Bill Text: IL SB2909 | 2025-2026 | 104th General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Amends the Evaluation of Certified Employees Article of the School Code. Prohibits an evaluator from using an artificial intelligence tool to assign a numerical score or qualitative rating for any component of a teacher's evaluation or any evaluation task that requires professional judgment. However, allows an artificial intelligence tool to be used to support the evaluator in administrative tasks.

Sponsorship: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 19-1)

Status: (Enrolled) 2026-06-30 - Added as Co-Sponsor Sen. Mary Edly-Allen [SB2909 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2025-SB2909-Introduced.html

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104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026SB2909 Introduced 1/27/2026, by Sen. Christopher Belt SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
105 ILCS 5/24A-5 from Ch. 122, par. 24A-5
Amends the Evaluation of Certified Employees Article of the School Code. Prohibits an evaluator from using an artificial intelligence tool to assign a numerical score or qualitative rating for any component of a teacher's evaluation or any evaluation task that requires professional judgment. However, allows an artificial intelligence tool to be used to support the evaluator in administrative tasks.
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A BILL FOR
SB2909 LRB104 17520 LNS 30947 b
AN ACT concerning education.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section
24A-5 as follows:
(105 ILCS 5/24A-5) (from Ch. 122, par. 24A-5)
Sec. 24A-5. Content of evaluation plans. This Section does
not apply to teachers assigned to schools identified in an
agreement entered into between the board of a school district
operating under Article 34 of this Code and the exclusive
representative of the district's teachers in accordance with
Section 34-85c of this Code.
Each school district to which this Article applies shall
establish a teacher evaluation plan which ensures that each
teacher in contractual continued service is evaluated at least
once in the course of every 2 or 3 school years as provided in
this Section.
Each school district shall establish a teacher evaluation
plan that ensures that:
(1) each teacher not in contractual continued service
is evaluated at least once every school year; and
(2) except as otherwise provided in this Section, each
teacher in contractual continued service is evaluated at

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least once in the course of every 2 school years. However,
any teacher in contractual continued service whose
performance is rated as either "needs improvement" or
"unsatisfactory" must be evaluated at least once in the
school year following the receipt of such rating.
No later than September 1, 2022, each school district must
establish a teacher evaluation plan that ensures that each
teacher in contractual continued service whose performance is
rated as either "excellent" or "proficient" is evaluated at
least once in the course of the 3 school years after receipt of
the rating and implement an informal teacher observation plan
established by agency rule and by agreement of the joint
committee established under subsection (b) of Section 24A-4 of
this Code that ensures that each teacher in contractual
continued service whose performance is rated as either
"excellent" or "proficient" is informally observed at least
once in the course of the 2 school years after receipt of the
rating.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Section
or any other Section of this Code, a principal shall not be
prohibited from evaluating any teachers within a school during
his or her first year as principal of such school. If a
first-year principal exercises this option in a school
district where the evaluation plan provides for a teacher in
contractual continued service to be evaluated once in the
course of every 2 or 3 school years, as applicable, then a new

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2-year or 3-year evaluation plan must be established.
The evaluation plan shall comply with the requirements of
this Section and of any rules adopted by the State Board of
Education pursuant to this Section.
The plan shall include a description of each teacher's
duties and responsibilities and of the standards to which that
teacher is expected to conform, and shall include at least the
following components:
(a) personal observation of the teacher in the
classroom by the evaluator, unless the teacher has no
classroom duties.
(b) consideration of the teacher's attendance,
planning, instructional methods, classroom management,
where relevant, and competency in the subject matter
taught.
(c) (blank).
(d) (blank).
(e) rating of the performance of all teachers as
"excellent", "proficient", "needs improvement" or
"unsatisfactory".
(f) specification as to the teacher's strengths and
weaknesses, with supporting reasons for the comments made.
(g) inclusion of a copy of the evaluation in the
teacher's personnel file and provision of a copy to the
teacher.
(h) within 30 school days after the completion of an

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evaluation rating a teacher in contractual continued
service as "needs improvement", development by the
evaluator, in consultation with the teacher, and taking
into account the teacher's ongoing professional
responsibilities including his or her regular teaching
assignments, of a professional development plan directed
to the areas that need improvement and any supports that
the district will provide to address the areas identified
as needing improvement.
(i) within 30 school days after completion of an
evaluation rating a teacher in contractual continued
service as "unsatisfactory", development and commencement
by the district of a remediation plan designed to correct
deficiencies cited, provided the deficiencies are deemed
remediable. In all school districts the remediation plan
for unsatisfactory, tenured teachers shall provide for 90
school days of remediation within the classroom, unless an
applicable collective bargaining agreement provides for a
shorter duration. In all school districts evaluations
issued pursuant to this Section shall be issued within 10
days after the conclusion of the respective remediation
plan. However, the school board or other governing
authority of the district shall not lose jurisdiction to
discharge a teacher in the event the evaluation is not
issued within 10 days after the conclusion of the
respective remediation plan.

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(j) participation in the remediation plan by the
teacher in contractual continued service rated
"unsatisfactory", an evaluator and a consulting teacher
selected by the evaluator of the teacher who was rated
"unsatisfactory", which consulting teacher is an
educational employee as defined in the Illinois
Educational Labor Relations Act, has at least 5 years'
teaching experience, and a reasonable familiarity with the
assignment of the teacher being evaluated, and who
received an "excellent" rating on his or her most recent
evaluation. Where no teachers who meet these criteria are
available within the district, the district shall request
and the applicable regional office of education shall
supply, to participate in the remediation process, an
individual who meets these criteria.
In a district having a population of less than 500,000
with an exclusive bargaining agent, the bargaining agent
may, if it so chooses, supply a roster of qualified
teachers from whom the consulting teacher is to be
selected. That roster shall, however, contain the names of
at least 5 teachers, each of whom meets the criteria for
consulting teacher with regard to the teacher being
evaluated, or the names of all teachers so qualified if
that number is less than 5. In the event of a dispute as to
qualification, the State Board shall determine
qualification.

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(k) a mid-point and final evaluation by an evaluator
during and at the end of the remediation period,
immediately following receipt of a remediation plan
provided for under subsections (i) and (j) of this
Section. Each evaluation shall assess the teacher's
performance during the time period since the prior
evaluation; provided that the last evaluation shall also
include an overall evaluation of the teacher's performance
during the remediation period. A written copy of the
evaluations and ratings, in which any deficiencies in
performance and recommendations for correction are
identified, shall be provided to and discussed with the
teacher within 10 school days after the date of the
evaluation, unless an applicable collective bargaining
agreement provides to the contrary. These subsequent
evaluations shall be conducted by an evaluator. The
consulting teacher shall provide advice to the teacher
rated "unsatisfactory" on how to improve teaching skills
and to successfully complete the remediation plan. The
consulting teacher shall participate in developing the
remediation plan, but the final decision as to the
evaluation shall be done solely by the evaluator, unless
an applicable collective bargaining agreement provides to
the contrary. Evaluations at the conclusion of the
remediation process shall be separate and distinct from
the required annual evaluations of teachers and shall not

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be subject to the guidelines and procedures relating to
those annual evaluations. The evaluator may but is not
required to use the forms provided for the annual
evaluation of teachers in the district's evaluation plan.
(l) reinstatement to the evaluation schedule set forth
in the district's evaluation plan for any teacher in
contractual continued service who achieves a rating equal
to or better than "satisfactory" or "proficient" in the
school year following a rating of "needs improvement" or
"unsatisfactory".
(m) dismissal in accordance with subsection (d) of
Section 24-12 or Section 24-16.5 or 34-85 of this Code of
any teacher who fails to complete any applicable
remediation plan with a rating equal to or better than a
"satisfactory" or "proficient" rating. Districts and
teachers subject to dismissal hearings are precluded from
compelling the testimony of consulting teachers at such
hearings under subsection (d) of Section 24-12 or Section
24-16.5 or 34-85 of this Code, either as to the rating
process or for opinions of performances by teachers under
remediation.
(n) If a teacher in contractual continued service
successfully completes a remediation plan following a
rating of "unsatisfactory" in an overall performance
evaluation received after the foregoing implementation
date and receives a subsequent rating of "unsatisfactory"

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in any of the teacher's overall performance evaluation
ratings received during the 36-month period following the
teacher's completion of the remediation plan, then the
school district may forgo remediation and seek dismissal
in accordance with subsection (d) of Section 24-12 or
Section 34-85 of this Code.
(o) Teachers who are due to be evaluated in the last
year before they are set to retire shall be offered the
opportunity to waive their evaluation and to retain their
most recent rating, unless the teacher was last rated as
"needs improvement" or "unsatisfactory". The school
district may still reserve the right to evaluate a teacher
provided the district gives notice to the teacher at least
14 days before the evaluation and a reason for evaluating
the teacher.
An evaluator is prohibited from using an artificial
intelligence tool to assign a numerical score or qualitative
rating, such as "excellent", "proficient", "need improvement",
or "unsatisfactory", for any component of a teacher's
evaluation or any evaluation task that requires professional
judgment. However, an artificial intelligence tool may be used
to support the evaluator in administrative tasks. The joint
committee under subsection (b-5) of Section 24A-4 shall
determine how artificial intelligence tools may be used to
support an evaluator in administrative tasks. If an evaluator
uses an artificial intelligence tool, the name and specific

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purpose of the artificial intelligence tool must be disclosed
to the teacher being evaluated.
Nothing in this Section or Section 24A-4 shall be
construed as preventing immediate dismissal of a teacher for
deficiencies which are deemed irremediable or for actions
which are injurious to or endanger the health or person of
students in the classroom or school, or preventing the
dismissal or non-renewal of teachers not in contractual
continued service for any reason not prohibited by applicable
employment, labor, and civil rights laws. Failure to strictly
comply with the time requirements contained in Section 24A-5
shall not invalidate the results of the remediation plan.
Nothing contained in Public Act 98-648 repeals,
supersedes, invalidates, or nullifies final decisions in
lawsuits pending on July 1, 2014 (the effective date of Public
Act 98-648) in Illinois courts involving the interpretation of
Public Act 97-8.
If the Governor has declared a disaster due to a public
health emergency pursuant to Section 7 of the Illinois
Emergency Management Agency Act that suspends in-person
instruction, the timelines in this Section connected to the
commencement and completion of any remediation plan are
waived. Except if the parties mutually agree otherwise and the
agreement is in writing, any remediation plan that had been in
place for more than 45 days prior to the suspension of
in-person instruction shall resume when in-person instruction

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resumes and any remediation plan that had been in place for
fewer than 45 days prior to the suspension of in-person
instruction shall be discontinued and a new remediation period
shall begin when in-person instruction resumes. The
requirements of this paragraph apply regardless of whether
they are included in a school district's teacher evaluation
plan.
(Source: P.A. 103-85, eff. 6-9-23; 103-605, eff. 7-1-24;
104-20, eff. 7-1-25; 104-417, eff. 8-15-25.)