State Rep. Tom Morrison (R-Palatine) | repmorrison54.com/
State Rep. Tom Morrison (R-Palatine) | repmorrison54.com/
Legislation addressing the state's ongoing teacher shortage, now scheduled for action on the House floor, needs to address mandates by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a suburban Chicago representative said.
Rep. Tom Morrison (R-Palatine) brought up the mandates in his comments during a Jan. 19 House Elementary & Secondary Education: Administration, Licensing & Charter Schools committee hearing over House Bill 4246. The bill, introduced by State Rep. Sue Scherer (D-Decatur), who chairs the committee, would amend state law to allow for reinstatement of a lapsed professional educator license.
State Rep. Sue Scherer (D-Decatur)
| sueschererforstaterep.com/
"So, Chairwoman Scherer, since you had talked about the teacher shortage before introducing your bill – and by the way, I think you're probably going to get bipartisan support on this bill – but you talked at length about the teacher shortage which obviously is affecting all of us," Morrison said. "it's affecting the whole state."
It isn't just lapsed professional licenses, Morrison said.
"I just thought I'd mention that at least anecdotally what I'm hearing from some educators is they've left the profession – and again I haven't surveyed hundreds of thousands, but several teachers have reached out to me – and their concerns were the mandates Gov. Pritzker has put on teachers and schools," Morrison said. "I think we ought to, if we're going to look at this issue honestly, we really need to look comprehensively on why the shortage exists because, to your point about the legislature not doing anything, you know some of us on this side of the aisle would agree the legislature has not done enough to highlight how certain executive orders have really hurt professionals who object to what's happening in our schools. So, I'll just leave it at that."
HB 4246 passed 8-0 out of the subcommittee.
Two days after Morrison's comments in committee, HB 4246 was placed on the House calendar for second reading and now awaits further action.
No one doubts there's a teacher shortage in Illinois. In an Illinois Association of Regional School Superintendents survey of Illinois school district, 88% who responded reported teacher shortages, according to a Monday, Jan. 24 news story in Week.com
The school districts' surveys also reported having trouble finding substitute teachers.
Alerts Sign-up