State Senate Minority Leader Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, is pushing a bill that would require high schools to offer an early college program.

High school students already have the option to earn college credits, but only a small number of students choose that path, said Matt Berry, chief of staff for the Illinois Community College Board.

Brady’s Senate Bill 2046 would make it a requirement for high schools to offer college credit. Berry said it’s a plan that can work, but it depends on the individual resources of the high school districts.

According to Senate Bill 2046, an early college high school program is an academic program consisting of a series of dual-credit courses that allows a high school student to earn an associate degree issued by a higher learning institution or up to two years of academic credit toward a bachelor’s degree.

The proposed bill states that a student enrolled in an early college program would be exempt from the payment of any registration, tuition, or laboratory fees charged by an institution of higher learning and the school district would be responsible for all costs associated with the program.

“…Each school district that maintains a secondary school must offer an early college high school program for its secondary school students to be completed by the student within two school years,” the proposed bill states.

Berry said it would be a challenge to find qualified instructors to teach the courses.

“There are specific qualifications to teach students accredited courses, but we already see in the state that there are some students who earn an associate degree,” Berry said.

Berry said that the community colleges have been supportive in helping high school students earn associate degrees or college credits.

“We have a number of initiatives that the community college board has been involved in to expand the access to dual credit courses,” Berry said.