With diversity, equity and inclusion efforts facing scrutiny under the Trump administration, school districts and states looking to diversify their teacher workforces are in a precarious situation. 

For over two decades, state funding of Illinois’ public universities has failed to keep up with rising costs, forcing administrators to raise tuition, which, in turn, has squeezed family finances and even discouraged students from pursuing a degree.

During the spring 2025 legislative session, lawmakers did not pass other major higher education policy initiatives, including Pritzker’s plan to allow community colleges to offer four-year bachelor’s degrees in certain high-demand career fields, and a long-sought overhaul in the way Illinois funds its public universities.

Illinois lawmakers passed a $55 billion budget with slim increases to early childhood education programs and K-12 schools. The lack of new dollars for programs comes as schools grapple with smaller budgets since federal COVID-19 relief expired.

Illinois is making progress in growing its educator workforce, but shortages persist in critical areas. Indeed, the stop gap measures that are being used to fill those vacancies keep the education process moving forward for students but are not a sustainable approach to ensuring quality and equity for the long-term.

Amid persistent staffing shortages, East Aurora School District 131 has taken several new measures to recruit teachers over the past few years.

Illinois education officials are considering lowering the scores students need to get to be classified as proficient in a subject on a state standardized test. They say the current benchmarks are too high and the results often don’t accurately reflect whether high school students are college and career ready.

A plan to overhaul the way Illinois funds public universities is running into stiff opposition from the state’s largest higher education institution, the University of Illinois System.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker’s state budget proposal for 2026 would make another historic investment into public education, but uncertainty about the future of K-12 education funding still looms.