llinois State House District 97 issued the following announcement on Feb. 6.
State Representative Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) has filed legislation aimed at keeping Illinois students in state for college. The bill, HB4088, would create the Rewarding Excellence with Higher Education Guaranteed Admissions Act and grant admission to any state university for any student that scores in the top 10% on either the ACT or SAT.
Representative Batinick filed this legislation after hearing about too many students in his own community who received high test scores, yet were denied admission to Illinois’ own universities. “We have great schools here, and we should be creating better opportunities for our best students so they can stay in Illinois,” Rep. Batinick said. “The future lies in our younger population. If we are going to help turn our state around, we need to take a closer look at our admissions to our state schools.”
According to the Board of Higher Education, 48.4% of Illinois graduates who enroll in four-year institution go to school out of state—a number that has nearly doubled since 2002.
“Too many of our brightest students are leaving for better opportunities in other states” Batinick continued. “When students leave Illinois, a large percentage of them do not return. Our most precious resource is our educated youth and we must reverse this trend.”
HB4088 is currently in the Rules Committee in the House of Representatives awaiting further consideration.
Original source can be found here.
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