Good things come to those who wait.
In January 2021, I filed a column headlined “Foreign language study is valuable, but not essential in high school.” At the end of May 2026, the General Assembly passed Senate Bill 3070 – 58-0 in the Senate and 117-0 in the House – amending a law that made two years of world language study a mandatory high school graduation requirement.
According to a Capitol News Illinois summary of school-related bills to pass in the final hours of spring session, people who backed the change generally support the emphasis of language study in high school but conceded the mandate doesn’t square with the reality: there aren’t enough teachers to go around.
“What we’re finding is that teacher shortage is still a big challenge in our state and we do not have enough foreign language teachers,” Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford, D-Westchester, said on the Senate floor.
Notably, the House didn’t consider another bill – a Senate amendment to House Bill 4795 – that would’ve just canceled the requirement altogether. The Senate also unanimously approved that bill but the House only approved the version that included provisions for approved career and technical education classes as an alternative to world language study.
“We want to put more effort in workforce development while we’re building that pool,” Lightford added, a tactful acknowledgment that by the time kids near high school graduation, one-size-fits-all curriculum dictates are simply too limiting.
With the stage reset, there is renewed opportunity for language advocates to embrace different approaches, such as starting second-language lessons in elementary school or ensuring proper credit for students who take a full year of high school-level language spread across two middle school grades.
I’ve never disputed the sincere value of learning languages beyond the one spoken at home, but I also sincerely believe in the importance of music or art classes through 12th grade, teaching everyone to drive, building lifelong health and fitness habits, understanding government and personal finances, developing critical reading and communication skills and, well, I’ve spent an awful lot of time trying to figure out how to make that all fit into eight semesters for my own kids and suspect I might not be alone.
There are enough ongoing challenges with public school systems to make it easy to argue against further mandates, funded or otherwise. And yet there are tremendous success stories of teenagers with high school diplomas ready to do great things because of success with a vocational program or an inspiring language teacher or some other great influence or opportunity.
Kids deserve chances to succeed. Languages warrant a seat at that table, but that table should be tall and wide and not limited to high school.
• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.
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June 6, 2026 at 10:02AM
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