RYHA speaks at student data privacy press conference with Senator Dick Durbin

US Senator Durbin is introducing an important student data privacy bill called the Clean Slate for Kids Act, and we spoke at his press conference in support of this legislation yesterday with IL PIRG and the Edelson law firm.

RYHA has been trying to get a simple data privacy bill passed in Springfield but there’s been much opposition from tech lobbyists, school management groups and CPS. We’re thrilled that Senator Durbin is taking the lead by introducing a bill that would allow parents to delete data of children under age 13.

You can read Cassie Creswell’s statement from the press conference here.

Here’s the full press conference on our YouTube channel.

Sun-Times: Durbin unveils bill to protect kids’ personal info from internet companies

RYH Action helps pass some important bills in Springfield!

Thanks so much to everyone who called their legislators about these bills, went to Springfield and took important action steps to get these bills passed!

HB5481 Guzzardi/Aquino - Class size goals bill

HB5721 Harper/Hunter - CPS facilities bill that we partnered with Blocks Together on

SB454  Crespo/Koehler - Special ed parents’ rights. This bill came out of the IL House hearings on CPS special education.

The state also passed a $350M increase for public education. CPS will get about $60-70M from this. The state will need to vote every year on providing the additional dollars needed to fund the Evidenced-Based Funding formula passed last summer.

WBEZ: Education Bills - And $350M More For Illinois Schools - Advance To Rauner’s Desk

Elected school board bill will make appearances this summer before she dies

You probably saw that we went to Springfield last week to see why this bill still hasn’t made it to the Governor’s desk despite passing with overwhelming support in the House and the Senate. Our bill will be making appearances this summer and the Beachwood Reporter wrote a song for us to share.

We’ll be doing some public sing-alongs this summer. The first one will be on June 27th outside the Thompson Center. You can RSVP here. Want the bill to do a meet-and-greet or sing along in your own hood this summer? Let us know here.