Lawmakers push for more transparency on Illinois State Board of Education spending
House Bill 2574 aims to empower parents and taxpayers with more access to information about the Illinois State Board of Education’s spending.
At least one bill increasing accountability and transparency of the Illinois State Board of Education’s spending was passed out of committee last week and will be considered by lawmakers on the Illinois House floor.
House Bill 2574, sponsored by state Rep. Sue Scherer, D-Decatur, involves the contracts the board enters with companies providing services for assessing students, such as the Illinois Assessment of Readiness administered to every third through eighth grade student in Illinois public schools. The bill aims to empower parents and taxpayers with increased accountability and transparency around ISBE’s spending by requiring the board to report specific information about student assessment contracts.
The state board’s approved funds for assessments is $40 million for the current 2024-2025 school year.
If the bill becomes law, the board would be required to report the effective date and end date, the length and number of renewal options, the yearly total cost and the notice of renewal communications for every assessment contract. This information would then be published on ISBE’s website so it is available to the public.
The bill also would require the board of education to “engage with stakeholder groups,” including the committee established in Sec. 2-3.64a-5 of the Illinois School Code. The committee is tasked with reviewing state assessments on their content and design, time and money burden, results and any issues involving the assessments. According to the bill language, this engagement with other stakeholder groups is intended to “further enhance the transparency around assessments.”
“Taxpayers and parents deserve to know the full extent of where their money is going to support the education of our young people,” said bill sponsor Scherer. “This bill will create an open process to ensure that assessment contract renewals are scrutinized by stakeholders before another dime is spent.”