{"id":532104,"date":"2010-04-17T14:01:07","date_gmt":"2010-04-17T18:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/illinoiseducationassociation.org\/?p=7283"},"modified":"2010-04-17T14:01:07","modified_gmt":"2010-04-17T18:01:07","slug":"rally-day-q%e2%80%99s-and-a%e2%80%99s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/532104","title":{"rendered":"Rally Day Q\u2019s and A\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/illinoiseducationassociation.org\/media\/Statehouse-rally1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7285 colorbox-7283\" title=\"Statehouse rally\" src=\"http:\/\/illinoiseducationassociation.org\/media\/Statehouse-rally1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A few questions have come our way. \u00a0Here are some answers:<\/p>\n<p><strong>I attended the CARE Rally of 2007, when 8,000 people participated.\u00a0 Can Wednesday\u2019s Rally come close to that experience?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We are cautiously optimistic that this will be the biggest rally Springfield has seen in decades, with more than 13,000 attendees.\u00a0 The reason for this projected turnout is the IEA involvement with the Reasonable Budget Coalition (RBC), which includes all of the major unions in Illinois (including IFT, AFSCME, SEIU) as well as scores of agencies that provide human services support to children, the mentally ill and senior citizens.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s going to be big.<\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s the weather forecast for Wednesday?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">At this writing: sunny and 71 degrees.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Since this is a rally, will I still get to see my legislator?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you have arranged in advance to meet with your senator and representative, there is a good chance you will have the face-to-face meeting.\u00a0 However, the Statehouse has limited capacity.\u00a0 If the turnout is as large as expected, at some point the State Fire Marshal might bar any new people entering the building until some have left.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, participating in Wednesday\u2019s rally sends a clear, powerful message to every office-holder in state government: YOU BROKE IT, NOW FIX IT!<\/p>\n<p><strong>If I meet with my legislator, or if a reporter asks me a question, what should I say?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It is important that you speak from the heart about what you see in your district\/building\/classroom\/higher education institution.\u00a0 Paint a picture about what failing to fund education means to you, your students and your community.<\/p>\n<p>Suggested talking points for Wednesday include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>We need a balanced approach to this crisis:\u00a0 That means budget cuts AND increased revenue.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>We support the one percent income tax increase for education but that is NOT an adequate solution.\u00a0 We need comprehensive tax reform such as that found in HB 174.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>HB 174 would eliminate the need for layoffs in education.\u00a0 It would allow the state to reduce the budget deficit while preserving services for children, the mentally ill and the elderly. Pass HB 174!<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Why are we pushing for HB 174 and not focusing solely on the one percent increase for education?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We have been down this road before.\u00a0 Until the state addresses the needs of all citizens, education will be pitted against human services and employees of state government in a fight over an ever-shrinking fiscal pie.\u00a0 We need a comprehensive solution such as that found in HB 174 or its equivalent.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is this going to make a difference?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yes. \u00a0The state cannot forever ignore the needs of the citizens.\u00a0 The only question is <em>when will we reach the point that the members of the General Assembly (particularly Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) and Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego) decide that it is worse for them to refuse to address the needs of the state than it is to raise taxes.<span style=\"font-style: normal;\"> <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not a question of whether to meet the needs of Illinoisans.\u00a0 It\u2019s a question of when the will to do so will be found.<\/p>\n<p>On April 21<sup>st<\/sup>, thousands of IEA members, joined by many thousands of other concerned citizens, will deliver the message that Illinois needs responsible action from its elected officials.\u00a0 <strong>This action is a step that is absolutely necessary in order for the policymakers to come to their senses.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A big turnout Wednesday will help.<\/p>\n<p>Heavy lobbying (via phone or email) by IEA members and others who aren\u2019t able to make the trip to Springfield on Wednesday will help.<\/p>\n<p>Every IEA member can participate.\u00a0 If every member does, we will be successful.\u00a0 It\u2019s a matter of when.<\/p>\n<p>No question.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Follow IEA on Twitter: <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/ieanea\/\"><strong>http:\/\/twitter.com\/ieanea\/<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Follow me on Twitter: <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/charliemcbarron\/\"><strong>http:\/\/twitter.com\/charliemcbarron\/<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few questions have come our way. \u00a0Here are some answers: I attended the CARE Rally of 2007, when 8,000 people participated.\u00a0 Can Wednesday\u2019s Rally come close to that experience? We are cautiously optimistic that this will be the biggest rally Springfield has seen in decades, with more than 13,000 attendees.\u00a0 The reason for this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5336,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-532104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5336"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532104\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}