An Unforgivable Betrayal of Working-Class Families in Illinois

By Matt Paprocki

Monday, July 10, 2023

 

Illinois’s 2024 budget took effect on July 1, and notably absent among the line items was an extension for a program improving the lives of thousands of working families. The Invest in Kids tax-credit scholarship program, Illinois’s sole school-choice offering, is now set to expire December 31.

 

Eliminating the program, which has allowed private citizens to donate money for low-income scholarships in exchange for a state tax credit, would force the 9,600 students relying on it — and the 26,000 families on a waiting list — back into schools that are failing them. For many, their only choices will be to stay stuck in the cycle of poverty and dependency or to move out of Illinois.

 

This radical decision to allow such a beacon of opportunity to expire begs the question: Why?

 

The trio at the helm of most decisions — Governor J. B. Pritzker, Illinois house speaker Chris Welch, and state senate president Don Harmon — are no strangers to the benefits of private education. They chose private schools for their own children.

 

So was killing the hopes of thousands of Illinois kids a financial decision? No. The new $50 billion budget includes nearly $5,000 a year in raises for each part-time lawmaker after they gave themselves a $12,000 pay raise last year. It also includes $50 million for the “planning” of a new lawmaker office building . . . not even including the construction costs. During the past school year, Invest in Kids utilized roughly $57 million in state tax credits given to donors last year.

 

If it were a financial decision, lawmakers would also reflect on how taxpayers are already paying Chicago Public Schools nearly $30,000 per kid, while only 30 percent of students are reading at grade level.

 

Okay, so did Springfield kill Invest in Kids because it was unpopular? No, the majority of Illinoisans support the tax-credit scholarship program. Invest in Kids garners approval from 77 percent of Asian voters, 72 percent of Hispanic voters, 56 percent of black voters, and 55 percent of white voters. It has endorsements across party lines and socioeconomic backgrounds.

 

The reason Springfield killed Invest in Kids is simple: political expediency, corruption, and pressure from radical teachers’-union leadership. Springfield is more interested in bowing to the Chicago Teachers Union than in working on behalf of the vulnerable constituents who need them.

 

Unless the program is extended, families will lose access to scholarships and schools that have served them effectively for years. Children who have escaped bullying and discrimination, learned to read, do math, and believe in themselves will have their futures dimmed. Our state’s leaders understand the importance of school choice because their own children enjoyed the advantage. Denying it to low-income children deepens their divide from the privileged and further hinders their social mobility.

 

The best option is now for lawmakers to pass an extension of the program this fall. It’s time to halt the erosion of Illinois’s future, the one our children are meant to inherit and improve.