Governor Pritzker signed a slew of bills into law this past Friday—including two of our very own initiatives, student data privacy and class size goals, and three more important laws that we’ve been working on with coalitions! 

These bills' passage are the outcome of years of hard work and would not have been possible without the collective action of parents and public school supporters across Illinois!

You all helped make a valiant attempt to move the charter commission bill for a veto override, but unfortunately the fix seemed to be in to keep it from getting through.

There was an override of the Governor’s veto on HB5175, the charter commission bill, yesterday in the House, and now it’s time to get it through in the Senate!

Chicago Classical Academy Charter was rejected by CPS in December but is appealing to the unelected IL state charter commission for approval. The "targeted communities" for Chicago Classical are Bridgeport, Bronzeville, Chinatown, McKinley Park, Pilsen, and South Loop.

There was a hearing conducted by the commission on this appeal Tuesday night in Chinatown. We were live tweeting. The thread of tweets starts here.

Update: It's still not too late on HB768!

The bill was pulled from the hearing today 5/17 due to pressure from charter industry and has now been moved to the Executive Committee for a 2pm hearing tomorrow 5/18. You must fill out a new witness slip as a PROPONENT here.

Fill out a witness slip as a PROPONENT for HB3567, a bill that prohibits charter schools from opening in financially distressed school districts in IL. There is a hearing for this bill Tuesday, 3/28 at 2pm in the Appropriations Elementary and Secondary Education Committee.

Please see below for detailed instructions.