The Illinois State Board of Education named Eric Combs the 2020 Illinois Teacher of the Year. The honor came at the 45th annual Those Who Excel awards banquet this past Saturday in Normal. Combs is a sixth through eighth grade band teacher at Richland County Middle School in Richland County Community Unit District 1 in Olney. Combs started a program at his school that loans out instruments to students for free. He also developed a new system of differentiated and individualized music instruction in which every student in the band program progressed at their own pace. Combs built a network of band directors across the country and world who have taken interest in the program. He also has raised funds through his network to start a band program in the country of Honduras.