Don’t toss the grammar-school composition paper yet.

The Illinois House approved legislation 67-48 Wednesday requiring elementary and high schools to teach cursive writing.

The sponsor is Chicago Democratic Rep. Emanuel Chris Welch. He says it’s important that tech-savvy children to retain cursive writing to read historical documents, write personal notes and sign documents.

Republican Rep. Steven Andersson of Geneva says cursive does not help develop young minds any better than printing. He says a legal document doesn’t need a signature but only a “mark.”

GOP Rep. Mike Fortner of West Chicago says cursive styles change. He says modern readers don’t readily recognize the cursive of the Declaration of Independence.

Welch emphasizes cursive would be required in short-term classroom units. It would not be required year-round.

Gov. Bruce Rauner made a visit to Illinois State University on Tuesday to speak with charter school students who were touring the campus.

Amanda Vinicky sat down with the governor to discuss his agenda for public schools, the state budget crisis and why he drops the “g” when he speaks.

From the mouths of babes: “Why are we so bad with money?”

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner then responded Monday to the New Baden Elementary School student: “We need to get balanced budgets, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Trying. Lawmakers are back in Springfield. Trying?

The administration of Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner says it wants a judge to decide whether state employees who were improperly hired under former Gov. Pat Quinn should keep union contract job protections.

Rauner’s office says in a statement Wednesday at least 36 employees who were improperly hired into Illinois Department of Transportation positions remain employed with the state. The Rauner administration says they can’t be fired to collective bargaining protections.

Substitute Illinois for California in a nice article this week by Steven Greenhut and it more than works. The math for Illinois is worse than Greenhut wrote about California, an it’s long time somebody started protesting about it. Let’s start with what Greenhut wrote:

The impact of ignoring math won’t mean that planet Earth dissolves in a giant fireball, as some global-warming activists claim, but it will mean that cities will continue to face “service insolvency” – when there’s enough money to pay the bills, but not to provide an adequate level of public services. Other cities will no doubt face actual insolvency….Most legislators aren’t at war with science. They remain at war, however, with basic numbers….

Size matters when choosing a city in which to launch a startup. As many veteran entrepreneurs — and failed startups — understand well, bigger is not always better. A city with a smaller population can offer a greater chance of success, depending on an entrepreneur’s type of business and personal preferences.

Every small city offers unique advantages and disadvantages to prospective ventures. Lower overhead costs, stronger relationships with customers and the potential to become a big fish in a little pond are among the benefits. But the drawbacks come plenty as well. For one, entrepreneurs seeking to cultivate a large professional network aren’t likely to fill their roster in a town with fewer residents. Other restrictions might include limited industry options, a less diverse customer base, and difficulty attracting and retaining top talent.

Chicago City Treasurer Kurt Summers on Wednesday ended his exploratory bid for Illinois governor, backed J.B. Pritzker for the Democratic nomination and took a jab at rival contender Chris Kennedy.

Summers had been the only high-profile African-American exploring a run for governor next year, and his backing of Pritzker was aimed at helping the billionaire entrepreneur and investor continue his outreach in the black community — potentially at the expense of Kennedy, who is part of the iconic Massachusetts political family.

The state comptroller’s decision Wednesday to issue $808.8 million in payments for health care services, and an additional $151.7 million in Medicaid payments that will be sent to hospitals Thursday, will be welcomed by hospitals around the state but won’t substitute for an elusive state budget, Memorial Health System’s leader says.

“The state needs a budget,” said Edgar Curtis, chief executive officer of the not-for-profit health system that operates Springfield’s Memorial Medical Center and hospitals in Jacksonville, Taylorville and Lincoln.

A day after advocates descended on the Capitol to push for women’s rights, the Illinois House passed a bill that proponents say would help close the pay gap between men and women.

Sponsored by Democratic Rep. Anna Moeller of Elgin, the measure would bar employers from asking job applicants for prior wage or salary history unless it’s already public information or the applicant is moving within the company. Moeller and other supporters say this would help curb wage discrimination against women by ensuring an employer’s salary offer isn’t based on an unequal wage.

A bill that would put about $60 million in federal funds designed for the education of low-income children back into the hands of local school district continues to move forward.

A pair of bills — House Bill 656 and Senate Bill 195 — are seeking the same thing: to eliminate the state’s “federal funds rate” or “pension surcharge.” It’s an additional fee that school districts have to pay into the Illinois Teacher Retirement System if they use federal Title 1 dollars to hire certified teachers.

An organization of state’s attorneys and police chiefs released a report at the Statehouse Wednesday detailing a high rate of suspensions in state-funded preschools across Illinois, and expressed support for legislation to help combat the problem.

The bipartisan Fight Crime: Invest In Kids says the expulsions and suspensions come from the lack of uniform standards in early childhood settings. Oftentimes, children who are being expelled are at-risk and could most benefit from early childhood education, the group says.

The union representing Chicago’s airport police officers moved Wednesday to halt the city’s effort to rebrand them as members of a security force — signs of a battle that is emerging as aviation police are under internal review and outside investigation in the wake of the United Airlines passenger dragging incident.

Service Employees International Union Local 73, which represents 292 officers who work at O’Hare International and Midway airports, filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the Illinois Labor Relations Board. The union contended the city is moving “to strip the aviation officers of their authority as special police officers” and asked the board to order the city not to make any changes to the officers’ “duties or symbols of authority” until it gives the union notice and “a full opportunity to bargain over proposed changes.”

With a ruling expected Friday in its lawsuit against Gov. Bruce Rauner and the state, Chicago Public Schools has still not provided any update on its path ahead if it is indeed forced to close schools nearly three weeks early this year.

The Chicago Board of Education and district officials offered no new details Wednesday in their final meetings before a Cook County Chancery Court judge is scheduled to rule on a pair of motions from the district and the state.

The Chicago Board of Education advanced plans to transform its high school application process, starting with next school year’s eighth-graders — a change that will include a still-untold number of the city’s privately operated charter schools.

Board members Wednesday voted to amend school district policies in the latest effort to overhaul what’s often criticized as an overly complex system.

Chicago Teachers Union members will join dozens of labor and immigrants’ rights organizations in a May Day march and rally downtown next week, renewing their call for more education funding.

The union initially floated the idea of a one-day strike on May 1 to protest declining financial conditions at Chicago Public Schools, which is facing a $129 million budget gap and could lop as many as three weeks off the end of this school year.

The first Filipina judge in Cook County has been removed indefinitely from the bench after she was indicted earlier this month on federal mortgage fraud charges.

The announcement Wednesday from Chief Judge Timothy Evans’ office came a day after a panel of presiding judges chaired by Evans voted to reassign Circuit Judge Jessica O’Brien to administrative duties. Elected a judge in 2012, she most recently had presided over a small-claims courtroom.

In an effort to curb potentially fatal crashes caused by texting while driving, Chicago aldermen are considering rolling out new technology. The so-called “textalyzer” lets police investigate whether drivers were using their cell phones moments before an accident.

State lawmakers in New York are considering a bill authorizing police to use textalyzers, though privacy advocates are concerned the technology could be abused. Development of the technology was sparked by a father who lost his son in a crash he suspected was caused by texting. While 46 states have laws against texting while driving, it’s still considered by safety advocates to be among the top driver distractions that lead to a crash.

Shorewood’s mayor, who used village fuel in his personal car to avoid the hassle of expense reports, made a public apology Tuesday — but not for doing anything wrong.

“I apologize to this board for the controversy,” Mayor Rick Chapman said at a Village Board meeting, calling the matter “distracting” and a “diversion” from the village’s goals.

Tuition increases and job cuts, as well as a new winter accelerated term, are being included as ways to help balance next fiscal year’s budget at John Wood Community College. The measures were brought on by the continued state budget impasse.

The JWCC Board of Trustees agreed on Tuesday to increase tuition by $3 to $142 per credit hour for in-district students. The increase should result in an extra $96 a year cost for students, bringing yearly tuition cost to $4,544 for the average, full-time student.