- Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a budget for 2024 into law on June 7 that did not provide funding to continue the Invest in Kids Act, a program that currently provides 9,000 low-income students with a tax credit scholarship to be used on education services, which will conclude at the end of 2023 if the state legislature does not vote to save it, according to the Chicago Tribune.
- If the legislature refuses to extend the program and lets it expire, thousands of low-income students and families using the initiative will be left without tax-credit scholarships to spend on other education expenses, school choice advocates told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
- “By killing this program, Illinois Democrats are forcing thousands of low-income students into government schools that are failing them. So much for all that ‘equity’ Democrats are always preaching about. These sorry politicians are ripping away scholarships from thousands of low-income families to protect the government school special interests that contribute to their campaigns,” Corey DeAngelis, senior fellow at the American Federation for Children (AFC), a group working towards more school choice, told the DCNF.
If Illinois Democrats quietly let the state’s school choice program expire, thousands of low-income families and students who are already utilizing the program could be affected, school choice advocates told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
On June 7, Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a 2024 budget into law that did not include funding to extend the Invest in Kids Act, a program that currently provides 9,000 low-income students with a tax credit scholarship to be used on education services, which is set to expire at the end of 2023 if the state House and Senate do not vote to continue it, according to the Chicago Tribune. Failing to renew the program for 2024 will force thousands of students into government-backed schools and saddle taxpayers with larger costs, school choice advocates told the DCNF. (RELATED: ‘Unprecedented Push’: Here Are The Red States That Have Enacted Sweeping School Choice Legislation In 2023)
“By killing this program, Illinois Democrats are forcing thousands of low-income students into government schools that are failing them,” Corey DeAngelis, senior fellow at the American Federation for Children (AFC), a group working towards more school choice, told the DCNF. “So much for all that ‘equity’ Democrats are always preaching about. These sorry politicians are ripping away scholarships from thousands of low-income families to protect the government school special interests that contribute to their campaigns. They are owned by the teachers unions. It’s time for the kids’ union – the parents – to step up and hold these politicians accountable.”
Established in 2017, the Invest in Kids Act has a sunset clause that would cause the program to expire at the end of 2023, unless the state chambers vote to renew it in the fall legislative session, according to Empower Illinois, an organization focused on expanding education quality for low-income families. In total, the program has given 37,000 scholarships, which are awarded on a need-basis to families whose average household income is $43,000 or 165% of the federal poverty level.
During the spring 2023 legislative session, state House Republicans signed a letter urging the General Assembly to vote to renew the Invest in Kids Act, though no state Democratic congressmen agreed to sign the letter, with some declining to sign on entirely, according to Wirepoints.
Pritzker has said the initiative could be extended if it is modified and voted on in the fall legislative session, though it is unlikely to be considered after the General Assembly, controlled by the Democrats, refused to hear the legislation in the spring session, the Center Square reported. Pritzker suggested that the program would need to be reworked to have the federal government cover 40% of the cost of the Invest in Kids Act.
“Despite daily pleas throughout the legislative session to extend the school choice program from parents, grandparents, foster parents, and guardians of children receiving the tax credit scholarship, Democratic House Speaker Chris Welch didn’t seem to even notice,” Myles Mendoza, founder of Empower Illinois, said
The state’s teachers union, the Illinois Education Association (IEA), called on the state legislature to allow the Invest in Kids Act to expire, the Chicago Tribune reported.
“We are still not fully funding our schools as we should,” Kathi Griffin, president of the Illinois Education Association, told NBC Chicago 5. “Once we get to fully funding our schools, then let’s talk about adding these types of programs. But we need to take care of all of our students.”
The 2024 $49.6 billion budget signed into law by Pritzker includes $250 million allotted for early education and an increase of $506 million for K-12 education in 2023.
Jason Bedrick, a research fellow in the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation, told the DCNF that cutting the school choice program will cost taxpayers more than if they were to extend the initiative.
“This is a politically motivated attack on low-income families seeking the best possible education for their children,” Bedrick told the DCNF. “The scholarships cost the state only about $8,350 per pupil, less than half of the average $19,700 per pupil at public schools statewide and less than a third of the more than $29,000 per pupil in Chicago public schools.”
“In other words, if the families of the 9,000 students currently receiving scholarships – many of whom are in Chicago – can no longer afford to enroll them in private school, it could cost taxpayers between $100 million to $150 million more to educate them at district schools that are less well-suited to their learning needs,” Bedrick told the DCNF.
Lucy Baldwin, a teacher at King Elementary School, sits in an empty classroom teaching her students remotely during the first day of classes on September 08, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
While Illinois’ school choice program remains in limbo, lawmakers across the country are pushing to enact similar initiatives in their states; Republican Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders signed a bill into law in March establishing a universal school program by the 2025-2026 school year. The same month, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law making the state’s school choice program universal.
“Unfortunately, politics and political considerations are getting in the way of student success in this instance,” Laura Zorc, the director of Education Reform for Building Education For Students Together, an organization focused on increasing parental rights in education, told the DCNF.
“This is a program that utilizes tax credit funding through qualified scholarship programs rather than state tax dollars, so this callous move does nothing more than destroy a pipeline for low-income students to achieve a quality education,” Zorc told the DCNF. “Since 2017, Illinois’s limited school choice program has helped thousands of low-income students receive a quality education that fits with their needs, including 9,000 current beneficiaries.”
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