Measure Would Require Illinois Schools To Document Student Trauma

The Center Square

ILLINOIS — Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, is leading the charge among Democrats pushing the Illinois State Board of Education to create a children's adversity index to measure the exposure to trauma being experienced by students.

With supporters stressing that the situation has been a problem long before COVID-19, the index would document childhood trauma felt by youngsters from three to 18 years old by May 31, 2025.

Springing from the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus education program and 2021 legislation that established the Whole Child Task Force, Lightford's bill also seeks to mandate that school districts include the number of counselors and social workers they have on staff when they report information to ISBE for the annual state report card. Senate Bill 16 also calls for more training for educators to better respond to trauma, with plans for the Whole Child Task Force to reconvene in five years to gauge the level of progress under the plan.

"The path to recovery requires a commitment from adults in this state to address our students' cultural, physical, emotional, and mental health needs and to provide them with the strong support and interventions," Lightford told the Senate Education Committee.

Group members made recommendations to Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the General Assembly on how the state can establish an “equitable, inclusive, safe, and supportive environment” in every school, with Advance Illinois Director of Governmental Relations Jelani Saadiq adding that the measure could pave the way for the state to have a single portal for all of this information.

"We can really do a better job understanding and informing our policies moving forward on how to direct resources appropriate for the actual issues that we want to address," she added. "But, the first part we have to do is collect and see what those actual issues are."

Republican Sen. Tom Bennett sought to stress that trauma can mean different things to different people, adding that there are different issues in urban and rural school districts across the state.

While some schools across the state already document mental health issues and trauma, Lightford argues those solutions aren't lasting because they are driven by local leaders. Task force members highlight that trauma can be disproportionately experienced by people in marginalized groups, adding that language in the bill establishes that systemic and historical oppression, such as racism, is often at the root of much of the disparity.

"We're not all on the same page and kids aren't being supported equally," Lightford added. "We know that while they're not the only source of support, schools have long played a pivotal role in providing resources to meet students' basic needs. So making this information available on the school district report card will help inform local decision-making and enable stakeholders to engage with local and state leaders around resource allocations and programming."

Having unanimously passed out of the Senate Education Committee, the proposal now heads to the Senate floor.

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