Strong public schools that welcome and nurture every child and young person benefit all of us. And—because of that—public schools are one of the foundational institutions in our country that Trump and his anti-democratic lackeys are trying to destroy.

One method of destruction that Congress voted last month to roll out is a nationwide school voucher program.

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.

Despite months of organizing and a concerted last-ditch effort by Democratic Senators to stop it, a federal voucher program ended up in the final version of the reconciliation bill that narrowly passed both chambers earlier this month.

There's been lots of public education news in recent days. Below we cover three stories where your action is needed:

• Legislation to create national voucher program advances in the US House
• Fallout from the Powerschool data breach continues, but no movement on student data privacy bill in Springfield
• For-profit virtual counseling services in CPS endanger students' private data

All over Illinois (and around the world!), people were in the streets again yesterday, this time for May Day, marching for workers, immigrants and the public good. Here’s three ways we can keep that energy going in the fight to defend our public schools…

The daily ramping up of authoritarianism by the Trump regime is distressing and daunting. And we’re seeing the impact of attacks on Illinois’ public schools, where federal funds are being slashed for everything from HVAC improvements to local foods in school cafeterias to National History Day. But there is also resistance taking place at all levels—including protecting public schools and public school students—that we must celebrate and build on.  

We all want our public schools to be safe and nurturing environments for children and young people. But, in 2019 shocking investigative reporting by Pro Publica and the Chicago Tribune showed that, unfortunately, schools across Illinois were using practices to physically restrain and seclude students—especially those with disabilities—that subjected them to harm, trauma and even the risk of death. Now a new bill would undermine the reforms passed to address those terrible practices.

IL-FPS is in Springfield today and tomorrow talking to legislators about giving our state student data privacy law some teeth by passing HB 2696.

Right now, the Student Online Personal Protection Act (SOPPA) depends solely on our IL State Attorney General for enforcement.

Thousands of bills are introduced in Springfield every session. Here's some of the bills that we are supporting or following closely during the spring 2025 session of the 104th IL General Assembly. 

IL-FPS Legislative Initiative

Strengthen SOPPA - HB 2696 [Fact Sheet] This bill would give families the right to sue tech companies and other school vendors who violate the Student Online Personal Protection Act (SOPPA) instead of relying only on the IL Attorney General, who has taken no action to enforce the law's ban on data sales against state standardized testing contractors. Write to ask your state senator to sponsor this bill here.

Other bills we support

Bill we're opposing

Rollback reforms of seclusion and restraint - SB 1943 In spring of 2021, due to the hard work of disability rights advocacy groups and others, legislation and administrative rules finally passed to address horrific systemic abuse of students, via seclusion and restraint practices in schools across the state, exposed by investigative reporting by Pro Publica and the Chicago Tribune. SB 1943 would rollback crucial aspects of the reforms in PA 102-0339 with respect to training staff, reporting, investigations and limiting and eliminating practices that endanger students, even though data on seclusion and restraint has not yet shown significant improvements. Read more background on why this bill shouldn't pass here. 

 Looking for our past legislative agendas? 2024 - 103rd GA, 2023 - 103rd GA, 2022 - 102nd GA, 2021 - 102nd GA; 2020 - 101st GA; 2019 - 101st GA; 2018 - 100th GA

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.