Prairie State Wire

Gov. J.B. Pritzker – or any future governor – would be able to overrule local authorities and shut down all public and Catholic schools in Illinois by state mandate, according to a bill that passed the Illinois House.

Under HB 2789, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), ultimately overseen by Pritzker, would have full authority to shut down any school that is not following "IDPH protocols" during an "emergency order." 

The bill states the IDPH will establish rules, “for providing in-person instruction at nonpublic schools and public schools that include, but are not limited to, personal protective equipment, cleaning and hygiene, social distancing, occupancy limits, symptom screening, onsite isolation protocols, and shall provide those requirements to nonpublic schools and public schools with the assistance of the Illinois State Board of Education."

If a school receives a single complaint for non-compliance, the law says it could be shut down by the governor's authorities.

During the House Floor debate, state Rep. Avery Bourne (R-Pawnee) noted it would relegate to the state decisions that have historically been made at the local level.

“For those of you who’ve been asking for any kind of legislative oversight on the COVID restrictions, this is absolutely the opposite of that,” Bourne said. “This means that for all of the schools who worked really hard to get students back in seats, I’m sorry, the state now says you’re closed. This takes away all local control.”

More than just local control, the bill would assert full control of private and Catholic schools, which remained mostly open and served as a respite to their public peers, which remained mostly closed over the past year.

"The freedom that private schools have enjoyed this past year will be vanquished and they will be subjected to the draconian measures of an unelectable bureaucrat who has demonstrated astonishing incompetence this past year," said Brian Burch, CEO of Catholic Vote. "This is driven by the teachers’ unions that have been increasingly recalcitrant about returning to school."

The bill's leading proponents are the state's two largest teachers' unions, the Illinois Federation of Teachers and Illinois Education Association. Teachers' unions have opposed local school board efforts to re-open their schools.

The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Michelle Mussman (D-Schaumburg), passed by a vote of 70-42, along party lines. Of 45 House Republicans, 42 voted against the bill and three GOP legislators were excused.

Both private and homeschooling options have seen increasing enrollment interest, Chalkbeat Chicago recently reported.

The HB 2789 text does not specify how the new requirements would be funded.

The measure is now before the Senate Assignments Committee.

State Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) who has announced he is running for governor, told WSIL that ending unfunded mandates would be a primary goal of his administration.