Stand for Children’s mission is to ensure that all children, regardless of their background, graduate from high school prepared for, and with access to, a college education. We recognize that achieving this mission requires a disciplined and strategic approach, which is why Stand for Children is committed to grassroots organizing and political advocacy.
We work to elect leaders who are deeply committed to improving educational opportunities for children and who put students at the forefront of education policies. We do this through our Illinois Political Action Committee (PAC), which is independent and non-partisan. We look for candidates who believe in these tenets to building better public schools:
- Supporting outstanding teachers and leaders, through: improving educator evaluations; strengthening teacher preparation programs; supporting differentiated compensation; and enhancing alternative certification programs.
- Requiring high standards and effective systems through: implementing Common Core Standards and new aligned assessments; improving accountability and equitable funding for charter schools; lifting the charter school cap to increase quality public school options; and providing more instruction time for students.
- Prioritizing education in the State budget, including funding for: teacher and principal development, early childhood education, and high-poverty districts.
With the November 6th general election soon upon us, our first phase of endorsements consisted of a comprehensive process to identify and endorse those candidates we believe will be champions for education. Our process:
- We sent a questionnaire to every legislative candidate in a contested race.
- An internal selection committee formed a set of criteria by which to consider candidates, including efforts to support education reform initiatives, responses to questionnaire, and voting records on key education reform legislation for incumbents.
- Stand invited each candidate to participate in interviews with members of the internal selection committee.
- After this process was complete, the PAC endorsed 24 candidates that you can see listed to the left.