got to work. The Adequate and Equitable Public University Funding bill, which provides increased state funding for all Illinois public universities and directs state funds most heavily to the universities furthest from adequacy, was formally introduced this spring, and with considerable collaboration by universities and communities, gained significant traction across the state. While lawmakers have not yet taken action to adopt the funding formula, we cannot ‘unlearn’ what we now know: (1) that many of our public universities are woefully underfunded, lacking the resources they need to ensure all students earn degrees, and (2) that some institutions are in much worse financial position than others. We cannot keep doing what we have been doing, so it is powerful that we have found a better way — one that will result in more than 122,000 additional graduates contributing to our local and state prosperity and progress, once the bill is passed and fully funded. It is time to make this a reality.
With higher education under significant new pressure at the federal level, it is critical that the state act to support our community colleges and universities. We appreciate that this session provided multiple opportunities to reimagine the postsecondary landscape, be it through funding reform, stronger articulation and enrollment, or targeted strategies to create baccalaureate pathways via community colleges. The time for action is now.
Conclusion
Despite very real budget challenges and federal uncertainty, Illinois took some important actions this spring. That said, we are not done. Looking ahead, even more will be required as we learn how changes in Washington, DC will impact Illinois – fiscally and otherwise. In every challenge there is opportunity, and ours is this: We can and must work together to ensure that all students and their families are safe, supported, and have access to a strong and healthy education system. Let us take this moment to re-commit ourselves to the work ahead – it has never been more important.
In partnership,
Robin
The $43 million reduction came out of dollars that otherwise would have funded the FY26 Property Tax Relief Grant fund, a program that encourages and supports communities to lower property taxes by replacing lost property tax revenue (due to reductions) with state funding.