Chicago Educators Struggle With Lead Testing Requirement

Educators in Chicago are struggling with new legislation that requires both schools and daycare centers to test drinking water for lead contamination. Some are having issues with the potential cost while others are challenging the overall value of the testing.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan passed the legislation after the Illinois Environmental Council located staggering levels of lead in many Chicago and suburban school districts.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that within the last year, “some Illinois schools have voluntarily tested drinking water for lead but state law does not require it, according to the attorney general.”

Madigan added that the tests will come to about $15 per drinking water sample and would provide information to schools “needed to quickly protect children from lead exposure.”

"If it's a requirement by the state, obviously we will comply," Central District 301 Superintendent Todd Stirn told The Chicago Tribune. "On the other hand, the state is still behind in payments (to the schools) … It's an unfunded mandate by the state."

The bill is awaiting Gov. Bruce Rauner's signature before becoming law. The bill “will require that all daycare centers and schools constructed before 2000 with pre-kindergarten through fifth grade classes test all water sources used for drinking or food preparation.”

Tony Martinez, spokesman for West Aurora School District 129 stated that the bill's requirement for districts to cover the cost of the lead testing is "just another unfunded mandate by the state."

Each test comes to a total of about $700 for the district, he added.

Other school districts have also had their drinking water tested for lead in the past year. In School District 303 in St. Charles, “Superintendent Don Schlomann said the district spent last summer testing more than 600 locations in all their facilities.”

According to the findings, “129 sources exceeded standards — of which 23 were drinking fountains.”

"We had some that were mostly good, we had a few that weren't so good," he told the Tribune. "We went ahead and replaced them with new water fountains."

According to the district, the original round of testing cost St. Charles $30,000. Schlomann stated that the “testing wasn't something the St. Charles community asked for, but the district wanted to ensure the quality of the water made available to students and staff.”

Elgin-based School District U46 has not tested its water supply, relying on tests and reports conducted by the municipalities within its boundaries, spokeswoman Mary Fergus told the Tribune.

Many districts across the state do not test in-school and rely on municipalities and their results.

The proposed legislation would require District U46 to test 30 elementary schools and two other facilities built before 1987 by the end of the year.

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