Illinois State Board of Education School Code Mandate Reduction Committee Assessment, Health or Safety of Students, Operations met March 2

Illinois State Board of Education School Code Mandate Reduction Committee Assessment, Health or Safety of Students, Operations met March 2

Here is the agenda provided by the board:

Present

Mary Edly-Allen, State Senator, 31st District

Kedrick Evans, East St. Louis District 189

Dr. Tonia Havard-Dew, Illinois Federation of Teachers

Michelle Mussman, State Representative, 56th District

Laura Nussle, CUSD 308

Melissa Taylor, Illinois Alliance of Administrators of Special Education

Dr. Matt Seaton, Illinois State Board of Education

Unique Mickens, Illinois Education Association (joined late and recognized in meeting at 3:24 p.m.)

Absent

Dr. Dana Smith, Flossmoor SD 161

ISBE Staff Present

Jennifer Saba

Shawn Conley

Welcome and Roll Call

Dr. Seaton welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Mandate Reduction Committee – Assessment, Health or Safety of Students, Operations. He acknowledged that a quorum had been established, as seven of the nine committee members were present. Ms. Mickens would join later. 

Public Comment

None.

Old Business

None.

New Business

Dr. Seaton requested nominations for a vice chair and explained their role. Ms. Taylor volunteered to be the vice chair. Representative Mussman made a motion to nominate Ms. Taylor as vice chairperson for the committee. Ms. Nussle seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously by roll call vote.

Dr. Seaton also confirmed the upcoming meeting schedule for this committee. Those meetings are scheduled as follows:

• March 30, 2026

• April 20, 2026

• May 11, 2026

All meetings will occur from 3-4 p.m. Dr. Seaton advised that we may add dates if needed. He reminded everyone that the final report is not due until the end of September, so work could continue into June if necessary. There was no feedback or suggestions for changes to the proposed schedule from the committee members.

Dr. Seaton noted that the list of mandates had been shared with everyone. All mandates would be under one of the headings of Assessments, Health/Safety of Students, and Operations. He asked for suggestions for the manner in which to prioritize the mandates and if there were any duplicate mandates noted by members.

Representative Mussman identified several committees and workgroups that appeared to have considerable overlap. She noted that there are at least four committees dedicated to making sure state assessments are fair and equitable and six programs related in various ways to school breakfast. She wondered if they could be merged. She also discussed grant programs that may not be funded for many years and suggested that these programs may need to be reviewed.

Ms. Nussle noted that many mandates are just best practices and common sense. She recommended that the committee review any mandates that may be outdated or unnecessary because they have been in place for so long. There was discussion on the mandate for Persistently Dangerous Schools and how no schools have been identified as persistently dangerous. Ms. Taylor questioned why this designation is needed. Ms. Saba noted that there is a federal requirement to have a persistently dangerous list. The committee members then discussed the need to identify which of the mandates are federally required. Dr. Seaton noted that ISBE could provide this information.

Representative Mussman raised the issue of older mandates requiring data collection that may no longer be of value and how this should be evaluated. Senator Edly-Allen suggested that there may need to be a process or criteria for regularly evaluating existing mandates and for new mandates going forward. Representative Mussman suggested that including a sunset date could, theoretically, become a precedent for future legislation.

Ms. Taylor asked about the evidence-based assessment for teachers. She noted it had been paused and has been marked for consideration to bring it back. The committee discussed the process for bringing it back.

The committee revisited the persistently dangerous schools mandate. The committee discussed if any of the seemingly related reporting mandates (firearms, assault on school personnel, drug offenses) could be combined, and if the reports are useful and how onerous the reporting and data-collection requirements are for ISBE or districts.

The committee discussed different frameworks for evaluating existing mandates and future proposed mandates to determine their relevance and need.

The committee determined that ISBE should begin to put the mandates into distinct categories for review:

• Reporting requirements

• Nutrition programs

• Task forces

• Trainings

The committee discussed prior work on consolidating school trainings by invested stakeholders.

It was discussed that one goal of that work was to put the trainings on a five-year cycle to coincide with educator license renewals.

Dr. Seaton summarized the discussion and some of the follow-up that would be necessary from ISBE to move the work of the committee forward. The need to know which mandates are federally required was again discussed.

Adjournment

Dr. Seaton asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Ms. Taylor motioned. Senator Edly-Allen seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously by roll call vote. 

https://www.isbe.net/Documents_MRC/20260302-Minutes.pdf