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Draft:Illinois Education Association

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  • Comment: I have added 3 new citations that come from news sources (Politico, Herald, and CBS News). This should demonstrate notability as it was covered in news sources heavily and so it should also pass reliable sources. I have searched around for the past 3 hours and I found nothing else on the Illinois Education Association, so if this is not pass I don't know what else to do as I've used every information I could find that was available to me. I've seen articles with far less text here survive for years without being drafted or sent for deletion. DotesConks (talk) 19:31, 31 March 2025 (UTC)


  • Response: I have removed InfluenceWatch in favor of other citations that are better at covering specifics of the IEA. DotesConks (talk) 00:42, 30 March 2025 (UTC)


The Illinois Education Association (IEA) is an association of teachers across the state of Illinois. As of 2025, it comprises 135,000 members who are mainly elementary and middle school teachers. Its goal is a trade union that fairly represents teachers and gives them better pay and benefits.[1] Its president is Al Llorens.[2]

Illinois Education Association
Websitehttps://ieanea.org/
Foundation DateDecember 1853
Members135,000+
PresidentAl Llorens

History

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The IEA can be split into two parts, pre-teacher takeover and post teacher takeover. The IEA was founded in 1853 (and was called the ISTA at the time) in the city of Bloomington, Illinois. In 1871 they lobbied for the creation of a superintendent of education for the Illinois department of education. In that same year they allowed women to become members. In 1930 they set up a permanent base of operations in Springfield, Illinois. The trade union successfully lobbied for teacher tenure and minimum salary laws to be adopted in the 1940s. In 1970 they established the Illinois Political Action Committee for Education (IPACE). At the same time the trade union went under a transformation that ended up with school administrators, who were the majority of members in the union at the time being kicked out in favor of school teachers.[3][4][1] In recent times the IEA has engaged in collective bargaining for its teachers.[5]

Policy

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The IEA has stances on many contentious issues in schools.

Racism

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The IEA since its foundation has wanted desegregation in schools. However it did not actively begin to work on promoting desegregation until the 1950s. Following post teacher takeover, the IEA adopted DEI style policies ensuring that any minorities are heard. Today minorities comprise 20% of the organization.

Gender

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The IEA has also supported female teachers in their union and in schools around the state. However, the IEA was dominated by males until the teachers took control of the union. Today, females are the majority in the organization with 4 of the 7 last presidents being female.

Religion

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The IEA has advocated for a secular school system. IEA staff has resisted multiple laws to teach religion in schools in order to be more diverse.

Taxation

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The IEA, since 1920 has favored a graduated state-income tax to bring in money for schooling. In 1932, the Illinois Supreme Court struck down the law as unconstitutional and such a law has never been passed again. An attempt was made in 2020 but failed in the legislature.[1]

IPACE & Politics

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The Illinois Political Action Committee for Education was established in 1971 to further the interests of teachers. As of 2023, IPACE funded $20 million to the legislature of Illinois. The political action committee has donated $651,000 in total to the representatives and senators of Illinois in order to stop the Invest in Kids program which the union vehemently opposes.[1] For a teacher to become a member they must spend $30.00.[6] The IEA has mainly endorsed Democratic candidates for office, though has supported Republican candidates if they prove to benefit teachers.[6]

Notable Laws Passed

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Since its history, the IEA has gone into Illinois politics for teachers. Some notable laws that they have passed are:

Free School Law of 1855

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The Free School Law of 1855 was the law that established the public school system in Illinois. The IEA (ISTA at the time) successfully was able to convince legislators to pass the law which today gives education to millions of children.

Illinois Education Labor Relations Act (IELRA)

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IELRA is the biggest bargaining law in Illinois and was passed with help from the IEA. Under the law, all “policy matters directly affecting wages, hours, and the terms and conditions of employment as well as the impact thereon upon request by employee representatives” are mandatory in bargaining. This also prevented schools from exercising power over unions.[5]

State-of-Education Reports

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The Illinois Education Association releases reports and surveys of the general Illinois school and educator population. The latest poll found that:

  • 91% of Illinoisans believe that students have a right to a public education
  • 74% of people think teaching has become harder over the last few years
  • 78% of the public say they are very worried about the teacher shortage
  • 71% believe funding for public schools should increase
  • 62% support pension reform to allow those in the Tier 2 pension system to retire before the age of 6
  • 62% of the public believe adjuncts should be paid the same as tenured professors when they are teaching the same courses
  • 80% are opposed to book bans
  • The vast majority believe we should be teaching racism (75%) and slavery (81%) in our public school
  • 72% believe national political groups should not be involved in local school board elections.[2][7][8]

This came after Donald Trump signed a federal executive order to dismantle the Department of Education.[9][10]

Affiliations with other trade unions

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The IEA since 1857 has been affiliated with the National Education Association. They often work together to advocate for better pay and rights for teachers.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Suhrbur, Thomas J. "UI Press | Thomas J. Suhrbur | Public Education and Social Reform". www.press.uillinois.edu. Retrieved 2025-03-29.
  2. ^ a b Kelly, Alyssa (2025-03-27). "Large majority of Illinois residents believe public education is a right, report shows". https://www.wifr.com. Retrieved 2025-03-29. {{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)
  3. ^ "NEA, IEA spend little on representing teachers, but prioritize politics". Illinois Policy. 2023-07-21. Retrieved 2025-03-28.
  4. ^ Weisenstein, Brad (2023-10-31). "Illinois School Choice Is Very Popular, but Faces Teachers Unions' Purchasing Power | RealClearPolicy". www.realclearpolicy.com. Retrieved 2025-03-28.
  5. ^ a b poweratwork.us https://poweratwork.us/the-history-of-illinois-largest-labor-union. Retrieved 2025-03-30. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ^ a b "About IPACE". Illinois Education Association. Retrieved 2025-03-30.
  7. ^ Krishnamurthy, Madhu (2025-03-26). "Illinois association survey shows unease over dismantling of U.S. Department of Education". Daily Herald. Retrieved 2025-03-30.
  8. ^ Rado, Diane (2015-11-28). "Illinois schools' strengths, weaknesses exposed in statewide survey". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2025-03-31.
  9. ^ Kapos, Shia (2025-03-12). "An education gut punch". POLITICO. Retrieved 2025-03-30.
  10. ^ Producer, Adam Harrington Web; Chicago, CBS Chicago Adam Harrington is a web producer at CBS; Harrington, where he first arrived in January 2006 Read Full Bio Adam; Odenthal, John (2024-03-27). "Over 90% of Illinois school leaders report teacher shortage, survey says - CBS Chicago". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2025-03-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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