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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The Illinois State Board of Education unanimously approved an overhaul to its system for deciding how well schools across the state are performing.
Legislation currently in the Illinois House seeks to make funding public universities more equitable.
Proposed changes to Illinois’ school accountability system are drawing some scrutiny from education groups, who warn the revisions will leave out key measures that paint a full picture of school performance.
Illinois House Bill 1581 advanced out of committee in late March. If passed, it would change how the state funds higher education.
A bill that would change the way public universities are funded in Illinois is making its way through Springfield. HB1581 and SB13 represent what supporters are calling the Adequate and Equitable Public University Funding Act.
Illinois House Democrats passed a plan out of committee Thursday morning to create an evidence-based funding formula for Illinois public colleges and universities.
Gov. JB Pritzker is calling on agencies in his administration to set goals for increasing the number of adults in the state with college degrees or other postsecondary credentials.
Last month, the Trump administration tried to freeze $1 billion in federal funding for Illinois child care. Courts have blocked it so far. The program that would be hit hardest is Illinois' Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP).
With enrollment plunging at many of Illinois’ regional universities, state leaders are again pressing a sweeping overhaul of higher education funding.
Pritzker’s $56 billion budget proposal, which he released Wednesday, calls for a $305 million increase in the evidence-based funding formula, with a total investment of $9.2 billion.
When Gov. JB Pritzker delivered his annual budget address on Wednesday, he recommended Illinois lawmakers increase funding for higher education by 1% and hold funding steady for the need-based Monetary Assistance Program (MAP).
A school-based support group is tapping into the warmth and wisdom of grandparents to help provide social and emotional support for girls in middle school. A recent report showed student mental health challenges in Illinois remain unsustainably high.
The Illinois Board of Higher Education is seeking a 4.6% increase in general revenue support for colleges and universities in the upcoming fiscal year.
The Illinois State Board of Education will ask state lawmakers to provide the same funding increase as past years for Illinois’ 800-plus school districts.
The Illinois State Board of Education voted Wednesday to recommend the state increase education funding at about the same amount as previous years, but far less than what would be needed to fully fund education across the state.
The newly launched organization will offer research-backed guidance to Chicago school leaders and board members as they tackle the district’s thorniest issues, from budget deficits to struggling charter operators.
For 33 years, the Minority Teachers of Illinois Scholarship’s mission has been to steer more people of color into the state’s teacher workforce, which is largely white. But in October, state lawmakers quietly stripped race and ethnicity requirements and made the program open to students of any race.
Six schools moved up, four moved down, and overall things seem to be improving with proficiency, graduation and chronic absenteeism rates. That in a nutshell is the finding for Springfield’s District 186 schools in the 2025 Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) Report Card that tracks performance at the state’s public schools.
University students and faculty urged the Illinois Board of Higher Education to press Gov. JB Pritzker to release more than $29 million in funding for state colleges and universities that state lawmakers approved this year but the Pritzker administration is holding back.
As the midway point of the school year draws near, educators across the Quad Cities met for the Advance Illinois ‘The State We’re In 2025’ report.