HB4895 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB103 36482 RJT 66586 b

103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
HB4895

Introduced 2/7/2024, by Rep. Janet Yang Rohr

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

105 ILCS 5/27-23.17 new
105 ILCS 5/27-23.18 new

Amends the Courses of Study Article of the School Code. Provides that, beginning with the 2025-2026 school year, every public high school shall require a unit of instruction addressing climate change in either a required science class or a required social studies class. Sets forth what the unit of instruction shall include. Provides that the State Superintendent of Education, in consultation with the Director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency or the Director's designee, shall prepare and make available to school boards instructional materials and professional development training for educators that may be used as guidelines for development of the instruction. Provides that, beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, every public high school shall include instruction on climate change and the impacts and causes of climate change in grades 9 through 12 in specified courses. Provides that the State Board of Education shall convene a working group of students, educators, and experts in the area of climate change. Sets forth the membership of the working group. Sets forth tasks for the working group concerning State learning standards. Provides that the State Superintendent of Education shall prepare and make available to school boards instructional materials and professional development training for educators that may be used as guidelines for development of the instruction. Effective immediately.

STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning education.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The School Code is amended by adding Sections 27-23.17 and 27-23.18 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/27-23.17 new)

Sec. 27-23.17. Climate change education.

(a) In this Section, "climate change" means the negative impact of human activities on the Earth's environment, contributing to issues such as warming temperatures, rising sea levels, and an increase in extreme weather events.

(b) Beginning with the 2025-2026 school year, every public high school shall include in its curriculum a unit of instruction addressing climate change in either a required science class or a required social studies class. The unit of instruction shall include, but is not limited to, all of the following:

(1) The relationship between rapid industrialization, carbon emissions, rapid temperature increases, and the increasing frequency of environmental and ecological impacts. This instruction shall include, but is not limited to, all of the following:

(A) The role of and relationships between specific governments, corporations, and people in worsening or attempting to mitigate climate change.

(B) The historical patterns of emissions by specific countries.

(C) Current and proposed climate treaties and agreements.

(D) Showing sectoral emissions worldwide, nationwide, and statewide.

(2) Identifying and addressing the specific impacts of climate change on individuals and communities. This instruction shall include, but is not limited to, all of the following:

(A) Daily habits a person is able to change in order to reduce that person's contribution to climate change, such as choosing to recycle or support local businesses.

(B) Actions a community or organization is able to take to reduce its overall contribution to climate change.

(C) Institutional barriers to an individual, community, or organization in reducing the individual's, community's, or organization's contribution to climate change.

(D) An assessment that requires students to create an action plan that draws upon scientific data to address climate change for the students' community. The assessment shall include stating current community action and proposing additional action items to address climate change locally.

(3) Scientific data explaining the existence of climate change and its effect on ecosystems and ecosystem services. The scientific data may include, but is not limited to, all of the following:

(A) Climate scenarios and projections.

(B) Global and regional climate change.

(C) Weather and extreme climate events.

(4) The scientific processes of certain aspects of climate change. The scientific processes may include, but are not limited to, all of the following:

(A) The interactions of methane gas molecules in the atmosphere.

(B) Global chemical cycles and feedbacks.

(C) Short and long-lived climate forcers.

(D) Global water cycle changes.

(c) The State Superintendent of Education, in consultation with the Director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency or the Director's designee, shall prepare and make available to school boards instructional materials and professional development training for educators that may be used as guidelines for development of a unit of instruction under this Section. The instructional materials shall be revised and updated by July 1 in odd-numbered years in time to be incorporated into instructional materials and training.

(105 ILCS 5/27-23.18 new)

Sec. 27-23.18. Environmental education.

(a) Beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, every public high school shall include instruction on climate change and the impacts and causes of climate change in grades 9 through 12 in all of the following courses:

(1) All science courses, including electives, that are subject to the Illinois Science Standards or the Next Generation Science Standards, including physical science, life science, earth science, and engineering design. Science courses under this paragraph (1) may include, but are not limited to, all of the following:

(A) Biology.

(B) Geology.

(C) Oceanography.

(D) Environmental science.

(E) Advanced Placement Biology.

(F) Advanced Placement Environmental Science.

(G) Zoology.

(H) Plant science.

(I) Botany.

(2) All courses that are subject to agricultural, food, and natural resources learning standards and that address food, food systems, food production, and sustainability. These courses may include, but are not limited to, all of the following:

(A) Agronomy.

(B) Horticulture.

(C) Agri-business.

(D) Plant science.

(E) Soil science.

(3) All courses, including electives, that are subject to the Illinois Learning Standards for Social Science in civics, geography, anthropology, economics, history, sociology, and psychology.

(4) Career and technical education courses that impact or are impacted by the environment or climate change, including, but not limited to, all of the following:

(A) Engineering.

(B) Business.

(C) Law.

(D) Economics.

(E) Consumer economics.

(b) The State Board of Education shall convene a working group of students, educators, and experts in the area of climate change. The working group shall include high school students and classroom teachers in science, agriculture, social science, and relevant disciplines that fall under career and technical education. The working group shall include the Director of Agriculture or the Director's designee, the Director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency or the Director's designee, and technical experts provided by the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The working group may include discipline-specific experts in climate change and the impacts of climate change.

The working group shall be charged with all of the following tasks:

(1) Identifying, evaluating, and, if deemed necessary by the working group, modifying State learning standards that address or relate to climate change.

(2) Developing additional learning standards for climate change and determining the placement of these additional standards into the State learning standards for science, social science, career and technical education, and agriculture.

(3) Creating climate change learning standards for any additional content areas that the State Board of Education deems appropriate or necessary.

(4) If deemed helpful or appropriate by the working group, developing supporting documents that list all required climate change learning standards across all subject areas and disciplines in a single document.

(5) Creating climate change learning standards for each of the courses identified in paragraphs (1) through (4) of subsection (a).

(c) As part of the task process under subsection (b), the working group may use, without limitation, all of the following issues and themes to guide the creation of new learning standards and the modification of existing learning standards:

(1) The basic foundation and definition of human-caused climate change.

(2) The disproportionate contribution to climate change that Global North countries have had historically and continue to have in the present.

(3) The disproportionate impact climate change has had and will have on traditionally marginalized people in local communities and communities across the world, such as in the Global South.

(4) The disproportionate challenges vulnerable and traditionally marginalized people face in relation to climate change. These challenges shall include, but are not limited to, extreme events, health effects, food, water, and livelihood security, migration and forced displacement, and the loss of cultural identity.

(5) Business and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics opportunities associated with adapting to or addressing the impacts of climate change.

(6) The importance of creating jobs and maintaining livelihoods when responding to climate change and fostering a sustainable economy.

(7) The role that companies and consumers can play in addressing climate change in the present and in the future.

(8) The current and future impact of climate change on the local, State, national, and global level, as well as the impact on individuals and communities.

(9) The difference between climate change mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

(10) The role that institutions, industries, corporations, governments, and citizens can play in creating a sustainable environment.

(11) Current events, such as natural disasters, air quality, and sea levels rising, and how they connect, contribute, or are affected by climate change.

(12) How various sectors, including, but not limited to, agriculture, industry, transportation, energy, and commercial and residential emissions, influence climate change.

(13) The absence of scientific controversy regarding the basic facts of climate change despite political, economic, or social disagreements about climate change.

(14) How the human relationship with the land varies across cultures, world views, and philosophies.

(15) The relationship between climate change and habitat loss, declines in biodiversity, land use, pollution, populations, and overharvesting.

(16) The relationship between rapid industrialization, carbon emissions, rapid temperature increases, and the increasing frequency of environmental and ecological impacts.

(17) Specific procedural steps a person, school, or community can take to actively address climate change.

(18) Institutional barriers to a person, school, or community taking steps to actively address climate change.

The State Board of Education may add other issues and themes related to climate change to State learning standards based on input from the working group.

(d) The State Superintendent of Education shall prepare and make available to school boards instructional materials and professional development training for educators that may be used as guidelines for development of a unit of instruction under this Section. The instructional materials shall be revised and updated by July 1 in odd-numbered years in time to be incorporated into instructional materials and training .

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.