State Senator Donald DeWitte (R-St. Charles) has passed legislation through the Senate that strengthens reporting requirements when school districts learn of teachers that have been convicted on any crime tied to the abuse or neglect of a child.
“As the statutes are currently written, the onus falls to the State Superintendent to alert the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) when they learn that an educator has been convicted of this type of crime,” said Sen. DeWitte. “It makes more sense that this responsibility falls to the local level and to local school boards, where there is a much better chance that none of these cases falls through the cracks.”
Prior to moving to the Senate floor for final action, SB 2357 was approved unanimously by the Senate Education Committee on April 20.
“This is an important step we can take to help ensure we’re putting quality teachers in our classrooms,” continued Sen. DeWitte. “It reaffirms that having a high-quality teacher workforce is of paramount importance in the State of Illinois.”
SB 2357 received unanimous support in the Senate and is now pending in the Illinois House, where State Representative Fred Crespo (D-Hoffman Estates) is serving as the Chief House Sponsor.