Illinois dropped its 2026 School Report Card this week, and the results tell the same story: the state's education apparatus wants credit for incremental gains while it devotes real energy to obstructing federal immigration enforcement inside school walls.
The Chicago Tribune reported that student academic scores on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness increased statewide and in Chicago — before immediately noting that math and absenteeism "remain problems." The IAR, which tests students in grades three through eight on English language arts and math, uses four performance levels. Only students scoring at levels 3 and 4 are considered proficient and "on track for college and careers." The Tribune presented the data in charts but offered no headline proficiency percentages — a familiar pattern when the numbers would embarrass the establishment.
Meanwhile, the state overhauled its rating system. Shaw Local reported that Illinois scrapped its old relative-ranking model — where the top 10% of schools were "exemplary" and the bottom 5% "comprehensive" — in favor of fixed statewide criteria. Schools are now rated exemplary, approaching exemplary, commendable, or developing. A school where any student group is rated comprehensive can be rated no higher than commendable. The change means schools are no longer graded on a curve against each other, which should in theory make it harder to hide failure behind relative comparisons.
But while ISBE tinkers with rating labels, the Illinois Federation of Teachers is busy with different priorities entirely. The Gateway Pundit reported that every staff member at Peoria Public Schools received cards from the IFT instructing them on how to document and report federal immigration agents. The cards, labeled "Guidelines for Bystanders: Documenting Federal Agent Activity," bear the IFT logo and use the left's SALUTE acronym to direct staff to record agents' numbers, activities, names, badges, uniforms, time, date, equipment, vehicles, and license plates. A QR code instructs users to send the documentation to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and the IFT itself.
The cards also inform staff of their right to record federal agents and list refusals they may make — including refusing to stop recording, to search or delete recordings without a judge's warrant, or to unlock a phone. A suggested statement reads: "I'm exercising my constitutional right to document. I'm not interfering."
Peoria Public Schools has maintained a "Safe Haven" resolution since 2017 directing the district to refuse access to immigration officials except under limited circumstances required by law. After the Trump administration ended the policy limiting ICE activity at sensitive locations, then-Superintendent Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat sent a letter reaffirming the policy. A local news station reported increased absences among students whose primary language isn't English, and the district discussed purchasing Spanish language online courses for concerned families.
So this is what Illinois parents are paying for: a system that can't produce math proficiency but can produce pocket-sized reference cards for obstructing federal law enforcement. The IFT — funded by mandatory teacher dues — is effectively operating as an immigration advocacy organization on the taxpayer's dime. The Tribune framed the report card as a story of progress. The Gateway Pundit framed the union cards as indoctrination. The real story is that both are the same system: an education establishment that has decided its mission extends far beyond the classroom, and that parents have no say in the matter.
The question isn't whether scores went up a point or two. The question is why a teachers union is printing tip cards for evading ICE while a third of the state's students can't do grade-level math.
