SPRINGFIELD (WGEM) – Legislation passed out of the Illinois House aims to pay back public school teachers for the cost of their education, but opponents to the bill say it costs too much and does too little.
Teachers would have to apply for the reimbursement program, but the legislation said they would be eligible if they have graduated or are currently in a state university program, and if they work in public schools or have worked in them for one year at the time of their application.
Students are responsible to pay for their schooling, but afterward, if they are a part of the public school system, they will be reimbursed for one-tenth of the tuition and fees they paid, once a year for up to ten years.
The National Education Association estimates educators owe an average of $55,800. As an example, if they paid $50,000, they would receive a $5,000 reimbursement once a year.
Bill sponsor Rep. Sue Scherer (D – Decatur), a retired teacher herself, said she hopes this legislation will address one of the worst teacher shortages in decades.
“It addresses this dying need we have for teachers and it also secures that they will teach in a public school in Illinois for ten years,” Scherer said.
“We have the most serious teacher shortage in the history of our country,” she continued.
However, Republican members of the House argued the bill comes with too high of a cost — $1.4 billion dollars — and would reimburse everyone without any qualifications. Scherer countered that the amount she was given for the cost of the program would be $88 million dollars for the next fiscal year. over 18 years, it would add up to the $1.4 billion.
Both Rep. Avery Bourne (R – Farmersville) and Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer (R – Jacksonville) gave examples of rich family members paying for education that then would be reimbursed with tax dollars.
“I want to encourage there to be more students who go to be teachers in Illinois, we have a dramatic teacher shortage,” Bourne said. “This bill does not help the people it’s intended to help.”
There were no estimates of how many reimbursements would be given to students who had their education paid for by wealthy family members.
Additionally, Rep. Jeff Keicher (R – Sycamore) said funding should be given to already-existing programs, such as Golden Apple which directs teachers into high-demand areas for educators.
There are similar programs where tuition reimbursement is used as an incentive for recruiting for lawyers. Additional programs are under consideration for other under-staffed professions, like nursing, pharmacists and law enforcement.
“We are competing with every kind of high-paying job on earth, to try and get someone to become a teacher,” Scherer said. “There are so many reasons they can think of for why they don’t want to do it. Please don’t give them this excuse also.”
The bill passed 72-40 and now heads to the Senate.
Illinois schools are required to take the lowest bid for food contracts, but a pending bill in Springfield could change that. | Getty
In hopes that students could see healthier meals, a Peoria lawmaker is sponsoring a bill that would allow exemptions from rules that require districts to take the lowest bid for food services.
A new bill in Springfield would change the way Illinois school districts solicit food service contracts, allowing officials to negotiate for higher quality products amid complaints that many schools offer unhealthy food.
As state law stands, Illinois school districts participating in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program are required to accept the lowest bid for their food contracts. Oftentimes that means districts can’t push for better options since vendors know the lowest bid wins.
Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, D-Peoria, is sponsoring a bill that would carve out exemptions from those procurement requirements for schools, much like has been done for transportation services.
“To say that it must be the lowest-rate food, the cheapest-quality food, and that is the metric by which we are determining what our children are putting into their bodies every day, I just think that we can do better,” Gordon-Booth said.
“We should be serving kids food that they will actually eat. Because what we’re seeing happening in school districts all over the state is that the food is so atrocious, the kids aren’t even eating it.”
School districts will still be allowed to accept the lowest bid, but the bill would also allow officials to consider quality along with price. Illinois is only one of two states, along with New York, to require schools to take the lowest bid, Gordon-Booth said.
The bill, HB4813, unanimously passed out of the Illinois House’s Elementary and Secondary Education committee last week and could be called for a vote before the full House.
Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat, superintendent of Peoria Public Schools, supports the bill and said the change would weigh in the district’s decision-making with its food service contract up at the end of next school year. Peoria schools, where about 70% of students qualify for free and reduced lunch, have seen complaints about old, processed and unhealthy meals this school year.
“They truly rely on school meals, breakfast, lunch,” Desmoulin-Kherat said. “Sometimes those are the only nutritious meals that they’ll have. So it’s very important that the meals are very nutritious, very fresh, very healthy to help sustain them and help them grow.”
She said Sodexo, the district’s current vendor, has been responsive to concerns, but there’s undoubtedly room to grow. One of the options Desmoulin-Kherat’s team is considering as they seek input from families is whether to take food services in-house. But the ability to negotiate for fresher, higher-quality products could allow for a better contract, she said.
Marcus Alexander, superintendent of the Pembroke school district in the central Illinois town of Hopkins Park along the Indiana border, said he’d like to see several changes to school lunch programs because “insulating mediocrity of performance and service, that has to go.
“Food service has turned into big business that took away from the concept of the whole child,” Alexander said.
Another change Alexander has pushed for in Springfield is for school districts to be allowed to buy their food from local sources, such as farms — currently prohibited by certain regulations.
His school district cooks lunches itself but orders products from a big-box type vendor. Hopkins Park is a farm community that has the bandwidth to serve public school students with fresher and healthier foods, though, and Alexander would like to tap into that possibility.
“Being able to provide children with high-quality, nutritious meals that they like and enjoy, that’s a top priority,” he said.
The Peoria Democrat’s House Bill 5319 would designate Peoria as the pilot city for a possible statewide program involving calls where behavioral health specialists are deemed more effective at handling a situation than patrol officers.
What’s in the proposal?
"We know that we have over 600 calls for service that are categorized as mental health calls but we have officers that are responding to that who are on patrol," Police Chief Eric Echevarria said. "What we want to see is we want to be able to take those of their plate because we want our officer to be proactively working to make Peoria safer."
He and Gordon-Booth began working on drafting a proposed pilot program shortly after he took over as chief last summer.
The goal is twofold: Reduce the amount of calls police need to respond to, and reduce use of force by police.
Gordon-Booth said she does not yet have a dollar amount for what the program will cost. The city of Peoria asked for $5 million toward to the program in it’s legislative wish list.
The unit’s three primary areas of focus will be "mental and behavioral health, substance use disorder, and homelessness issues," according the the bill.
Echevarria said that he’d like to see a scenario where a social worker responds to every domestic violence call the department gets and likewise would like to see juvenile case workers deployed on calls who can follow up with kids afterward.
"Peoria is full of services, we just need to be able to funnel those services together and work together to get the services together in the right place at the right time," Echevarria said.
What’s the timeline for getting this started?
When the proposal gets a vote is up in the air because of a broader collection of public-safety bills being worked on, with Gordon-Booth involved in the negotiations as part of a Criminal Justice Working Group among lawmakers.
The House’s Police and Fire Committee put a series of public-safety bills on hold until those negotiations are completed.
Gordon-Booth said other communities interested in the program, like Springfield, Waukegan and East St. Louis, have already asked her to keep efforts moving on the legislation and said she feels the bill is still in a strong position given the support it has received from "diverse communities from across the state."
If passed by the General Assembly, the bill dictates the program should be running "no later" than six months after its passage. With lawmakers scheduled to adjourn in April, if the bill passes Gov. JB Pritzker would then have 60 days to sign it, meaning a program could be up and running by year’s end.
Unity Place plans to add additional staff "to make sure we’ve got the proper support for this program." But how many staff they will be adding is not yet known, said Mary Sparks-Thompson, the president of Unity Place.
Why work with Unity Place?
The decision to work with Unity Place was an easy one for Gordon-Booth. It’s the mental and behavioral health wing of the UnityPoint Health medical operation in Peoria, and represents the combination of a trio of long-running not-for-profit organizations.
"The fact is that Unity Place is a behavioral health and mental health leader in this region and I don’t think that can be stated enough because of the key role they have played for decades in this space," Gordon-Booth said. "We’re very blessed to have them operating in this capacity and working so close with the Peoria Police Department to ensure this opportunity, this initiative is successful."
Keith Knepp, UnityPoint’s central Illinois CEO, said both "statistics and stories" —individual successes — will be used to measure the program’s achievement if it’s implemented.
"The statistics are going to be who all comes to see us that didn’t see us before but when we hear the stories of those who are impacted we know we’ve made a difference too," Knepp said.
Where have similar programs been deployed?
Eugene, Oregon, which has a population just under 200,000, has been using a similar program for the past 30 years.
Known as CAHOOTS — Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets — the Eugene program has been sending mental health counselors on calls alongside police, and sometimes on their own, to great success over the years, officials there say.
"CAHOOTS really fills a gap in services in our area," said Eugene 911 Communication Supervisor Emily Macauley. "There’s a lot of calls that come into the police department that aren’t exactly public safety-related but there’s a lack of services, especially after hours and on weekends, where we really don’t have a place to go or send them."
Eugene Police Chief Chris Skinner said he gets asked regularly by other departments how the relationship works between the police and the CAHOOTS workers.
"I tell everybody the same thing: It takes time, it takes effort. It takes investment on both parts to want to understand we’re both a part of a bigger system and we have our own unique needs that we address and that we will need to continue to address," Skinner said.
Stephen King, a 911 dispatcher with the Eugene Police Department, said some people call 911 and specifically ask for CAHOOTS rather than the police.
"There are people who have had bad experiences with the police and react very poorly to uniformed police officers, these people might by default become violent if an officer shows up," King said. "These same people are sometimes people CAHOOTS personnel has a good rapport with and even if they’re acting violently, we communicated … with the watch commander and CAHOOTS and get the approval, they’ll say ‘yeah we’re absolutely comfortable going and talking with this guy.’"
ROCKFORD — One local lawmaker expressed skepticism toward raising the juvenile age of criminal responsibility beyond 17 in Illinois, and another said he flat-out opposed it.
Nonetheless, rumors that the age will be raised in the near future are fueling discussions that now may be the right time to move the Winnebago County Juvenile Detention Center on Northrock Drive to a bigger location.
Winnebago County Board Member, Burt Gerl, who chairs the board’s Public Safety and Judiciary Committee, and other county board members met earlier this month with Chief Judge John Lowry and learned it is not a matter if the age will be raised, but when.
"We’ve been told that it’s not going to happen this session, but it will happen soon," Gerl said. "There’s gonna be a lot of moving pieces, but this is definitely something that we need to look at, and we need to look at it now."
State Rep. Dave Vella, D-Rockford, said he is not opposed to relocating the juvenile detention center to downtown Rockford but fears raising the juvenile age limit may do more harm than good.
State Rep. Dave Vella, pictured at a news conference April 7, 2021, said he is opposed to raising the state’s juvenile age limit.
"The problem is the juvenile court system is overloaded as it is," Vella said. "So, if we add more kids, which is what would happen if we raise the juvenile age, it would just overwhelm the courts more and then less kids would get the services that they need."
Vella, who is an attorney, said his skepticism about raising the age limit stems from first-hand knowledge of the juvenile court system.
"I just don’t think it will work, at least not for Winnebago County," he said. "I really don’t know the (juvenile court) system in Cook. So, I don’t know how they are doing, but we need as many services as we can for these kids."
State Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Cherry Valley, said he would "strongly oppose" any bill that raises the juvenile age.
"Some of the most serious, heinous crimes are being committed by these individuals who are certainly younger than 18, and they are well aware of their decisions that they are making," he said.
Syverson also spoke of the propensity of gang members to use juveniles to commit serious crimes knowing that juvenile records can be sealed and the punishment is not as severe as being charged as an adult.
Dave Syverson of Cherry Valley is an Illinois state senator.
Juvenile vs. adult court
Relocating the detention center sooner rather than later to downtown as part of an overall goal to centralize all judiciary services could be an advantageous move on the part of the County Board as it has funds to consider it, Gerl said.
The county received $27.4 million on July 1 and will receive another $27.4 million this summer thanks to the American Rescue Plan, federal dollars committed to municipalities to aid in the recovery from economic and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Just how much money is the board willing to commit to Public Safety Building proposals and other projects has yet to be hashed out.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures: "Proponents of ‘raise-the-age’ legislation believe young people should be tried in juvenile court to ensure that they are not sentenced to adult prisons and that they have access to more age-appropriate services and placement options to meet their specialized needs.
"They argue that the legal system should treat children as children, not as adults, based on the latest neurological, social and behavioral science research and analysis that distinguish juveniles from adult offenders. Research also has found that juveniles in adult prisons experience higher rates of physical and sexual abuse and suicide, and are less likely to be rehabilitated than those in juvenile facilities."
Currently, anyone 17 and under is considered a juvenile in Illinois. But not every child charged with a crime goes to juvenile court. In very serious crimes, youths over 15 can be tried in adult criminal court.
Statewide advocacy organizations like the Juvenile Justice Initiative support raising the age to 21 "to bring our court system in line with research that shows young adults (people ages 18-21) are more similar to juveniles than adults in terms of criminal offending."
Illinois passed legislation in 2015 requiring juvenile records to be automatically expunged when the offender reaches age 18, if the crime committed was a low-level offense and if the offender has not been arrested in the last six months.
A House committee signed off Wednesday on a plan backed by the Illinois State Dental Society to address workforce issues and expand who can perform certain services.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WGEM) – The Illinois House could soon act on a proposal to improve reading literacy.
Rep. Rita Mayfield (D-Waukegan) says children are not reading well enough to be successful. Data from the 2019 Illinois Assessment of Readiness found two-thirds of third-graders struggle to read.
The proposal requires teacher candidates to show their knowledge of foundational reading skills by passing a new exam. Mayfield’s bill asks the State Board of Education to support districts by creating curriculum guidance lists for schools.
Louise Dechovitz, Vice President of Avoca Elementary District 27, testified in support of the bill Wednesday morning. Dechovitz said there is a reading crisis in Illinois.
“Our children deserve evidence-based literacy instruction,” Dechovitz said. “And all teachers deserve the knowledge and skills to be able to provide it. Our literacy challenge will not go away without bold action.”
Advocates also said school districts should not be expected to find the time and money to figure out a solution on their own. House Bill 5032 calls for grant opportunities for districts who agree to transition their curriculum and training.
The State Board of Education is also working with advocates to make the exam for teaching candidates cost-effective.
Meanwhile, the Illinois Association of College Teacher Education Programs is opposed to the bill. Lori Reimers said the organization is against the proposed assessment for teacher candidates. Reimers also said the association would meet with advocates Wednesday to discuss a good way to move forward.
The plan passed unanimously out of the House Elementary & Secondary Education: School Curriculum & Policies Committee. The bill will return to the committee at a later date with an amendment.
SPRINGFIELD (WGEM) – A proposal moving to the House floor aims to add education requirements to investigator training and to move faster through the investigation process when nursing homes are accused of misconduct.
Introduced by Rep. Maurice West II (D – Rockford), the bill would tighten up the amount of days allotted for investigations to happen. current legislation allows an investigation period of 30 days, the proposal would give investigators one week to complete their review.
Additionally, the bills halves the amount of time the department of human and Family services has to notify the facility of their investigation’s findings. From that point, the nursing facility has a set amount of time to devise a plan for correcting the “deficiencies” found in the investigation.
From there, HFS has to revisit the facility to see if the correction has taken place. Under the new bill, if they don’t visit within seven days, the department must assume facilities are under compliance.
However, those against the bill worry this would tie the hands of those investigating complaints against nursing homes. The cite several “problematic” items in the bill, like giving facilities prior notice before conducting an investigation, and the assumption of compliance if the agency isn’t able to revisit the facility.
The Illinois Public Health Department, who investigates the claims, said that the current statutes are federally mandated and changing them would affect funding and federal compliance.
“With this language, we would not be able to open a new complaint until a another complaint is closed for that facility,” IDPH Division Chief of Governmental Affairs Allison Nickrent said. “That would really be problematic for residents. You know, if we get a complaint that a resident is in danger but there’s still another complaint under investigation, according to this language we would not be able to investigate.”
Advocates of the bill, including Healthcare Council of Illinois which represents a number of nursing facilities across the state, said the current investigation process is lengthy and leaves multiple cases open at once.
“There’s currently no time requirement on when the department must come back out to verify that the corrective actions were taken and close the complaint,” HCCI Representative Matt Harris said. he went on to say some extreme examples of this instance created issues in receiving payment.
The proposal passed unanimously out of the House Human Services Committee with the promise of an amendment from sponsor West. It will head to the floor in the coming weeks.
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