This week's General Assembly committee deadlines mean its witness slip time! This Friday is an important legislative deadline for bills to pass in committee in their chamber of origin. (Here’s a helpful graphic of the route from bill to law.)

Last Tuesday the Senate version of the Too Young to Test bill, SB 3986, passed in the Senate Education Committee. There is also a companion bill in the House, HB 5285, filed by chief sponsor Rep Lindsey LaPointe with the same language as the Senate version that is now moving, and it has a House Education Committee hearing this Wednesday 2/16 at 2pm.

Please put in a witness slip as a PROPONENT before the hearing! Witness slip filing instructions here.

Things are moving again in Springfield, and the Too Young to Test bill, SB 3986, we're working on has a Senate Education Committee hearing at 1:30 tomorrow afternoon!

Please put in a witness slip as a PROPONENT before the hearing! Witness slip filing instructions here.

Despite pleas for state testing waivers this year, Biden administration says tests will go on - with some flexibility

The IL State Board of Ed joined many other states in requesting a waiver for giving state tests this year. This came after over 600 Superintendents in IL, led by Tony Sanders of U-46 Elgin organized the mass effort to inform ISBE and the US Dept of Ed that there should be a pause in testing.  

There are several bills under consideration in the IL General Assembly right now that would protect children's data in and out of school, including the much needed student data protection bill RYH Action has been working on, HB3606/SB2089. 

Big week in Springfield coming up: Friday is the deadline for bills to get out of committee in the House and Senate. On Tuesday the 10th there are two education committee hearings in the House and one in the Senate. There’s a lot of education legislation on the docket, and this is a crucial time to register your opposition and support by filing witness slips.

A bill must first pass a substantive committee (e.g. Education, Transportation, Appropriations) in order to get a vote in the full IL House or IL Senate. When a bill is scheduled for a committee hearing and vote, the public can weigh in on the bill by submitting a witness slip online. The volume of witness slips signifies the level of public support or opposition to bills to legislators who serve on the committee hearing the bill. 

Here's how to fill out a witness slip:

1. Name, Address, City, State, Zip: Complete (no dots or abbreviations)
2. Firm/Business:  "none" or "self."
3. Title:  "self"
4. Email and phone: Complete these lines
5. Representation: "self"
6. Position: Select "PROPONENT" to support the bill or "OPPONENT" to oppose the bill
7. Testimony: Check "RECORD of APPEARANCE"
8. CAPTCHA: Fill out, (put space between words if applicable)
9. ILGA Terms of Agreement: Check box to agree

If you run into difficulties, you can email us at [email protected].

Want to know even more? In April 2021, we held a tutorial on witness slips Witness Slips Solved,  you can find the slides from it here. And watch the recording here.

Once you get the hang out of it, this is a quick and easy additional way to support or oppose a bill besides calling, writing and visiting your legislator. You can also create an account on my.ilga.gov site to make filling out and tracking your witness slips even faster. (It also allows you to change your slip in case you make an error!)

The IL General Assembly is back in session this week, and there's an important bill on the agenda in the Senate Education Committee this Tuesday, Jan. 30th for supporters of public schools and the common good.

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.

There is a hearing this Wednesday, March 29, in the IL House for HB3786, the LSC Empowerment Bill. Take 2 minutes to fill out a witness slip and share with your contacts.

Even if you filled out a witness slip for this bill recently, you should do so again. While this bill was on the hearing schedule previously, it did not come up for a vote and therefore the witness slip process needs to start over again.

Please see below for detailed instructions.