Bills Pending in the Illinois General Assembly Pertaining to Education 2026
Prepared by Bev Johns, 6/6/26
House Bill 4239— Rohr. Amends the Courses of Study Article of the School Code. Provides that the school board of a school district that maintains any of grades 9 through 12 is authorized to adopt a policy under which a student enrolled in grade 7 or 8 who is enrolled in the unit school district or would be enrolled in the high school district upon completion of elementary school may enroll in a required high school course, provided that the course is offered by the high school that the student would attend and the student participates in the course where the student attends school as long as the course is taught by a teacher who holds a professional educator license and endorsed for the grade level and content area of the course (instead of just as long as the course is taught by a teacher who holds a professional educator license and endorsed for the grade level and content area of the course). Passed both Houses.
House Bill 4284— Cochran. Amends the Statute on Statutes and other various Acts. Changes all occurrences of “disabled person” to ” person with a disability”, changes all occurrences of “a person who is handicapped” to “a person who has a disability”, changes all occurrences of “physically or mentally handicapped” to “having a physical or intellectual disability”, and changes all occurrences of “visually handicapped” to visually impaired”. Replaces an outdated reference to the “Disabled Person Identification Card” with ” the Illinois Person with a Disability Identification Card”. Amends the Aid to the Aged, Blind or Disabled Article of the Illinois Public Aid Code. Changes “Aid to the Aged, Blind or Disabled program” to Aid to the Aged, Blind or Persons with Disabilities program”. Makes corresponding references in various Acts. Effective January 1, 2027. Further amends the Statute on Statutes. Provides that nothing in the amendatory Act or in any other Act replacing the term “mentally handicapped” with “intellectual disability” is intended to make any substantive change to eligibility, benefits, or coverage under any provision of law. Provides that the replacement of the term “mentally handicapped” with “intellectual disability” shall be construed as a modernization of terminology only and shall not be interpreted to narrow or expand eligibility. Passed both Houses.
House Bill 4397—Crawford. Amends the Children with Disabilities Article of the School Code. Provides that “school psychologist”, for a psychologist licensed on or after the effective date of the amendatory Act, means a psychologist who, along with other qualifications, has graduated with a specialist degree, an equivalent degree with the completion of a minimum of 60 graduate semester hours, or a higher degree in school psychology from an institution of higher learning that maintains equipment, courses of study, and standards of scholarship approved by the State Board of Education, and has had at least 1,200 clock hours of supervised experience in the delivery of school psychological services of a character approved by the State Superintendent of Education, at least 600 hours of which were in a school setting, and has such additional qualifications as may be required by the State Board of Education. Makes changes to provide that school psychological services provided by qualified specialists who hold a Professional Educator License endorsed for school psychology may include, but are not limited to: (1) providing assessments; (2) creating and implementing prevention and intervention services that support student learning: (3) providing mental and behavioral health services; (4) acting as liaisons between public schools and community agencies; (5) evaluating program effectiveness; (6) providing crisis prevention, response, and intervention within the school setting; (7) providing consultation and collaboration; (8) supervising school psychologist interns enrolled in school psychology programs; (9) screening school enrollments to identify children who should be referred for individual study; and (10) developing any other necessary programs and services. Provides that a school psychologist may not provide school psychological services outside of his or her employment to any student in any school district that employs the school psychologist. Makes other changes. Passed both Houses.
Senate Bills
Senate Bill 2761— D. Turner. Amends the School Boards Article of the School Code. In provisions concerning in-service training programs, provides that the instruction on the Federal Americans with Disabilities Act, as it pertains to the school environment, includes, without limitation, service animals. Passed both Houses.
Senate Bill 4010— McClure. Amends the Downstate Teacher Article of the Illinois Pension Code. In a provision concerning the contribution required to establish service credit for certain service as a teacher or administrator employed by a private school recognized by the Illinois State Board of Education, changes the amount of the interest payment required to establish that service credit from interest at the actuarially assumed rate to regular interest. Passed both Houses.
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