Governor Bruce Rauner puts his stamp of approval on a new bill requiring lead testing for Illinois elementary schools and daycares. Charleston Superintendent Jim Littleford says it's important for the school district but it's going to be expensive. Littleford said,"I think it's a very good idea. A lot of the legislation that is passed now a days has good fact base reasons for doing the things they do. I think it's a very good thing for our community, for our schools and I think it's a very good thing for our school population." Senate Bill 550 will ensure proper health protections are in place to protect Illinois youngest residents and to make sure their drinking water is safe. Governor Bruce Rauner signed a bill requiring all schools built before 1987 to test for elevated levels of lead by the end of the year. Schools built after 1987 will have until the end of 20-18 to complete the test. Charleston Superintendent Jim Littleford says he agrees with Senate bill 550, in fact the district discussed water testing with the city long before the legislation was passed. Littleford said, "We've had some conversations with the city of Charleston and talked about utilizing them for testing with the people who test for them as a city and I think that would be a good thing to have it done locally within our city if we can." Littleford says the only with the new law is funding. He says he would never argue against it but it would be helpful for additional money from the state. He said, "I'm guessing that will be on the schools to replace whatever it might need to be replaced. That could be water fountains, it could be lines, water lines that type of thing. Currently the state has really little money to give out in regards to that type of thing so I'm guessing that would fall upon the schools." He says when the time comes to replace water fountains and water lines they will be prepared. He said, "We've had boil orders before where we have brought in cases of water for students to have drinking water during the day. Typically if you don't have water you can't fix lunches you know that type of thing. You usually end up shutting down your schools so I would anticipate whenever that testing takes place we would have to find an alternative supply if we knew we weren't going to have available water for a period of time." Experts say it'll cost between 500 and five thousand dollars to have the test done at facilities. Parents and guardians must be notified if there are elevated lead results.
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