The Illinois State Board of Education is beefing up its rules for bilingual education for preschool teachers.

Under the new rules, preschool teachers must be specially certified to teach bilingual or English as a second language by 2014. Children from homes where little English is spoken must receive part of their education in their family’s language.

Reyna Hernandez is with the Latino Policy Forum. She says native language education benefits children whose parents don’t speak English.

HERNANDEZ:  If a language other than English is spoken in the home, and the child speaks only English and the parents speaks only the other language, there’s a disconnect there.

Hernandez says she hasn’t heard of other states with similar requirements for preschool teachers.  The state board approved the preschools changes even  as it green lighted nearly $300 million in education cuts.