ELGIN – State Senator Cristina Castro is announcing that school districts in the 22^nd District will receive about $157 million in additional funding to help address the many challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I want to acknowledge all the hard work students, teachers and parents have undertaken in the last year as we all adjusted to these unprecedented times,” Castro said. “As we begin to transition to what life was like before the pandemic, I encourage schools to use this funding to help students who have been disproportionately impacted over the past year.”

The funding comes as part of the most recent federal COVID-19 relief packages. Schools, students and parents have overcome challenges that no one could have imagined before the pandemic began, including remote and hybrid learning, digital connection issues, new processes for receiving state and federal aid that normally flow through schools, and more.

Local school districts are set to receive the following amounts:

• School District Unit 46 - $95,027,296
• Community Unit School District 300 - $29,746,705
• Township High School District 211 - $13,400,938
• Schaumburg Community Consolidated School District 54 - $18,762,224

The majority of the funding comes from the American Rescue Plan, which gives local schools a great deal of flexibility in how they can use the money over the next 3 ½ years. At least 20% of the funding must be used to address learning loss, but beyond that, school districts can use the money to address many different issues and costs. For example, it can be used to better equip schools for safe learning, to prevent layoffs, to address students’ social and emotional needs, to fund summer programs, or to ensure all students have access to reliable Wi-Fi and technology.

The State Board of Education, in collaboration with other state agencies that address education, has produced a guide for local school districts to help them decide how to best use their resources. While the guide and other state-sponsored services are completely voluntary, the state aims to support local districts during this difficult time.

“The guide from ISBE was created with input from teachers, administrators, parents and students, and it will be a great resource for schools to rely on as we move forward,” Castro said. “I’m confident this funding for local districts will address stressors schools have faced throughout this pandemic.” 

In total, Illinois received nearly $7 billion to support local school districts.

SPRINGFIELD – To make sure Kane County gets its fair share of the money from legal cannabis sales, state Senator Cristina Castro won approval of legislation giving the county a new deadline to file paperwork with the state.

“One of the major selling points of legalizing cannabis sales was the revenue it would bring to local governments to support programs and services. This proposal makes sure Kane County will get its fair share,” said Castro, an Elgin Democrat.

Castro’s legislation is a technical tweak regarding the deadlines for counties to file paperwork with the state in order to begin collecting revenue from taxes on cannabis sales. Under this new window, Kane County would be allowed to begin collecting sales tax on cannabis in May of 2021.

ELGIN – To help Illinois diversify its workforce, the Illinois State Board of Education has awarded multiple Career and Technical Education (CTE) Education Career Pathways Grants to schools in the district State Senator Cristina Castro (D-Elgin) represents.

“These grants will help schools recruit and support future educators in the Career and Technical Education field by providing them with hands-on learning experiences, mentorships and more,” Castro said. “I am excited to see three schools the district I represent receive these grants so that they can prioritize funding for CTE development.”

The CTE Education Career Pathways Grants were awarded to 62 schools and vocational centers across the state, totaling almost $2 million. Among those schools are Dundee-Crown High School, Elgin High School and Larkin High School. Currently, only 18% of teachers identify as people of color. ISBE’s CTE Education Career Pathways Grants will help increase the diversity of the CTE teaching profession in Illinois.

Applicants to the CTE Education Pathways Grant program had to submit an implementation plan outlining how they will recruit underrepresented students into education careers. The grant also requires a partnership between grantees and institutions of higher education to ensure students can earn dual credit or other certifications while still in high school.

“CTE includes everything from health sciences to manufacturing, and so much in between,” Castro said. “To truly get the most out of students who choose this path, it is important we have skilled educators who can relate to their students.” 

For a full list of the grant recipients, visit the ISBE website.

ELGIN – State Senator Cristina Castro (D-Elgin) announced many communities in the district she represents are set to receive funding for transportation projects under the Rebuild Illinois capital program, including a grant for $1.2 million to the city of Elgin.

“It’s great to see such a strong investment in infrastructure from these grants,” Castro said. “The fact that these grants are going to local governments means these communities can redirect money that would otherwise be going toward things like fixing up roads and bridges to other parts of their budget.”

As the Illinois Latino Legislative Caucus prepares for the negotiations during budget season, they look forward to collaborating with Governor Pritzker to devise a series of strategies anchored in addressing the chronic fiscal and structural issues faced by our state in both spending plans and revenue generation. This year presents additional layers of constraints and opportunities as the COVID-19 pandemic and heightened awareness of systemic racism call on public servants to be more precise and deliberate with mitigating impact and reconciling past harm.

The Latino Caucus especially looks forward to continued partnership with the Governor's Office in the areas that greatly impact over two million Illinoisans who identify as Latinx, nearly 750,000 individuals who are immigrants and/or refugees, and an estimated 324,000 who are undocumented from Latin America-all who count on our ingenuity and commitment to protect basic elements of dignified life. We are prioritizing building on the following areas this budget cycle:

ELGIN – During a virtual press conference this morning, State Senator Cristina Castro (D-Elgin) announced the reintroduction of the Clean Energy Jobs Act and called for its passage.

“It is clear that the time for the Clean Energy Jobs Act is now,” Castro said. “Illinois must take state-level action to ensure the benefits of clean energy policy flow equitably to communities of color which are often left behind, support the development of rooftop solar and energy efficiency programs, hold all utilities accountable, deploy electric vehicles, and support a just transition for former fossil fuel communities.”

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Cristina Castro (D-Elgin) and several other members of the Illinois Senate were sworn in as the 102nd General Assembly began earlier today. Castro’s inauguration marks the start of her second term.

“I was very proud of all the good my colleagues and I were able to accomplish during my first term, and I am both honored and humbled that the people I represented trusted me enough to continue that work for another General Assembly,” Castro said. “There is still a lot of work that needs to be done, particularly to address the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and I am eager to begin the conversations with my fellow lawmakers to make Illinois a better place to live.”

Castro was first elected to the Senate in Nov. 2016 for a four-year term. Her current term, along with the terms of entire 102nd General Assembly, expires Jan. 11, 2023.

SPRINGFIELD – In an effort to deliver social equity in cannabis licensing, State Senator Cristina Castro (D-Elgin) passed a package to follow-up on 2019’s legalization measure through the Senate this evening.

“During these impactful times, as the General Assembly works to pass the Black Caucus pillars to rid Illinois of systemic racism, it’s important to ensure social equity in other areas of society as well, and a good place to start is with cannabis dispensaries,” Castro said. “This legislation helps address some shortcomings of the original law that are preventing it from being as successful as it could be.”

Among the fixes, the measure:

• Creates the Tiered Applicant Lottery and Qualified Applicant Lottery, which determine the circumstances under which an entity might be awarded a dispensary license;
• Allows cannabis containers to be resealable;
• Allows people to begin working at a cannabis dispensary while their background check is being processed.
  • This allows the individual to begin working immediately. Should they fail the background check, they will be immediately terminated.

“The main goal here is to get more licenses out the door and into the hands of socially equitable applicants,” Castro said. “This plan adds more validity to Illinois’ already strong claim to being the industry leader in cannabis legalization that other states can seek to model their programs after.”

State Senator Kimberly Lightford (D-Maywood), the Chair of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, helped Castro move the measure through the Senate and stressed its importance in ensuring social equity and delivering the justice Black and Brown communities have been in need of for generations.

“Black and Brown communities suffered for decades under the War on Drugs. We saw our sons, brothers, and fathers go to prison and violence tear apart our communities,” Lightford said. “Now that we’ve legalized cannabis, we need to be make sure the benefits go to people in our communities to help us heal.”

The legislation is House Bill 122. Having passed the Senate, it must now return to the House for a vote of concurrence.