SPRINGFIELD – A program that recruits and prepares parent and community mentors and para-educators to become teachers in hard-to-staff schools would receive streamlined funding and open eligibility to pre-kindergarten teachers under legislation passed out of the Illinois Senate today.

Senate Bill 2356, co-sponsored by State Senator Omar Aquino (D-Chicago), would help streamline funding to the Grown Your Own Teacher Initiative by transferring the appropriations and administrative duties of the program from the Board of Higher Education to Grown Your Own Teacher Illinois.

The legislation would also expand the program’s definition of “eligible school” to include early childhood education programs in which at least 60 percent of the children it serves are receiving subsidized care.

“I’m proud to support Senate Bill 2356, which streamlines state funding and gives the teachers who educate our children at the crucial early stages of their lives the chance to participate in the Grow Your Own Teacher Initiative in the communities that need it most,” Aquino said.

SB 2356 now moves to the House for consideration.