August 19, 2018

To the Honorable Members of

The Illinois House of Representatives,

100th General Assembly:

Today I veto House Bill 5481 which mandates that information regarding class sizes be reported to ISBE within 60 of the start of the academic year with the intention of setting goals to limit the number of students per class.

The link between smaller class size and improved student outcomes has indeed been proven. However, information about classroom populations is already published on an annual basis in school report cards, thus making the bill’s proposed reporting requirement redundant. Additionally, current class size averages in Illinois do not differ vastly from the goals set forth in the legislation. As written, the bill limits kindergarten class sizes to 18 students while the current average is 19.1 students. It requires classes in grades 1-5 to be 22 students and classes in grades 6-12 to be 25 students, even though Illinois’ overall average class size is 20.5. We are well on our way to universally achieving these standards, and do not need to create additional mandates on our schools in order to reach them. This bill would be yet another unnecessary directive from the General Assembly at the expense of local authorities who are in a better position to determine appropriate class sizes given local conditions.

Therefore, pursuant to Section 9(b) of Article IV of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I hereby return House Bill 5481, entitled “AN ACT concerning education,” with the foregoing objections, vetoed in its entirety.

Sincerely,

Bruce Rauner

GOVERNOR