Amends the School Code to Require That Every Public School Provide Instruction on Climate Change
Overview
- Beginning with the 2026–2027 school year, every public school shall provide instruction on climate change in alignment with state learning standards.
- The law applies to all K–12 public schools and provides schools with flexibility in how they incorporate climate change education into their instruction.
HB 4895
Signed August 9, 2024
Youth and Community Engagement Is Central to this Bill
Coalition
A broad coalition supported this bill and saw it over the finish line, including youth-led organizations and local nonprofits such as It’s Our Future, Seven Generations Ahead, Climate Education for Illinois, and the Environmental Education Association of Illinois (EEAI).
Funding
The State Board of Education is required, subject to appropriation, to prepare and make available multi-disciplinary instructional resources and professional learning opportunities for educators to help them meet these new requirements. There is currently no funding associated with this bill, but free, high-quality climate literacy resources are available at the Illinois Climate Education Hub.
Target Audience
This law ensures that approximately 1.848 million K–12 public school students in Illinois will learn about the impacts of climate change on their communities and the solutions to address them, along with roughly 137,000 public school teachers.
Impact
Instruction must include identifying the environmental and ecological impacts of climate change on individuals and communities, as well as evaluating solutions to mitigate its impacts. This instruction will equip students with the knowledge, skills, and tools needed to take meaningful action on behalf of themselves and their communities.
Contact: SubjectToClimate, Illinois State Lead, Katie Nahrwold, katie.nahrwold@subjecttoclimate.org