Senate Bill 814 passed in the General Assembly late in the legislative session and includes funding support of $6.5 million in funding for New Teacher Mentoring, $1.2 million in funding for New Principal Mentoring and $1.8 million in funding for New Principal Recruitment through combined state and federal stimulus funding. New principal recruitment efforts will be targeted to recruiting leaders in hard-to-staff schools (particularly rural areas) and with a focus on targeting diversity in leadership.

The legislation was the result of the joint work of the P-20 Council Teacher and Leadership Effectiveness Committee and the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE)/Advance Illinois Educator Pipeline Workgroup, which convened over the past year to write the language of the legislation and developed new program standards for New Teacher and New Principal Mentoring and developed a proposal for ISBE around principal recruitment. Passage of the legislation was a result of a collaborative effort of the Center for the Study of Education Policy (CSEP) in working with key education organizations around the state, including Illinois Education Association, Illinois Federation of Teachers, Illinois Principals Association, and Advance Illinois.

For more information on SB 814, see the State Bill 814 Fact Sheet and the State Bill 814 Rationale and Impact found on CSEP’s website.