Illinois may miss out on $1 billion for education
(The Center Square) – By refusing to join a federal tax credit scholarship program, Illinois may be foregoing more than $1 billion in education funding.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker has not yet announced whether Illinois will opt in or opt out of the program that is set to take effect Jan. 1.
American Federation for Children Senior Fellow Patrick Graff said the scholarships would take no money from the public school system.
“If just 15% of taxpayers in Illinois donated for the Education Freedom Tax Credit, that would be over $1 billion in new education funding for students in Illinois,” Graff told Greg Bishop on The States.
The initiative provides individual tax credits up to $1,700 for donations to eligible scholarship-granting organizations.
Graff said people in states that opt out could still receive a tax credit by donating to organizations in states that opt in.
So far, 31 states have chosen to join the program, four states opted out, and governors in Wisconsin and Arizona vetoed their states’ legislative efforts to opt in.
Graff said, unlike Illinois’ Invest in Kids tax credit that expired in 2023, the federal program has no impact on the state budget.
“There is no funding disappearing from the public school system as a result of that choice. This is all federal tax-credited dollars that are going to be flowing into scholarship organizations,” Graff said.
Graff said the scholarships are open to public, private, charter, magnet and some homeschool students.
“Over time, just because the vast majority of kids in the country go to public schools, the major beneficiary of this new tax credit will be public school students,” Graff said.
The Illinois Federation of Teachers and the Chicago Teachers Union called on Pritzker to reject the scholarship program.
Last month, the Illinois Education Association endorsed Pritzker for reelection.
“He’s helped increase the number of Illinois students eligible for federal tuition aid, and he ended Illinois voucher programs,” IEA President Karl Goeke said.
The Invest in Kids scholarship tax credit program expired on Dec. 31, 2023. The state program allowed Illinois residents and businesses to receive a tax credit worth 75% of their contributions for low-income students to attend qualified private and technical schools.
Greg Bishop contributed to this story
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