Legislation
ONLINE POSTING OF
SCHOOL CURRICULUM
(H.B. 4117)
Illinois law affirms parents’ rights to access curriculum information, but in practice, parents often have limited options to review the materials that are being used in their kids’ classrooms. It’s often the case that parents who want to review course materials are required to travel to the school during specified hours, or they are shown only incomplete curriculum frameworks that don’t disclose actual content.
It’s with this in mind that I’ve filed H.B. 4117, which requires public school districts having more than 300 students to post online a listing of all instructional materials used in the classroom, whether it be core textbooks, news articles, digital materials, teacher-prepared reading lists or other resources.
REFUNDABLE
PROPERTY TAX CREDIT
FOR SENIORS
(H.B. 4286)
Property taxes are never too far from the top of the list of things that concern Illinois taxpayers, and there is no shortage of proposals to lower them. As we search for ways to lower property taxes for everyone, I’m sponsoring a bill that will provide a measure of relief for low-income seniors.
H.B. 4286 allows the credit to become refundable for anyone age 65 or over whose Federal adjusted gross income (the starting point for calculating Illinois taxable income) is below $50,000. This would allow those seniors most affected by rising property taxes to gain some measure of relief.
Pension Forfeiture for Student Sexual Abuse by Teachers
(H.B. 4231)
Teachers who sexually abuse their students should not be able to retire and then receive the benefits of a public pension. In response to testimony given by two brave young women who were abused by teachers while in high school, I filed HB 4231 to take away pension benefits from any teacher who, after an administrative hearing, is found to have sexually abused a student.