HB4895 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

 


 
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.


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STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT
MAY APPLY

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

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1    AN ACT concerning education.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The School Code is amended by adding Sections
527-23.17 and 27-23.18 as follows:
 
6    (105 ILCS 5/27-23.17 new)
7    Sec. 27-23.17. Climate change education.
8    (a) In this Section, "climate change" means the negative
9impact of human activities on the Earth's environment,
10contributing to issues such as warming temperatures, rising
11sea levels, and an increase in extreme weather events.
12    (b) Beginning with the 2025-2026 school year, every public
13high school shall include in its curriculum a unit of
14instruction addressing climate change in either a required
15science class or a required social studies class. The unit of
16instruction shall include, but is not limited to, all of the
17following:
18        (1) The relationship between rapid industrialization,
19    carbon emissions, rapid temperature increases, and the
20    increasing frequency of environmental and ecological
21    impacts. This instruction shall include, but is not
22    limited to, all of the following:
23            (A) The role of and relationships between specific

 

 

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1        governments, corporations, and people in worsening or
2        attempting to mitigate climate change.
3            (B) The historical patterns of emissions by
4        specific countries.
5            (C) Current and proposed climate treaties and
6        agreements.
7            (D) Showing sectoral emissions worldwide,
8        nationwide, and statewide.
9        (2) Identifying and addressing the specific impacts of
10    climate change on individuals and communities. This
11    instruction shall include, but is not limited to, all of
12    the following:
13            (A) Daily habits a person is able to change in
14        order to reduce that person's contribution to climate
15        change, such as choosing to recycle or support local
16        businesses.
17            (B) Actions a community or organization is able to
18        take to reduce its overall contribution to climate
19        change.
20            (C) Institutional barriers to an individual,
21        community, or organization in reducing the
22        individual's, community's, or organization's
23        contribution to climate change.
24            (D) An assessment that requires students to create
25        an action plan that draws upon scientific data to
26        address climate change for the students' community.

 

 

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1        The assessment shall include stating current community
2        action and proposing additional action items to
3        address climate change locally.
4        (3) Scientific data explaining the existence of
5    climate change and its effect on ecosystems and ecosystem
6    services. The scientific data may include, but is not
7    limited to, all of the following:
8            (A) Climate scenarios and projections.
9            (B) Global and regional climate change.
10            (C) Weather and extreme climate events.
11        (4) The scientific processes of certain aspects of
12    climate change. The scientific processes may include, but
13    are not limited to, all of the following:
14            (A) The interactions of methane gas molecules in
15        the atmosphere.
16            (B) Global chemical cycles and feedbacks.
17            (C) Short and long-lived climate forcers.
18            (D) Global water cycle changes.
19    (c) The State Superintendent of Education, in consultation
20with the Director of the Illinois Environmental Protection
21Agency or the Director's designee, shall prepare and make
22available to school boards instructional materials and
23professional development training for educators that may be
24used as guidelines for development of a unit of instruction
25under this Section. The instructional materials shall be
26revised and updated by July 1 in odd-numbered years in time to

 

 

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1be incorporated into instructional materials and training.
 
2    (105 ILCS 5/27-23.18 new)
3    Sec. 27-23.18. Environmental education.
4    (a) Beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, every public
5high school shall include instruction on climate change and
6the impacts and causes of climate change in grades 9 through 12
7in all of the following courses:
8        (1) All science courses, including electives, that are
9    subject to the Illinois Science Standards or the Next
10    Generation Science Standards, including physical science,
11    life science, earth science, and engineering design.
12    Science courses under this paragraph (1) may include, but
13    are not limited to, all of the following:
14            (A) Biology.
15            (B) Geology.
16            (C) Oceanography.
17            (D) Environmental science.
18            (E) Advanced Placement Biology.
19            (F) Advanced Placement Environmental Science.
20            (G) Zoology.
21            (H) Plant science.
22            (I) Botany.
23        (2) All courses that are subject to agricultural,
24    food, and natural resources learning standards and that
25    address food, food systems, food production, and

 

 

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1    sustainability. These courses may include, but are not
2    limited to, all of the following:
3            (A) Agronomy.
4            (B) Horticulture.
5            (C) Agri-business.
6            (D) Plant science.
7            (E) Soil science.
8        (3) All courses, including electives, that are subject
9    to the Illinois Learning Standards for Social Science in
10    civics, geography, anthropology, economics, history,
11    sociology, and psychology.
12        (4) Career and technical education courses that impact
13    or are impacted by the environment or climate change,
14    including, but not limited to, all of the following:
15            (A) Engineering.
16            (B) Business.
17            (C) Law.
18            (D) Economics.
19            (E) Consumer economics.
20    (b) The State Board of Education shall convene a working
21group of students, educators, and experts in the area of
22climate change. The working group shall include high school
23students and classroom teachers in science, agriculture,
24social science, and relevant disciplines that fall under
25career and technical education. The working group shall
26include the Director of Agriculture or the Director's

 

 

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1designee, the Director of the Illinois Environmental
2Protection Agency or the Director's designee, and technical
3experts provided by the Prairie Research Institute at the
4University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The working group
5may include discipline-specific experts in climate change and
6the impacts of climate change.
7    The working group shall be charged with all of the
8following tasks:
9        (1) Identifying, evaluating, and, if deemed necessary
10    by the working group, modifying State learning standards
11    that address or relate to climate change.
12        (2) Developing additional learning standards for
13    climate change and determining the placement of these
14    additional standards into the State learning standards for
15    science, social science, career and technical education,
16    and agriculture.
17        (3) Creating climate change learning standards for any
18    additional content areas that the State Board of Education
19    deems appropriate or necessary.
20        (4) If deemed helpful or appropriate by the working
21    group, developing supporting documents that list all
22    required climate change learning standards across all
23    subject areas and disciplines in a single document.
24        (5) Creating climate change learning standards for
25    each of the courses identified in paragraphs (1) through
26    (4) of subsection (a).

 

 

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1    (c) As part of the task process under subsection (b), the
2working group may use, without limitation, all of the
3following issues and themes to guide the creation of new
4learning standards and the modification of existing learning
5standards:
6        (1) The basic foundation and definition of
7    human-caused climate change.
8        (2) The disproportionate contribution to climate
9    change that Global North countries have had historically
10    and continue to have in the present.
11        (3) The disproportionate impact climate change has had
12    and will have on traditionally marginalized people in
13    local communities and communities across the world, such
14    as in the Global South.
15        (4) The disproportionate challenges vulnerable and
16    traditionally marginalized people face in relation to
17    climate change. These challenges shall include, but are
18    not limited to, extreme events, health effects, food,
19    water, and livelihood security, migration and forced
20    displacement, and the loss of cultural identity.
21        (5) Business and science, technology, engineering, and
22    mathematics opportunities associated with adapting to or
23    addressing the impacts of climate change.
24        (6) The importance of creating jobs and maintaining
25    livelihoods when responding to climate change and
26    fostering a sustainable economy.

 

 

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1        (7) The role that companies and consumers can play in
2    addressing climate change in the present and in the
3    future.
4        (8) The current and future impact of climate change on
5    the local, State, national, and global level, as well as
6    the impact on individuals and communities.
7        (9) The difference between climate change mitigation
8    and adaptation to climate change.
9        (10) The role that institutions, industries,
10    corporations, governments, and citizens can play in
11    creating a sustainable environment.
12        (11) Current events, such as natural disasters, air
13    quality, and sea levels rising, and how they connect,
14    contribute, or are affected by climate change.
15        (12) How various sectors, including, but not limited
16    to, agriculture, industry, transportation, energy, and
17    commercial and residential emissions, influence climate
18    change.
19        (13) The absence of scientific controversy regarding
20    the basic facts of climate change despite political,
21    economic, or social disagreements about climate change.
22        (14) How the human relationship with the land varies
23    across cultures, world views, and philosophies.
24        (15) The relationship between climate change and
25    habitat loss, declines in biodiversity, land use,
26    pollution, populations, and overharvesting.

 

 

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1        (16) The relationship between rapid industrialization,
2    carbon emissions, rapid temperature increases, and the
3    increasing frequency of environmental and ecological
4    impacts.
5        (17) Specific procedural steps a person, school, or
6    community can take to actively address climate change.
7        (18) Institutional barriers to a person, school, or
8    community taking steps to actively address climate change.
9    The State Board of Education may add other issues and
10themes related to climate change to State learning standards
11based on input from the working group.
12    (d) The State Superintendent of Education shall prepare
13and make available to school boards instructional materials
14and professional development training for educators that may
15be used as guidelines for development of a unit of instruction
16under this Section. The instructional materials shall be
17revised and updated by July 1 in odd-numbered years in time to
18be incorporated into instructional materials and training
.
 
19    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
20becoming law.