[OccupyCU] Fw: Resist corporate education "reform."

[David Johnson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Northern Illinois Jobs With Justice 
To: davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net 
Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2014 8:04 AM
Subject: Resist corporate education "reform."




Let's move three more bills in Springfield to start repairing the damage corporate "education reform"  has caused in Illinois.



We had a small but significant victory on March 5th when HB 3754 and  4237 were both passed out of committee.  Both of these, if passed  by the whole legislature, would restore local control of decisions about charter schools.


Now let's work to improve the quality of existing and future charter schools,  and end some of the bad practices which have allowed them to hype their "products,"  at the expenses of students. Help pass these three bills.


Most important is the  Charter  School Accountability Act.  HB 6005  (click here to see it)   and its Senate Companion SB 3030,  which  would create oversight of charter school finances, would prohibit future charters to hire a for-profit EMO,  and would provide an accounting of students who leave charters and return to the neighborhood schools. 


Second is  HB 2793  ( click here to see it ) would give the City of Chicago an elected, instead of appointed, school board.

And Third  is  HB 5330  ( click here to see it ) which creates a committee of  teachers and parents to review the testing regimens in Illinois schools and push back against some of the extreme testing.

Call your lawmakers in Springfield and ask them to support these three bills.  Click on this link  to find their contact information.






While you are on the phone with them, remind them to co-sponsor the three bills about which we wrote to you last week.  They need an additional plug.


  a..  HB 3754.  This bill would eliminate the Illinois State Charter Commission, which was created to overturn decisions of local elected schools that have rejected applications of charter schools.  The Commission was put together to under the heavy influence of wealthy hedge fund managers and their front groups: Stand for Chilren and Advance Illinois.    Click   here     to read the bill.   The companion bill in the Senate is SB 2627. 

  a.. HB 4237 would allow districts to hold a referendum if the charter commission overturned the decision of a local school board.  Click  here    to read the bill. 

  a.. HB 4767,  would require all schools to hire only state certified teachers, and would require uncertified teachers to become certified  by September of 2016.  Currently, up to 25% of teachers in charter schools are uncertified and are paid less than their counterparts in neighborhood public schools.  Many of these teachers are given a 6-week course through Teach for America.  This  leaves them woefully unprepared for the challenges of the classroom.  The practice results in high turnover among those teachers, and a lower quality educational experience for the student. Click     here   to read the bill. 
Ideally, our lawmakers will support all six of these bills.  Please persuade them to do so.
























-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/occupycu/attachments/20140322/3bb111a1/attachment.html>