SPRINGFIELD (WGEM) – A new bill aims to give teachers across Illinois at least 45 minutes of planning time each day.

The proposal would require it to be built into the school day.

“We wouldn’t need a bill like this if the feedback from teachers wasn’t that they were losing their planning time,” said state Sen. Meg Loughran Cappel, D-Shorewood.

She’s sponsoring the bill requiring teachers to get time to plan every day.

“What we’re finding is that teachers are promised planning time in their contracts but many times they’re pulled for different meetings or to sub and their planning times are being taken away, and they’re having to do those planning activities before school, after school, taking their work home,” Loughran Cappel said.

A special education teacher for 15 years, Loughran Cappel saw firsthand the importance of having time to plan. She also knows what she and her students lost when she didn’t have the time.

“Teachers want to do a good job. They want to be effective. They want to have thought through the questions,” she said. “They want to have made sure that they’re meeting the criteria that’s set before them for test scores, for their administration, the goals of their school.”

She added having time to plan is key.

“When teachers are able to take that time and be creative and think about those things, you’re just better,” Loughran Cappel said.

The legislation would allow teachers to say no if asked to sub or go to a meeting, training or conference during their designated planning time. If a teacher chooses to forgo planning time for one of those reasons, the school district would have to pay them for those extra 45 minutes. The exact pay rate would be negotiated by the district and local teacher’s union.

Loughran Cappel said she has privately heard concerns from school district leaders throughout the state. She said she’s willing to change some of the bill’s details, including whether the exact required planning time should be 45 minutes, but she believes both students and teachers will do better if they have daily planning time.

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