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On
a party-line vote, the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules,
or JCAR, declined to block the new “Culturally Responsive
Teaching and Leading Standards” from going into effect, despite
objections by Republicans who argued the rules would ultimately
require licensed teachers and administrators to adhere to a
particular political ideology.
Specifically, the new standards, which will take effect in 2025,
define a culturally responsive educator as, among other things,
one who will “critically think about the institutions in which
they find themselves, working to reform these institutions
whenever and wherever necessary,” as well as one who will
“assess how their biases and perceptions affect their teaching
practice and how they access tools to mitigate their own
behavior (racism, sexism, homophobia, unearned privilege,
Eurocentrism, etc.).”
“Culturally responsive teachers and leaders understand that
there are systems in our society that create and reinforce
inequities, thereby creating oppressive conditions,” the
standards state. “Educators work actively against these systems
in their everyday roles in educational institutions.”
Rep. Steve Reick, R-Woodstock, opposed the changes.
“So I do believe that what you're doing is you're taking
teachers who may object to some of the things that are in this
rule, and thus are saying that their inability or unwillingness
to abide by this (is) making them, in effect, incompetent,”
Reick said.
But Amanda Elliott, executive director of legislative affairs
for the state board, said the new rules do not change the way
licensed teachers or administrators are evaluated, only the way
they are trained in schools of education.
“Again, these are for educator preparation programs, not aimed
at school districts,” she said. “And it's about not the
personally-held beliefs or values of teachers that may be in the
classroom, but making sure that they are welcoming to all
students, regardless of their background, and also able to adapt
material as necessary to meet those needs.”
Responding to questions from Democratic Rep. Andre Thapedi, of
Chicago, Elliott explained that the process of drafting the
standards began in 2017, during former Republican Gov. Bruce
Rauner’s administration. It started with the state board putting
together a leadership team to meet with education officials from
other states. Later, the board put together a task force to come
up with the actual rules.
Elliott noted that the proposed rules were amended several times
in response to public comment as well as questions and comments
from legislators.
Thapedi said he had asked for the background behind the rules,
“because apparently there's some misinformation out there about
what this rule actually does, what the intent of the rule is,
and more specifically, more relevant to what JCAR does, the
statutory authority for the promulgation of this rule.”
But Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, noted that the task force as a
whole appeared to have a liberal tilt.
“I don't want to be political when I talk about this, but in our
conversation, and when I did look at the list of members that
were on the task force, it seemed that the majority of the task
force consisted of members who do believe that teachers should
be encouraging progressive viewpoints, and that they should be
encouraging activism by students,” Rezin said.
“I can say that we did not ask political affiliation when
individuals joined the group,” Elliot replied. “I think there's
always room for additional perspectives. And we're looking to
expand the group as we, hopefully after today, can move forward
with implementation.”
JCAR is a 12-member committee that is evenly divided between
Republicans and Democrats, and between House and Senate members.
Its main purpose is to review proposed rules from administrative
agencies to make sure they are consistent with the legislative
intent behind the statutes that authorize them.
Reick offered a motion to object to the rules on the basis that
they did not clearly spell out how teacher preparation programs
are to implement them. But such a motion requires a two-thirds
majority, or eight votes on the committee, and it failed on a
party-line vote of 6-5, with one Democrat, Senate Majority
Leader Kimberly Lightford, of Maywood, absent.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan
news service covering state government and distributed to more
than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the
Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick
Foundation.
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