Children in military families should have an easier time changing schools when their parents transferring in and of out of Illinois. IPR’s Hannah Meisel reports on a law Governor Pat Quinn signed over the weekend.
Last summer, Tom White retired from the U.S. Army and accepted a post teaching military law at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago. But instead of moving his family near his work in Illinois, White opted to live in Valparaiso, Indiana, and commute at least an hour each day.
White has three boys, two still in school, and he says he moved to neighboring Indiana for their sake. Back in January, he said navigating Illinois' school transfer laws was just too hard.
"It made it really difficult to kind of line up finding a good school and also a place to live. Because those don't necessarily go hand in hand."
The new law makes it so students must be allowed to continue at grade level, more easily transfer classes, and directs schools to try to let kids continue in extracurricular activities.