Starting in the 2026-2027 school year, a new state law in Illinois will require every public high school to include instruction on climate change and the impacts and causes of climate change for grades nine through 12.
The law was written by two area students, alongside State Representative Janet Yang Rohr.
“The legislation makes sure that people know that it’s happening, how it’s happened and, most importantly, what they can do to make a change,” Rep. Yang Rohr told NBC Chicago in 2024.
The law’s journey began when Iris Shadis-Greengas, a senior at Naperville Central High School submitted a proposal to Rep. Yang Rohr as part of a capstone course.
Then, her state representative decided to sponsor it.
“I was really happy,” Shadis-Greengas told NBC. “A bill that was written by a high schooler, I thought that was really cool a legislator would actually do that.”
Another student at Neuqua Valley High School, then-senior Grace Brady, was working on a similar project.
Students and lawmakers at a celebration party held after HB 4985 was signed into law. Photo courtesy of George Tulley/Climate Education 4 Illinois
The duo teamed up with Rep. Yang Rohr, and despite some debate on the House floor, it passed. The state’s Board of Education and Environmental Protection Agency are creating the curriculum now, with a rollout planned for the upcoming school year.
“There’s so much misinformation everywhere,” Brady, who is now studying climate policy at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, said.
“I really want people, when they encounter these things, to say, ‘Oh, well, in school I learned that this is the science. This is what’s correct.’ They’ll be able to be mindful of the content they see and know that science is real.”
State Senator Adriane Johnson also championed the bill, which makes Illinois the fifth state to require this kind of curriculum in schools.
“Students need and are calling for a comprehensive education curriculum that addresses the science behind climate change,” State Senator Johnson said in a statement.
“Young people are eager to learn about real, meaningful, and equitable solutions to the impacts of the climate crisis, and this law affords them that opportunity.”
You may also like: These movies pass the ‘Bechdel Test’ for climate change
A version of this article was originally published in The 2025 Environment Edition of the Goodnewspaper.
Header image by Artem Podrez via Pexels
