Teachers could get more paid sick leave after fostering, adopting babies
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WICS/WRSP) — Illinois teachers could soon be getting expanded sick time.
This move is meant to level the playing field for teachers who want to foster or adopt a child.
Teachers spend all day in the classroom taking care of other people's children, so the goal of this legislation is to give them more time to take care of their own.
The bill would allow teachers and educators to use paid sick days after fostering, adopting, or giving birth.
The sick days also won't have to be taken all in a row.
Teachers say this will help bring educating and parenting into the 21st century.
"I think its kind of modernizing some of the rules around sick leave for parents, family leave for parents, um to make it conform more with the world we're really in," said Dan Montgomery, president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers.
Montgomery says he hopes this law will encourage more teachers to foster or adopt children.
"New parents, including LGBTQ+ couples and single parents, should have the flexibility to decide how and when to use their earned time off to care for and bond with their new child,” said Sen. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago, the bill's sponsor.
This bill offers 30 days of sick leave after a child is born, fostered or adopted.
However, teachers unions can negotiate more and expand on that timeframe,
The legislation is headed to Gov. Pritzker's desk.
It will apply to all Illinois districts except for Chicago Public Schools.
