Last August, Gov. JB Pritzker signed Senate Bill 1740, which created the School Code Mandate Reduction Council.
State Sen. Mary Edly-Allen, D-Libertyville, a former teacher, said the council would evaluate “the 699 mandates introduced since 1982 – an essential step toward improving our laws to fit with the evolving education landscape.”
So how’s it going?
Although an initial meeting was scheduled for December, the council had its actual first session Jan. 15. State Superintendent Tony Sanders appointed Matt Seaton, the State Board of Education’s chief financial officer, to lead the council. During new business, Seaton reminded the group that a report is due to the General Assembly Oct. 1, expected to include a list of recommended eliminations from more than 1,000, subject to council review.
Then the fun stuff: Committee assignments! The council created the Assessment, Health or Safety of Students & Operations Committee, the Curriculum & Fiscal Committee and the Personnel, Non-Instructional, Reporting & Facilities Committee.
Snark was intended – remember, the council itself is the product of sizing up a public infrastructure that’s led to 12 different statewide educational groups and produced about 15 new rules annually only to conclude the best step forward was taking 20 people to form yet another new government body – but Seaton did identify 10 subject-specific areas and possibly four committees, so paring it down to three is somewhat encouraging.
All this information comes from the council’s website (isbe.net/Pages/Mandate-Reduction-Council.aspx) where recordings, agendas, minutes and breakout sessions are well organized and easily accessible.
For example, the Personnel, Non-Instructional Services, Reporting, Facilities Committee’s July 14 meeting included a 21-page table that calls for eliminating 10 mandates, combining requirements under five others and 11 modification suggestions … and 115 classified as “Discussed – No Rec.” (That’s about 82% if you’re calculating at home.)
If nothing else, these people are detailed. Each row lists a Title/Report name (such as “Individual Transition Plan Model Pilot Program” with linked citations to relevant state laws (105 ILCS 5/2-3.83), the statutory language supporting direction, the date the law took effect, the specific recommendation and a summary: “Recommend to remove/repeal, as the program does not appear to be in place at this time and there are other programs in place serving similar purposes. (synch rec with Committee 2 mandate #68).”
All committees produced recommendation lists at their July meetings. Curriculum & Fiscal has two dozen recommended eliminations and almost 60 combination suggestions, while Assessment, Health or Safety of Students & Operations is at 12 eliminations and almost 30 combinations.
The scope of the work shows it was long overdue, suggesting better diligence when enacting new laws and possible scalability to other bloated state agencies.
Overnight overhauls are impractical, so here’s hoping small steps start significant journeys.
• 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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August 25, 2026 at 10:02AM
