Self-interested teachers’ union bosses in Illinois prolonged the shutdown of our schools, funded extremist politicians that have made our streets unsafe, protected sexual predators, and have harmed the noble reputation of the teaching profession. The Sullivan administration will:

• Ban political giving from teachers unions: Illinois teachers union bosses give millions of dollars to corrupt Illinois Democrats who sit on the other side of the bargaining table. This is a blatant conflict of interest that has cost Illinois taxpayers billions of dollars.
• End CTU's reign of terror by investigating and sanctioning CTU hate speech, incitement of violence, and protection of sexual predators: Under the radical leadership of the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE), the CTU has openly promoted political violence, protected sexual predators, called to defund the police, and praised murderous, socialist dictatorships abroad. Our administration will investigate and sanction the group accordingly, which may include reduced funding for salaries / benefits, and revocation of lobbying privileges.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has refused to provide basic, commonsense protections against sexual abuse in schools, while pushing radical gender curriculum throughout the state. The Sullivan administration will:

• Punish predators in schools: Make it a crime for school employees to have sexual contact with a student, regardless of the student’s age. Teachers unions, Illinois Democrats and Gov. J.B. Pritzker fought against passing a law to do this, despite rampant sexual abuse in Chicago Public Schools uncovered by Chicago Tribune reporters.
• Require parent notification of teacher misconduct: Even if an educator was disciplined by the state for misconduct, Illinois law prohibits ISBE from releasing records related to their misconduct, unless the educator fought against license sanctions. We will require parental notification of all findings of misconduct.
• Close the obscenity loophole for Illinois public schools: We will amend Illinois’ obscenity statute (720 Ill. Comp Stat. Ann, Sections 11-21(c)3) to remove the special protection given to employees of schools, museums and public libraries regarding the distribution of “harmful material” to minors. These employees should be held to the same standards as every other adult in a child’s life. Harmful material is defined as the quality of any description or representation, in whatever form, of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sado-masochistic abuse, when, taken as a whole it (i) predominantly appeals to the prurient interest in sex of minors (ii) is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community in the State as a whole with respect to what is suitable for minors.

It doesn’t matter where you stand on the issues of sexual education and pronoun usage in school, you should know who is teaching your kids, and what they’re learning. The Sullivan administration will:

• Reform ISBE to focus on core education, merit and competency, not political indoctrination:
  • Increase transparency by passing House Bill 5239, requiring school districts to accept parent or guardian requests to review curriculum and learning material throughout the school year. 
  • Forbid instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade
  • Appoint members of the State Board of Education who value local control, to ensure curriculum decisions are made at the local level wherever possible, rather than mandated by the state. 
• Remove racist curriculum from Illinois schools: The Sullivan administration will affirm that no teacher, school official, or student should ever be compelled to teach or affirm any idea that violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• Require curriculum transparency: We will require public schools to post all gender and sexuality education materials online for parents to be able to access.
• Move to parental opt-in for Comprehensive Sexual Education programs. Opt-outs only work in situations where parents know about the curriculum. Opt-in for these sensitive topics will necessitate transparency and accountability to parents.
• Establish an American Civics Bootcamp for teachers to replace Pritzker's CRT  training: Our public education system was founded to teach students how to be productive citizens and engaged members of our representative democracy. Regrettably, in Illinois schools today, civics and American government are afterthoughts. Our administration will ensure that Illinois teachers have a proper and comprehensive understanding of American civics to teach these core principles to their students.

Trust and collaboration between parents, administrators and teachers is the key to student success. By bringing transparency and accountability to Illinois’ education system, we will restore that trust. The Sullivan administration will:

• Pass a Parents’ Bill of Rights: In the model of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Parents’ Bill of Rights, we will introduce and pass legislation establishing the government cannot infringe upon the fundamental rights of parents and legal guardians to direct the upbringing, education, healthcare, and mental health of their child. 
• Restore Parental Notification about a Child’s Physical, Mental or Emotional Health: Our administration will ensure that a school district may not adopt procedures or student support forms that require school district personnel to withhold from a parent information about his or her student’s mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being, unless a reasonable person would believe that such disclosure would result in abuse, abandonment, or neglect. Additionally, we will make it so that school district personnel may not discourage or prohibit parental notification of and involvement in critical decisions affecting a student’s mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being.