Strong public schools that welcome and nurture every child benefit all of us. But, as you know, since January, the Trump administration has been engaged in a massive campaign to destroy our public school system, in line with a larger agenda of undermining the public good and the foundations of a democratic society, including the establishment of a brand new federal voucher program.

Here are two important actions to take today to fight to preserve public ed and the public good at the federal level.

Things are tough, but taking collective action is the way forward. Read on and look for four actions highlighted below that you take right now...

Mental health is a prerequisite for learning, and all kids deserve access to mental healthcare. As ICE terrorizes larger and larger swathes of our city, the already urgent need for mental health services for students is only increasing.

Unfortunately, one of the resources Chicago Public Schools is directing families and students to is a for-profit mental health tech company, Hazel Health, that’s just merged with another startup with deep connections to one of ICE’s Big Tech partners, Palantir.

Yesterday five advocacy organizations sent a letter to the Chicago Board of Education and Chicago Public Schools Superintendent-CEO Macqueline King calling on them to cancel CPS’ contract with Hazel Health, a for-profit tech company providing mental health services to CPS high school students or remedy the lack of protections for sensitive student data before the contract renews automatically on December 31, 2025. Full press release below.

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.

The US Senate could vote as early as Friday on the reconciliation bill that would harm so much of the fabric of our country, including the basics of food, healthcare, and, yes, public schools, in order to bankroll billionaires.

But, the exact contents of the bill on the Senate side are still fluid, and, as of this afternoon, some Republicans aren’t fully on board yet.

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