Legislators have been busy and one bill proposed last week would reimburse teachers for their college tuition costs.  Representative Sue Scherer’s bill will pay back teachers who went to an Illinois College and then stayed in the state to teach at a public school.  The goal is to address the serious teacher shortage. 

Representative Avery Bourne argued that while it’s a great idea, but the cost is over 1 billion dollars and reimburses everyone—including wealthy families who can afford college.

That’s not the only bill that Representative Scherer has been working on.  She’s also proposed a bill to allow parents to decide when a child is old enough to stay home alone.  State law has the age at 14 that you are allowed to stay home alone and Representative Scherer wants to change that because she says it’s confusing and doesn’t take into account personal circumstances.

Both bills now move to the Senate.