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Laws For Military Children Strengthened

flickr/LizMarie_AK

  Children in military families should have an easier time changing schools when their parents transfer in and of out of Illinois, according to 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," he said. "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.

Hannah covers state government and politics for Capitol News Illinois. She's been dedicated to the statehouse beat since interning at NPR Illinois in 2014, with subsequent stops at WILL-AM/FM, Law360, Capitol Fax and The Daily Line before returning to NPR Illinois in 2020 and moving to CNI in 2023.
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