Illinois
New laws: Illinois education measures focus on immigrant rights, AI in the classroom
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CNI) – Immigrant rights and artificial intelligence were two of the hot-button issues that influenced public education in 2025. They are also the subject of new education-related laws that will take effect at the start of the new year.
The rights of noncitizen students, including those who are not lawfully present in the U.S., rose to the top of the education agenda as soon as President Donald Trump was sworn in to his second term in January.
The day Trump was inaugurated, the Department of Homeland Security rescinded a Biden administration policy that had limited immigration enforcement actions in or near “sensitive locations” such as schools, playgrounds, child care centers and school bus stops.
Two days later, Illinois Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders issued what he called “non-regulatory guidance” to local school officials, urging them to adopt policies spelling out how and when their staff should cooperate with federal immigration officials carrying out enforcement actions or seeking information from school officials.
At the Statehouse, the Democratic-controlled General Assembly also took action, passing bills intended to extend more legal protections to noncitizens living in Illinois.
School program participation
Among those was House Bill 3247, which passed the General Assembly in the final days of the spring session in May and was signed into law Aug. 15. It prohibits schools from excluding or discouraging students from attending school or taking part in school programs based on their immigration status or that of their parents or guardians.
“In the face of federal threats to our schools and students, our communities came together and organized to demand that our state leaders stand up for education for all Illinois children,” Lawrence Benito, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said in a statement after the bill’s final approval.
“While the right to safe and free public education remains under attack from Trump and leaders in other states, Illinois has the opportunity to continue to uphold our values.”
The law specifically prohibits schools from requesting or collecting information from a student, their parents or guardians about their citizenship or immigration status unless the information is required by state or federal law.
It also prohibits schools from disclosing information about their immigration or citizenship status to any other person or entity, including immigration and law enforcement agencies, unless required to do so under federal law.
In addition, starting July 1, schools that violate those prohibitions can be sued in civil court for actual damages.
Scholarships and immigration status
Another new law expands the types of publicly funded scholarships students can qualify for regardless of their citizenship or immigration status.
Illinois law already extends eligibility for state-funded student financial aid such as the Monetary Award Program, or MAP grants, to any student who meets Illinois residency requirements. House Bill 460, which was signed into law in August, expands that to include programs administered by local units of government.
Artificial Intelligence in college
The rapid deployment in recent years of new technologies like ChatGPT, Copilot and Gemeni has raised a host of new questions for educators. Should students be allowed to use them in lieu of doing their own reading and writing? And should schools themselves be allowed to use them in lieu of human instructors to lead classes?
Illinois lawmakers addressed some of those questions.
House Bill 1859 requires community colleges to ensure that faculty members who teach courses must be actual people who meet the qualifications to hold their positions. It also provides that colleges may not, in lieu of a faculty member, use AI programs “as the sole source of instruction.” It does, however, allow faculty members to use AI as a teaching tool in their classrooms.
“Artificial intelligence is a powerful tool that can enhance both students’ and teachers’ capability to learn and teach, but it cannot replace an instructor,” Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid, D-Bridgeview, the bill’s lead House sponsor, said in a statement. “This legislation clarifies that college courses must be taught by real people, not AI.”
AI at elementary and secondary schools
Lawmakers were less specific about how AI should be handled at the elementary and secondary education levels. Instead, they directed the Illinois State Board of Education to develop broad guidelines.
Senate Bill 1920 directs ISBE to develop statewide guidance for districts and educators on the use of AI in K-12 settings. That includes a basic explanation of what AI is and how it works as well as descriptions of how it can be used in the classroom “to inform teaching and learning practices while preserving the human relationships essential to effective teaching and learning.”
The law also directs ISBE to include guidance on the impact AI systems and applications could have on student data privacy, on best practices for teaching students about responsible and ethical uses of AI, and the dangers of “unintentional and disparate biases against special populations inherent within artificial intelligence products.”
The law directs ISBE to publish those guidelines by July 1.
Other education laws
Also beginning Jan. 1, students in seventh and eighth grade will be able to get an early jump on earning high school credits.
House Bill 3039 authorizes districts to award credits to seventh and eighth graders who enroll in high school classes as long as they pass both the course and the end-of-course examination demonstrating they have achieved high school-level proficiency.
House Bill 1366 requires districts to notify the parents or guardians of students with special needs that they have a right to bring a third-party advocate with them to meetings about their student’s Individual Education Plan, or IEP meetings.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
Copyright 2026 KWQC. All rights reserved.
Millions of asylum seekers have been impacted as caseloads have grown
A general crackdown on immigration courts the administration sees as liberal has led to the firing of dozens of immigration judges.
Recent polls show President Donald Trump’s approval ratings continue to dip as the war in Iran endures and national gas prices float above $4.
One such poll conducted by CNN/SSRS illustrates widespread upset among Americans with regards to Trump’s handling of the economy and inflation. Here’s how Trump’s approval ratings look nationally and within Illinois, as of April 20.
Donald Trump approval rating: CNN
Only 31% of Americans approve of how Trump is handling the economy, compared to 39% in January 2026, according to the poll.
The decline in approval on the issue is even higher among Republicans, especially Republicans under 45 years old, according to CNN.
In the poll, President Donald Trump received his worst approval rating yet in either of his two terms on the economy.
CNN findings show about two-thirds of Americans say Trump’s policies have worsened economic conditions, and 27% say they approve of Trump’s handling of inflation.
CNN also reported 63% of Americans say the prices at the pump have caused financial hardship in their household, including 15% calling it “severe.”
The poll, conducted March 26-30 among 1,201 U.S. adults, found 35% approve of Trump’s job performance overall. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
One poll respondent told CNN and the pollster about the most important issue facing the country: “Prices! Everything is so expensive. Makes it very difficult to do anything other than work and go home. Trips to the grocery store are ridiculous! Between gas and grocery prices, we are poor!”
Trump addressed the concerns about gas prices in his address to the nation on April 1, saying the Strait of Hormuz would reopen when the conflict was over and the prices would fall again.
Trump reaffirmed his promise about the strait on April 18, saying his administration had “very good conversations going on” with Iran after the country said the strait would not be reopened.
Donald Trump approval rating in Illinois: Civiqs
Trump’s job approval rating in Illinois, as of April 18, according to data from online survey platform Civiqs, is as follows:
- Approve — 32%.
- Disapprove — 65%.
- Neither — 4%.
Donald Trump national approval rating: Civiqs
Trump’s national approval rating as of April 13, according to data from Civiqs, is as follows:
- Approve — 39%.
- Disapprove — 57%.
- Neither — 4%.
Donald Trump approval rating in Illinois: The Economist
Trump has a -36% net approval rating in Illinois as of April 20, according to data from The Economist.
Donald Trump national approval rating: The Economist
Trump’s national approval rating as of April 20, according to data from The Economist, is as follows:
- Approve — 38%.
- Disapprove — 56%.
- Don’t know — 7%.
Trump, Iran War approval rating: Pew Research Center
A Pew Research study conducted in mid-March found that about six-in-ten Americans (61%) approve of Trump’s handling of the conflict in Iran, with 39% approving.
A report released in early April found that the largest concern for most Americans as a result of the conflict is higher gas prices, with 69% saying they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about the issue.
Other Trump approval rating polls as of April 20
Here is a look at some other polling aggregators to understand how CNN/SSRS’s poll compares to the average Trump approval numbers as of April 20:
RealClearPolitics Poll Average: 41.2% approve, 56.6% disapprove.
The New York Times: 40% approve, 56% disapprove.
Silver Bulletin: 39.7% approve, 56.4% disapprove.
Which president has the lowest approval rating ever?
Although Trump has dropped to a historic low in approval rating polls this term so far, he hit a 34% low in the first term and other recent presidents such as Joe Biden hit a 36% low, Barack Obama hit a 40% low, George W. Bush hit a 25% low and Bill Clinton hit a 37% low, according to the Gallup polls, whose recorded lowest rating was Harry Truman with 22%.
As for the highest presidential approval ratings, George W. Bush holds the highest approval rating ever recorded at 90%, while his father, George H. Bush holds the second highest at 89%.
Trump is the only president that has not reached a 50% or higher approval to date in the Gallup polls’ history.
CENTRALIA, Ill. – An investigation is underway after multiple people were shot Sunday in Centralia, Illinois, according to a report from WFCN News in southern Illinois.
FOX 2 has confirmed the Illinois State Police is investigating a shooting and taking over the investigation, but ISP could not confirm many further details as of 9 p.m. Sunday.
“The investigation is in its infancy and to protect the integrity of the investigation, no additional details will be released at this time,” ISP said in a statement to FOX 2.
According to WFCN News, the shooting happened around 5 p.m. near the 900 block of East Kell Street in Centralia. Multiple law enforcement agencies have since responded to scene and multiple victims are hospitalized, according to the report.
It’s unclear how many people may have been injured and what led up to the shooting.
Centralia, Illinois is about 70 miles, or just over an hour, east of St. Louis.
This is a developing story. FOX 2 will update as more information becomes available.
The National Weather Service has teams of storm surveryors in the field April 18 investigating several reports of severe storms and tornado touch downs across eastern Iowa, northwest Illinois and northeast Missouri.
According to the weather service’s website, windgusts of up to 60 to 70 mph along with teacup-sized hail and several tornadoes were reported April 17.
Many homes and outbuildings were damaged, trees were uprooted and power lines were downed in Lena, Illinois, where the most significant damage occurred, the site pointed out.
Very strong winds also were reported near Washington, Iowa, and Colmar, Illinois, where several outbuildings and grain bins were destroyed.
The weather service received reports of confirmed and possible tornadoes in the areas of Lena, Pecatonica, Shirland, Rockton, Roscoe and Capron.
The teams will be assessing damage this weekend into next week along with county emergency management teams to determine what types of storms occurred and their paths.
Dozens of power outages were reported, as well.
As of the afternoon of April 18, ComEd was reporting 85 active power outages across northern Illinois, down from 241 on April 17, and 6,751 customers affected, down from more than 18,000.
The bulk of those outages and the most customers impacted are concentrated in Jo Daviess and Stephenson counties.
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