(The Center Square) – A bill in the Illinois General Assembly would spend tens of millions or possibly hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to address what lawmakers call a teacher shortage crisis.
House Bill 1375 would have taxpayers provide five-figure stipends to student teachers.
State Sen. David Koehler, D-Peoria, affirmed that the stipends would be for students from public universities. Koehler said full funding of the program would require $600 million.
“This is part of the budget discussion. I don’t expect that we’re going to get the full amount, but we’d like to get something so we can get this started,” Koehler said.
ShiAnne Shively of the Illinois Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, joined Koehler in support of HB 1375. Shively said people are not allowed to have outside work while they are student teaching.
“That gives us $10,000 per semester for the student teacher and also is a $2,000 stipend for the cooperating teacher, subject to appropriations,” Shively said.
Shively said the funds would flow through the Illinois Board of Higher Education.
State Rep. Fred Crespo, D-Hoffman Estates, expressed concerns about HB 1375 during debate on the House floor last month. Crespo said lawmakers need to start prioritizing instead of asking for everything.
“At the end of the day, taxpayers are going to pay for this, and at this rate, we’re just going to run out of taxpayers’ dollars to spend. Again, be careful when you pass these bills that are subject to appropriations, because you’re in fact creating a line item that’s going to put pressure on us and the taxpayers to fund it,” Crespo warned.
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, dismissed Crespo from the Democratic Caucus last week.
In addition to providing taxpayer-funding stipends for student teaching, HB 1375 would create emergency rule-making procedures for the program.
State Rep. Steven Reick, R-Woodstock, said during floor debate that not having the money does not constitute an emergency under the Illinois Administrative Procedures Act.
“I’m not crazy about the idea of giving this kind of emergency rule-making authority on the off chance that we don’t have the money,” Reick said.
The measure is currently in the Illinois Senate Appropriations Education Committee. The third reading deadline is May 23. The spring legislative session is scheduled to conclude May 31.
