This spring’s legislative session had some conflicting tensions that shaped the budget. It is an election year, so there was pressure to fund items with popular support. But there were also factors pressing legislators to limit spending—including the end of COVID funds and handling the influx of migrants—as well as finding new revenue sources that … Continue reading Spring 2024 Legislative Successes
Understanding and Advocating on School Discipline
How does your child’s school approach school discipline and school climate? The University of Chicago Consortium on School Research recently released a toolkit called Family Playbook: School Suspensions, Discipline & Restorative Justice. The playbook summarizes research and data on school discipline and includes actions you can take to learn more about how your child’s school … Continue reading Understanding and Advocating on School Discipline
Your Guide to Transforming Literacy in Illinois
Last year, Illinois passed a law requiring the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to develop a comprehensive state literacy plan. The plan was developed through the summer and fall of last year before being adopted in January. ISBE now has resources available to help you and your PTA or PTA Council both understand and … Continue reading Your Guide to Transforming Literacy in Illinois
White House Takes Action on Safe Gun Storage
Illinois PTA adopted a resolution on Safe Gun Storage at the 2021 convention. A slightly-modified version of that resolution was submitted jointly by Illinois PTA and Michigan PTA and was adopted at the 2023 National PTA Convention. Last month, President Biden signed an executive order implementing several actions to promote safe gun storage in order … Continue reading White House Takes Action on Safe Gun Storage
New Report on Gun Death in Illinois
In 2021, Illinois PTA Convention delegates adopted a resolution on safe gun storage. Since then, we have advocated for safe gun storage laws in Illinois and educated members on firearms issues. A new report by One Aim Illinois called Gun Death in Illinois looks at the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) … Continue reading New Report on Gun Death in Illinois
Let’s Get Ready to Advocaaaaaaaaate!
The Illinois General Assembly has its Fall Veto Session coming up October 24-26 and November 7-9. This session is nominally aimed at reconsidering bills that the Governor has vetoed from the spring session, but the legislature can consider new bills or finish work on bills that didn’t pass both houses in the spring. Illinois PTA … Continue reading Let’s Get Ready to Advocaaaaaaaaate!
Understanding Your School District’s Finances
The Illinois Report Card for 2022-2023 will be released around the end of October. The report card covers how students performed on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR), demographic information for your school district, and financial information on your school district, including site-based expenditure reporting for each school in the district on a per-pupil basis. … Continue reading Understanding Your School District’s Finances
Call for Resolutions for the 2024 Illinois PTA Convention
Concerned about an issue in your community that is actually statewide in scope? Looking to strengthen your advocacy on that issue? Then you need to consider submitting a resolution to the 2024 Illinois PTA Convention. Resolutions are how Illinois PTA takes on new advocacy issues on specific topics, such as safe gun storage, health care … Continue reading Call for Resolutions for the 2024 Illinois PTA Convention
A Very Successful Spring 2023 Legislative Session
It was a very busy spring session in Springfield this year, with almost 6,700 bills introduced in the General Assembly. Our advocacy campaigns this spring were also incredibly successful, with our highest ever response rate and with almost all of our targeted legislation passing both houses and signed into law by the governor. Thank you … Continue reading A Very Successful Spring 2023 Legislative Session
Be An Arts Advocate – Speak Up for Diversity in the Arts
As we head back for another school year, take note that the arts are an essential part of a complete education, whether it happens in the home, school, or community. Children and youth benefit from innovative thinking, creative expression and improved focus. PTA supports programs that promote the public awareness of the arts and arts … Continue reading Be An Arts Advocate – Speak Up for Diversity in the Arts
New National PTA Resolutions
At this year’s virtual National PTA Convention, four resolutions were adopted by the delegates: Resolution on Hazing Resolution on Seizure Safe Schools Resolution on Safe Storage of Firearms Resolution on the Protection of and Support for LGBTQ+ Individuals Resolutions are how a local PTA or PTA Council can direct the Illinois PTA or National PTA … Continue reading New National PTA Resolutions
Advocacy, Legislation, and Results: Lead in School Drinking Water
Illinois PTA has a long history of advocacy success, and one of the biggest successes in recent years—testing school drinking water for lead—just had a follow-up article in the Chicago Tribune (Note: The Tribune has lowered its paywall for this article) along with a tool to see the results of your school district’s lead testing. … Continue reading Advocacy, Legislation, and Results: Lead in School Drinking Water
2 Minutes to Make a Difference
The spring session of the Illinois General Assembly wraps up soon, and there are several bills that Illinois PTA is advocating for that have already passed one house and need your support to help get them to the governor’s desk. The links to our campaigns for each of these bills are below. Taking action just … Continue reading 2 Minutes to Make a Difference
EBF Funding Works, But We Need to Do More
When the Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) formula passed in 2017, it promised to direct more state resources to the school districts that had been historically underfunded and to students with greater needs. Now, a new report by the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability shows that the EBF formula is doing exactly that. Educating Illinois: A … Continue reading EBF Funding Works, But We Need to Do More
Understanding TIFs
Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts have long been opposed by Illinois PTA, with our legislation platform supporting changes to the TIF law since 2009. But Illinois PTA has not made making changes to the TIF law an advocacy priority in the past for a variety of reasons: There hasn’t been any significant legislation in the … Continue reading Understanding TIFs
Tweaking Your PTA’s Course in the New Year
New Year’s is a time of fresh starts for a lot of people, but for PTAs, it’s the middle of the year. Your PTA doesn’t need a fresh start, but perhaps you could use a few minor “course corrections.” Here are three such changes your PTA should be considering now. Membership Your PTA got off … Continue reading Tweaking Your PTA’s Course in the New Year
Get Ready to Advocate
PTAs do a lot for kids, from providing programs to support learning, to engaging families in their children’s education, to raising funds to support their work and improve the lives of children. But PTAs make their biggest difference when they advocate, because through advocacy, PTAs affect the lives not just of the children who show … Continue reading Get Ready to Advocate
The State We’re In 2022
Our colleagues at Advance Illinois have released the latest in their series of reports, The State We’re In 2022—A Look at the Impact of COVID-19 on Education in Illinois. While past reports in the series have focused on school funding and student achievement, the latest report dives into how the pandemic has affected education in … Continue reading The State We’re In 2022
Spring 2022 Legislative Successes
This being an election year, the Illinois General Assembly wrapped up their spring session in early April rather than at the end of May. Since the governor is required to take action on bills within 60 days of them being sent for signing, the fate of only a handful of bills remain uncertain. Here are … Continue reading Spring 2022 Legislative Successes
Mobilize Your PTA Against Gun Violence
It is in the headlines every day. It can’t be avoided at the grocery store, at church, at school, or anywhere in our communities. It is gun violence, and as National PTA President Anna King notes in the headline of her One Voice blog post, we are well beyond enough is enough. Your PTA can … Continue reading Mobilize Your PTA Against Gun Violence
One Voice Illinois 