Raise Your Hand Action had a productive day in Springfield yesterday and managed to talk to numerous legislators about important bills we’re all working on!

HB5481 (class size goals) passed in the Senate Ed committee and will go to the full Senate floor for a vote soon.  Please call your state Senator and ask them to support and co-sponsor this bill! Current sponsors - Aquino, Lightford, Martinez, Collins, Raoul, Mulroe

HB5721 (CPS long-term facilities planning) has not yet been assigned in the Senate but parents met with Senate President Cullerton on this bill, and he said he would assign it after some details are worked out. We will follow up with him on this.

SB2236 (Bill requiring state to fund public schools before vouchers)

This bill passed in the Senate Ed committee but hasn’t gone to the floor for a vote yet. It says the state must appropriate required funding for public schools before siphoning off tax dollars via credits for the new tax credit scholarship voucher program. LOTS OF CALLS ARE NEEDED ON THIS BILL. Senators are getting many calls from pro-voucher constituents to oppose this bill.  

Find your IL State Senator here. Please call him or her and tell them to support SB2236.

Data privacy: We are still trying to move a student data transparency bill that would tell parents who is collecting what data on their children. There is lots of opposition to this by tech companies, CPS and other groups. We will continue to work on this bill with Rep Martwick. In the meantime, please use this link to send a letter to your IL Rep & Senator which explains why we need to protect Illinois school students’ personal data. .

In addition, Rep Andrade, chair of the House Cybersecurity, Data Analytics and IT Committee, agreed with our request to hold a subject-matter hearing in the IL House on protecting student data. More info later.

Thanks to everyone who has supported our work to allow us to go to Springfield more regularly, and thanks to all you advocates at home who have been making phone calls, writing letters, and tweeting your elected officials, etc to get these bills moving.  We’ll be back there next week.

Thanks, too, to Illinois Raise Your Hand who testified at an IL House subject matter hearing on the future of student assessment in Illinois. You can watch video here of moms from Oak Park and Downers Grove testifying in Springfield yesterday. Kudos!