Dupage Policy Journal

Illinois State Rep. Janet Yang-Rohr (D-Naperville) wants to require all Illinois high school students to take instruction in so-called “climate change” orthodoxy.

House Bill 4895, filed by Yang-Rohr on Feb. 7, says the instruction would reflect the political positions of the current Illinois Governor, coordinated “in consultation with the Director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency…(who) shall prepare and make available to school boards instructional materials and professional development training for educators that may be used as guidelines for development of the instruction.”

Yang-Rohr wants to require that, “beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, every public high school shall include instruction on climate change and the impacts and causes of climate change in grades 9 through 12.”

The bill would be the latest in a series of new curriculum mandates for Illinois students.

In Jan. 2019, Illinois required all K-12 public school students take a unit of “black history ,” including “the history of the pre-enslavement of Black people from 3,000 BCE to AD 1619, the African slave trade, slavery in America, the study of the reasons why Black people came to be enslaved, the vestiges of slavery in this country, and the study of the American civil rights renaissance.”

Illinois “Inclusive Curriculum Law” took effect on July 1, 2020, mandating that all Illinois public schools “include the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals in the teaching of Illinois and United States history,” beginning with 4th grade (ages 9-10).

In July 2021, Illinois instituted a mandate that all public school students take a unit of “Asian-American history,” including “contributions of Asian Americans toward advancing (black) civil rights from the 19th century onward.”

And, this month Illinois State Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid (D-Bridgeveiew) proposed all Illinois high school students be required to take a class “Arab-American history.”

According to the “Campaign for Climate Literacy,” no state has yet enacted a law requiring “climate change education.” But bills have been introduced in many states, including, in 2022, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Iowa, Wisconsin, New York, Maine, Massachusetts, Hawaii and California.

Climate Change orthodoxy holds that climate change isn’t naturally occurring, but a human-caused threat that will cause Armageddon, and that governments must raise taxes and limit industrial development and freedom to stop it.

It is typically espoused by socialist or communist political activists and elected officials, who use it to justify increased government control of private activity.

Yang-Rohr represents Illinois House District 41, a position she was first elected to in 2021. She is running for reelection to a third term, and will be on the Democratic primary ballot on March 19, 2024. Yang-Rohr earned her Bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University and her M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. She resides in Naperville.