There is a hearing this Wednesday in the IL House for HB 1774, the elected school board bill.  Take 2 minutes to fill out a witness slip and share with your contacts who care about having more democracy, transparency, and accountability in our public education system.

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. 

Updated: Neither of these bills will be heard this morning. Thanks to everyone who's filled out a slip so far. 

Please take a moment to file two witness slips for bills that will be heard in one of the IL House Education Committees this morning. We are asking people to oppose HB213 and support HB1774. Detailed instructions below.

We are going to be asking you often to complete a Witness Slip to support or oppose bills in Springfield. Trust us... this is a super easy action and can be impactful! This week we are asking you to file three witness slips. Even if you filled out a witness slip for one of these bills last week, you should do so again.  Bills have two chances to get voted out of committee but they require new witness slips for each hearing, as they don't get carried over.   

Please see below for detailed instructions.

We are going to be asking you often to complete a Witness Slip to support or oppose bills in Springfield.

Trust us... this is a super easy action!

On Tuesday, January 31, we and our sister organization, Raise Your Hand, delivered hundreds of letters from Illinois parents and community members to the offices of Senators Durbin and Duckworth. Before the delivery, we hosted a press conference and a rally. Our message was clear: Just vote no!

President-elect Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, is scheduled for a nomination hearing in the US Senate two days from now, January 11th. Call the Senate HELP Committee and tell them to oppose her nomination.

The federal Commission on Evidence-based Policy held its Midwest Hearing in Chicago on January 5, 2016. Raise Your Hand Action's co-executive director Cassie Creswell testified at the hearing on behalf of Raise Your Hand Action and the national group Parent Coalition for Student Privacy.

At this darkest time of year with a gloomy political climate to match, your legislators and governor will appreciate hearing from the people closest to their own heart/political fate—their constituents! 

The next few days are crucial to the effort of getting a fully elected, representative school board for Chicago Public Schools. Can you help us make democratic governance a reality for CPS? 

On Wednesday October 12th, we were thrilled to hear that plans to build a new selective enrollment high school, the project known as Obama Prep, were postponed indefinitely. This frees up $60 million in tax increment financing funds---$30 million of which can go back to CPS as part of a TIF surplus.