Prairie State Wire

A bill that gives Gov. J.B. Pritzker – and any future governor – control of shutting down all Illinois schools whether Catholic, public or private during a pandemic continues to receive backlash. 

Multiple lawmakers, including state Rep. Avery Bourne (R-Pawnee) and state Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia), have criticized House Bill 2789 and its provisions to allow the governor through the Illinois Department of Public Health to shut down any school suspected to be noncompliant with IDPH standards during a public health crisis. Breakthrough Ideas, an education policy grassroots organization and think tank, expressed similar frustration with the bill.

"The bill would give control over how schools operate to the Illinois Department of Health if there’s a public health declaration—eliminating any local input from school boards, principals, teachers and families who know far better than Springfield bureaucrats what’s best for their community," Kathleen Murphy from Breakthrough Ideas said. 

Murphy, president and co-founder of the organization and a Republican political communications strategist, said the bill is outrageous and is sure to be a disaster in a state as diverse as Illinois. 

The bill reaches beyond public schools to private and religious institutions—an add-on that Murphy says lawmakers slipped into the bill at the end. 

"On April 22, maybe a couple hours before the bill was passed out of the House, Democrats tacked on an amendment that said: Not only would the Department of Public Health dictate how all public schools would operate—the DPH would dictate how all NON-PUBLIC schools operate," Murphy said. "We are asking everyone to contact their State Senator and tell them to vote NO on HB 2789."

Last week Prairie State Wire reported that Bourne said the bill would seize all local control from school boards and districts; Breakthrough Ideas says that state is attempting to centralize that control in unions and bureaucrats. 

“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."

HB 2789 was referred to Assignments in the Senate on April 23.