| Illinois has a tiny school choice program – serving mostly black families in Chicago. It’s called “Invest in Kids.” Given that there are scores of public schools in the Land of Lincoln that are utter failures, the program is a lifeline for thousands of families.
It’s not even directly funded with state money. Instead, it allows Illinois taxpayers to donate to a state scholarship program and receive a 75% tax credit for the charitable donation. So far about 40,000 kids have taken advantage of the funding provided by the program. The funding will dry up this year if the pols in Springfield don’t extend it. The Illinois Freedom Caucus notes that Pritzker, the Democrat Senate Majority Leader, the Speaker of the House, AND the teachers union president ALL send their own kids to private schools.
Governor JB Pritzker is straddling the fence. On the one hand, he said last week: “I will sign the bill, if it comes to my desk.” But he isn’t pushing it through a state legislature in Springfield owned and operated by the teachers union – the Illinois Education Association. That’s why this successful program is dangling by a thread. We’re working with parent activists in the state — like those pictured above — to try save it.
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