Education · HB 1859
Community College AI Instruction Limit
Public Community College Act Amendment — AI Instruction Limitation
- Public Act
- PA 104-0201
- Effective
- August 15, 2025
- Enforced by
- Illinois Community College Board (ICCB)
- Verified
Bars a community-college course from using AI as the sole source of instruction in place of a qualified faculty member, while allowing AI to augment teaching.
HB 1859 answers a specific anxiety: that a community college, under budget pressure, would substitute an AI system for a human instructor and call it a course. The Act forecloses that. It does not restrict AI as a teaching aid — the line it draws is between augmenting a faculty member and replacing one.
It travels with PA 104-0399 as part of the 2025 education-AI package, and the pairing captures the state’s posture on AI in schools: teach students to read synthetic content, and keep a qualified human at the front of the classroom.
What it requires
- A qualified faculty member — not an AI system — must be the source of instruction for a course.
- AI may be used to augment instruction but not to replace the faculty member.
Who is covered
Illinois community colleges and their faculty. The limit is on the college's staffing of a course, not on any particular AI product.
What the exposure is
Regulatory — ICCB oversight
No direct monetary penalty. Compliance is enforced through the Illinois Community College Board's oversight of faculty qualifications under the Public Community College Act.
Key dates
- August 15, 2025 Signed as PA 104-0201
If this applies to you
- Ensure every course has a qualified faculty member of record as the source of instruction.
- Position AI tools as faculty-augmentation, and document that framing in course design.
- Review any fully-automated course offerings against the Public Community College Act.
Primary sources 2
- Bill status HB 1859 — Bill Status & Full Action History
- Public Act Public Act 104-0201 — Full Text (PDF)
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