General election results promising for Illinois charter school families and thousands of students on waitlists.

Chicago, IL– INCS Action celebrates bipartisan victories in state House and Senate races. INCS Action, Illinois’ only statewide advocacy organization focused on improving access to quality charter public schools for Illinois families, marked its third election cycle in 2016 with new victories. In sum, fourteen of eighteen of INCS Action PAC’s endorsed candidates won in the November election.

“We launched our political organizations to ensure that elected officials who stand up for Illinois children are supported,” said David Weinberg, Chairman of INCS Action PAC. “Every child in Illinois should have access to a quality public school of their choice, and these candidates have made clear their dedication to that principle.”

The impact of the election could not be more clear. A record number of members of the General Assembly who support high-quality charter schools were elected. Those opposed to allowing families to choose a public school that best fits the needs of their child spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to defeat candidates with views in opposition to their own. Despite this outlay, the message from voters was crystal clear: candidates can support quality charter public schools and win their elections.

“We commend the voters yesterday whose actions spoke volumes and demanded that candidates embrace equal educational access,” said Adam Rogalski, Director of Government Affairs for INCS Action. “Parents are interested in making sure their child attends a quality school and are not interested in protecting systems or institutions.  Our focus is squarely where it should be—on children.”

Charter public schools are a part of the solution to raising academic achievement and improving access to quality schools for all children in Illinois’ public education system. Many charter public schools have proven track records of higher academic growth, graduation rates, college enrollment, and college persistence. In Chicago, charter schools represent 9 of the top 10 highest performing open enrollment high schools on the ACT.

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INCS Action Mission

INCS Action and its affiliated organizations, INCS Action PAC and INCS Action IC, were created in 2014 with the mission to engage the charter school community in the legislative and political process, grow the coalition of charter public school supporters and activists, and educate Illinois public officials on the impact of charter public schools in the lives of families and in communities across the state. For more information on INCS Action, visit www.incsaction.org.