We've got lots of important updates below, including good news on protecting student privacy in CPS and recent wins on the voucher front, bad news on the millionaires tax, and our plans for May Day.

If you are on social media, you can get many of these updates as they break via our feeds: Facebook, Bluesky, Instagram, Threads.

A millionaires tax could still appear on the ballot in November. The last day for the General Assembly to approve a resolution to put a ballot referendum to amend the Constitution is May 3rd. This is under discussion among House members today because the resolution is starting on the House side.

As a friend of and fighter for public schools, there are advocacy steps you can take right now at every level of government to keep school vouchers from returning to Illinois! Your quick action to-do list this week is after the jump.

Read on for news on primary ballot questions about the federal voucher program, dozens of advocacy groups calling on Gov. Pritzker to refuse vouchers for Illinois, and the latest on federal funding with public schools under siege due to federal immigration agents...

It's a new year on the calendar, but the fights to defend and improve our public schools continue. Read on for the latest news on the looming threat of the new federal voucher program and a potentially positive development for state school funding in Illinois...and action steps to take on both these issues.

Congress passed a massive and harmful bill in early July that includes sweeping cuts to essential programs that millions of people rely on every day. From healthcare and food assistance to housing, and clean energy investments, the harm done by this law will be felt in communities across the country—including in our public schools. To help break it all down, Citizen Action Illinois is holding a virtual briefing this coming Monday, Aug 11th at 11am with leading experts from the Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness, Illinois Environmental Council, the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, and Illinois Families for Public Schools.

The General Assembly’s Spring Session wrapped up last week in a flurry of votes on budget legislation. Here’s where some of the bills and issues on our legislative agenda ended up.

The Illinois Legislature has (finally!) passed a budget for the 2024 fiscal year, the Senate late on Thursday, and the House very early this morning.

Thankfully, there was NO language to extend the Invest in Kids voucher program or remove its sunset clause in any budget bills.

Gov. Pritzker gave his budget address on Wednesday, and it was heartening to hear him call out attacks on school boards and libraries, including book bans and 'Don't Say Gay' laws, and say unequivocally that here in Illinois we want our children to learn the truth about our history as a country, “warts and all.”

The General Assembly is back in session tomorrow in Springfield. This is likely to be a whirlwind three-day session covering a very barebones legislative agenda compared to a normal spring. (Politico shared this list of bills/topics on Tuesday.)

And, unfortunately, other than the state budget for Fiscal Year 2021, it's likely that not that much directly relevant for K-12 schools will be tackled.