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A new law sponsored by state senator David Luechtefeld of Okawville requires schools in Illinois to hold a full day of classes on the first and last days of the school year, “rather than a shortened day that critics say offers little substance.
“But,” the Tribune continued, “in a textbook case of legislative complications, the new law didn’t get rid of some of the language in the old law that allowed for shorter days. As an unintended consequence, Illinois public schools still can conduct a half day of instruction for students at the start and end of the school year, with the remainder of the day devoted to teacher training.”
What the article did not address is the possibility that this issue doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. And the possibility that Luechtefeld’s law is not an example of reform thwarted but an example of absurd legislative overreach, the General Assembly thinking it knows better than principals what hours of which days kids should be in the classroom.
