IASB Legislative Report 102-46

Delivered via email: January 6, 2023

Legislature Convenes Lame Duck Session

Late on Thursday, January 5 the Illinois Senate posted an amendment to House Bill 5188 (Villivalam, D-Chicago) that would require sex education in kindergarten through 12th grades. The amendment was posted at about 9 p.m. and heard an hour after its posting in the Senate Executive Committee. The Illinois Association of School Boards has worked on sex ed standards and curriculum for several years. Previous sex ed bills focused on content of curriculum while still preserving local control around the decision to offer sex ed to all students. HB 5188 removes that local option and mandates the national sex ed standards for all schools. IASB encourages you to continue to make your voice heard on House Bill 5188. Please review the IASB Call to Action and make your voice heard in the process.

In the House, most of the focus was on firearms and abortion access. While those two issues garnered most of the week’s attention, an important, clarifying language, House Bill 4228 (Hoffman, D-Belleville) passed the House and will now head to the Governor. HB 4228 is a clean-up of a measure, Senate Bill 3789 (Morrison, D-Highwood) that could have required school districts to conduct a decennial efficiency study. House Bill 4228 inserts into the law the definition of local government found in the Illinois Constitution, which does not include school districts.