Our students deserve affordable tuition, meaningful programs and opportunities, and adequate resources for support - not increased costs and program cuts.
Register here: https://bit.ly/4mhAFjQ?r=qr
We're demanding real investment in higher education: the full funding needed to provide high-quality instruction on thriving campuses throughout the state.
Higher education workers know the challenges on our campuses—and we know change happens when we organize and advocate together.
That's why we're going to the Capitol on Thursday, April 16 and calling on lawmakers to pass and fund HB 1581, the Adequate and Equitable Public University Funding Act.
Contact your lawmaker today to communicate your support. Once you call the number and give your address, you should be connected with your lawmaker. Stay on the line afterwards to be connected to your second lawmaker.
The Unemployment Equity Act (SB3286/HB4416) would finally allow essential public education support staff to receive unemployment insurance during the summer months, just like private‑sector workers performing the same jobs.
We cannot claim to value public education while forcing the people who keep it running to survive months each year with no financial safety net.
Every summer in Illinois, thousands of public education paraprofessionals and school related personnel are not only cut off from their regular income, but also denied access to unemployment insurance during the summer months.
This week, we’re asking every one of our members to stand with PSRPs and take action by calling their lawmakers and asking them to support the Unemployment Equity Act.
📰 Read more: Illinois millionaire tax could help curb property taxes, boost education funding, study says: https://bit.ly/4cvnwzo
The result has been persistent underinvestment in public education, health care, higher education, and essential services in communities across the state.
But lawmakers are considering a tax on millionaires that will raise the revenue our schools, campuses, and communities need.
For decades, Illinois has faced a structural revenue problem. Our tax system asks working families to carry too much of the load while the wealthiest individuals and corporations contribute far less than their fair share.
We're calling on lawmakers to start prioritizing working people and pass the Unemployment Equity and Fairness Act.
School support staff don’t stop needing income just because summer starts. Access to unemployment insurance during summer months is a common‑sense way to support the workers who keep schools and campuses running.
From bus drivers to custodial staff to paraprofessionals to food service workers, education support staff do essential work during the school year but are left without pay in the summer.
Illinois has a choice. It’s time to fund our schools, communities, and institutions and prioritize supporting our students over protecting billionaire profits.
Learn more: ift-aft.org/fairfunding
Students pay the price while services are cut: fewer advisors, fewer classes, fewer supports. And when tuition goes up, students work more hours, take fewer classes, or drop out entirely.
Meanwhile, the ultra-wealthy keep getting tax breaks they don't need.
Community college tuition keeps rising — not because education costs more, but because the state keeps investing less.
Happy National Siblings Day to all our union siblings—the coworkers who stand shoulder to shoulder, look out for one another, and have each other's backs when it matters most.
Solidarity isn’t just a principle; it’s a bond.
When summer comes, their income pauses, but they don't have access to unemployment insurance like support staff do at private schools.
We're fighting to fix this inequity in the unemployment system because stability for our workers means stability for our schools.
No paycheck shouldn't mean no safety net.
Public school and university support staff keep our campuses running, serving students, maintaining facilities, providing care, and holding systems together.
ℹ️ More info: ift-aft.org/uli.
Participants who successfully complete this professional development:
✅ earn & maintain a designation in ELIS as qualified evaluators of teachers
✅ use what they learn to improve local evaluation plans through their PERA joint committees
✅ apply learning to their own evaluation experience
+ more!
Register now for May and June IFT Administrators Academy Teacher Evaluation Initial and Retraining courses!
Underfunding has consequences. It looks like crowded classrooms, understaffed campuses, rising tuition, and stretched public services. With our Full Funding Friday actions, we're showing lawmakers and the public that schools and communities need full funding to thrive.
TOMORROW: How are you joining your union for another Full Funding Friday?
Walking in together? Wearing IFT blue? Tell us how you're showing what it looks like when workers stand united for fully funded education and public services!
We're looking forward to another one this Friday, April 10 - join us! Post on social media (and tag us!) about why your district, campus, or public workplace needs full funding and how taxing the most wealthy is the way to make it happen.
Learn more: ift-aft.org/fairfunding.
It doesn’t have to be that way. It is time for our political conversation to be centered on those who work the hardest, not those who can afford to speak the loudest. That's what Full Funding Fridays are all about.
While the top 5% in our state are getting massive tax breaks, teachers and school staff, higher education workers, and public employees are being asked to do more with less, working without the resources, respect, and dignity they deserve.
