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ILLINOIS
BILL TO IMPOSE MORE PUBLIC HEALTH CONTROLS ON PRIVATE SCHOOLS DIES
Illinois Policy Institute/
Brad Weisenstein
Private schools kept most of their students
in class during the COVID-19 pandemic, making public schools look bad.
Union bosses tried and failed to force through a bill to mandate state
controls on private school operations in the case of a new health
crisis. |
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 Nearly 17,000 Illinoisans said they didn’t want the state to
have any more power to interfere in private school decisions or subject public
school teachers to investigations for health code infractions. Then scores of
parents were at the Statehouse May 30 and again May 31.
It made a difference.
State lawmakers abandoned House Bill 2789 in the waning hours of the legislative
session on Memorial Day. A version previously passed the Illinois House, but an
amended Senate version of the bill was not called for a vote.
Had it passed, the bill would have required the Illinois Department of Public
Health to set rules for in-person instruction at public as well as at private
schools. State rules would have governed masks, cleaning, occupancy, social
distancing and handling of positive cases. It would’ve given the state the power
to shut down private as well as public schools, taking away the local health
department control used during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Private schools were able to safely keep students in classrooms during the
pandemic while many teachers unions fought to keep public schools closed.
Opponents saw HB 2789 as a power play by public unions and as punishment for
schools that had served parents and students well through a global pandemic.
Plus, the proposed rules defied direct guidance from federal health officials
who said young students rarely transmitted the virus when proper protocols were
in place.
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“The end result of this language is that private
schools could have any of their facilities shut down by state
authorities,” state Sen. Donald DeWitte, R-West Dundee, said after
the bill emerged from a Senate committee May 27. “My private schools
had a stellar record, many even stayed open. I’d hate to compare
that record with the public schools – many of whom told me they had
no guidance at all.”
Teachers unions were driving the bill forward, which was made clear
during Senate testimony May 27 by Amanda Elliott, executive director
of legislative affairs at the Illinois State Board of Education.
“We’ve been working with IEA for several weeks to ensure student
safety no matter the learning environment,” Elliott said.
Teachers’ unions have had unmatched access to the public officials
in determining the future of rules that will affect both public and
private schools. Private schools and parents were not invited to
participate.
But then they demanded to be heard, by filing their opposition to
the bill, demonstrating at the state capitol and making scores of
phone calls to their local representatives.
To their credit, lawmakers listened and kept government from
overreaching and trying to control an education system that had
already proven itself during a global pandemic.
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