Up until now, Chicago Public Schools has never had an elected school board in its entire history. All that will change as HB 2809 — passed in the Illinois General Assembly’s 2021 spring session — goes into effect. It’s been a long time coming.
Elected, Representative School Board legislation is moving through the General Assembly.
Our success in Springfield depends on you — call your legislators today.
The Illinois General Assembly has started its spring legislative session, and CTU is there advocating for what our schools need. Our goal is to build on our recent victories and to pass legislation that makes concrete improvements in school governance and oversight and that allows us to be more effective in our work.
HB 2275 will restore bargaining rights to CTU and all other CPS unions that were eliminated by the 1995 amendatory act. Both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly have passed it. IL House Speaker Welch needs to send the bill now to Governor Pritzker so he can sign it. Write them both and your state representative to urge action as soon as possible on this bill which can impact the safe reopening agreement under negotiation now between CTU and CPS.
On January 11, 2021, the Illinois Senate ratified HB2275, a bill that reinstates the bargaining rights taken from unions representing CPS employees back in 1995. The only remaining step in the repeal of the onerous 1995 language is for Governor J.B. Pritzker to sign the legislation. Send Gov. Pritzker a message urging him to request the legislation from House Speaker Welch so he can sign it.
Get your state senator’s phone number. Call their Springfield office and tell them to “Vote Yes on both HB2267 and HB2275 and to restore CTU’s bargaining rights and bring democracy to Chicago Public Schools.” Then call Senate President Don Harmon at 217-782-8176 and tell him to call the bills and vote Yes!
Get your state senator’s phone number. Call and tell them to “Vote Yes on HB2275 and restore CTU’s bargaining rights.” Then call Senate President Don Harmon at 708-848-2002 and tell him to call the bill and vote Yes!
The Illinois Educational Labor Relation Board (IELRB) issued a preliminary ruling not to impose an injunction, yet, against CPS’s plan to force Pre-K and Special Education cluster students and educators on Thursday, December 17. This development requires a new call to action. While there will still be an IELRB hearing on the full case, we must urge elected officials to raise their voices for the safety of our school communities.
Chicago is an outlier in Illinois as a major district whose school board is not directly elected by the people whose welfare it is meant to serve. HB 2267, which has passed the House and currently awaits recognition and vote in the Senate, would fix that situation and finally bring an important measure of democracy to Chicago Public Schools.
