Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed House Bill 4895 mandating K-12 climate change education across Illinois public schools at the beginning of the 2026-2027 academic year.
House Bill 4895 was initiated by Grace Brady, freshman in ACES, while working for Accelerate Climate Solutions, a nonprofit dedicated to solving climate change.
“Passing this bill is a big step for creating more advocacy and student agency around climate change,” Grace Brady said in a press release. “Most students know climate change is a serious issue, but not everyone knows how they can address it as a person.”
The legislation, set to go into effect in the 2026-2027 school year, will require educators to change the coursework in public schools to include climate change. The coursework will cover the environmental and ecological consequences as well as potential solutions to mitigate the issue.
“It wasn’t just about learning about climate change — that it’s happening or how it’s happening,” said State Representative Janet Yang Rohr. “A really important aspect of it was learning how to turn it around.”
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The bill also directs the Illinois State Board of Education to create professional development opportunities for educators themselves to be better informed on climate change.
“We could use a lot more training and educating the educators people who are actually in the classrooms teaching this,” Rohr said. “It’s like an educator’s educating their peers kind of model.”
