SUPER BLINKING RED ALERT ON HB6005 *
*(I will update this post as other people submit their witness slips.)
Ok, I'm ratcheting up the threat level from Red Alert to SUPER BLINKING RED ALERT on HB 6005, the Charter Accountability Act, which has a hearing in the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee on Monday, April 24, which is in two days.
And just to be clear, the threat is from apathy, inertia, or fatigue, not the bill. The bill is the best charter bill of the season and deserves your immediate support.
Ok, I'm ratcheting up the threat level from Red Alert to SUPER BLINKING RED ALERT on HB 6005, the Charter Accountability Act, which has a hearing in the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee on Monday, April 24, which is in two days.
And just to be clear, the threat is from apathy, inertia, or fatigue, not the bill. The bill is the best charter bill of the season and deserves your immediate support.
In order to get laws that counteract the destruction of the privatization movement, we have to first get bills out of committee. It's Saturday evening, and as of this post, I am the only person in Illinois affirmed as a proponent of this excellent bill.**( awesome update below)
We really need to have about a thousand other people filling out witness slips, so that during the hearing, someone can point out that the overwhelming majority of official witnesses are in favor of the Act. You can bet that on Monday morning, the charter people, the Stand For Children money-hurling mafia, and at least one of the Steans heiresses are going to sign in asopponents.
Look at the witness list as of 5:30 PM Saturday night.**(update below)
I feel like Gladys Kravitz at the window. Abner! Abner! These bills don't pass themselves, and they don't pass if people think nobody cares about them. Please, please, please fill out a witness slip as a proponent. You can even submit testimony, likePURE recently did for three related bills. In a previous post, I explained how to submit the written testimony, but here it is again.
But you don't have to do written testimony. You can just do what I did in this earlier video (about a different bill). Click here to get started.
This bill on deck for Monday, HB6005, is the best bill I've seen for clearing up some of the standard abuses in the charter sector. Read the whole bill and tell me what's in there that you disagree with. There won't be anything. It's a GREAT bill that needs witnesses as proponents for it. The charter people will fight it tooth and nail because it puts sunlight on things that they'd rather have stay in the dark.
HERE IS THE SPECIFIC WITNESS SLIP FOR HB6005. Please fill one out as a proponent right now, and then have your friends do the same. If you run an organization, fill one out on behalf of your organization. If you're just an individual citizen, then fill out the blanks as "Private Citizen" or whatever you like.
Here's CTU's positive assessment of the bill, and frankly, they've left out a number of really good things about the it!
I feel like Gladys Kravitz at the window. Abner! Abner! These bills don't pass themselves, and they don't pass if people think nobody cares about them. Please, please, please fill out a witness slip as a proponent. You can even submit testimony, likePURE recently did for three related bills. In a previous post, I explained how to submit the written testimony, but here it is again.
But you don't have to do written testimony. You can just do what I did in this earlier video (about a different bill). Click here to get started.
This bill on deck for Monday, HB6005, is the best bill I've seen for clearing up some of the standard abuses in the charter sector. Read the whole bill and tell me what's in there that you disagree with. There won't be anything. It's a GREAT bill that needs witnesses as proponents for it. The charter people will fight it tooth and nail because it puts sunlight on things that they'd rather have stay in the dark.
HERE IS THE SPECIFIC WITNESS SLIP FOR HB6005. Please fill one out as a proponent right now, and then have your friends do the same. If you run an organization, fill one out on behalf of your organization. If you're just an individual citizen, then fill out the blanks as "Private Citizen" or whatever you like.
Here's CTU's positive assessment of the bill, and frankly, they've left out a number of really good things about the it!
Please don't wait. IFT will probably not weigh in (more on that later), and IEA is, in my humble opinion, totally asleep at the wheel. This is up to us. We have to pass this bill at the grassroots level-- people have worked for days and days on these bills; we could use a little help here, from everyone!
HERE IS THE WITNESS SLIP LINK AGAIN. GO!
Love,
Tim
**UPDATE 9:54 PM Jennie Biggs informs me that it's possible others have witness-slipped this bill earlier and aren't showing. I agree. Anyway, looks like the cavalry is riding in. Thank goodness! Join in! Here's who's on board as of 8:50 AM Sunday; it's awesome, but we're still 987 short of our goal. Tell your friends! (I'll check in again around 12:30 PM.)
HERE IS THE WITNESS SLIP LINK AGAIN. GO!
Love,
Tim
**UPDATE 9:54 PM Jennie Biggs informs me that it's possible others have witness-slipped this bill earlier and aren't showing. I agree. Anyway, looks like the cavalry is riding in. Thank goodness! Join in! Here's who's on board as of 8:50 AM Sunday; it's awesome, but we're still 987 short of our goal. Tell your friends! (I'll check in again around 12:30 PM.)
