State Senate advances measures to address teacher shortage
SPRINGFIELD - A pair of bills aiming to address the state's teacher shortage passed the Illinois Senate on Thursday.
Both bills were sponsored by Sen. Andy Manar, a Bunker Hill Democrat.
The first, House Bill 2078, would raise the minimum salary for teachers to $40,000 by the 2023-24 school year. The wage increase would be phased in, starting with a $32,076 minimum in the 2020-21 school year, $34,576 the year after that, and $37,076 in 2022-23. After 2024, the minimum salary would increase with the Consumer Price Index each year.
The state's current minimum teacher salary of $10,000 has been unchanged since the 1980s.
The bill passed 45-13 and will require concurrence from the House before going to Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
The Senate also passed a bill to eliminate the requirement that prospective teachers take a "test of basic skills" before the start of their student teaching. The measure also would allow new teachers, under certain conditions, to be reimbursed for the cost of taking a performance test known as the edTPA exam.
Senate Bill 1952 also would raise the cap on annual teacher pay raises to 6 percent from 3 percent.
The House had made a minor change to the bill, but the Senate agreed to that change Wednesday, sending the bill to Pritzker.