The national Educational Choice for Children Act creates a federal tax-credit scholarship program for both public and private school students to help boost them academically. Here are seven reasons why Illinois should opt into the program.
Students in Illinois and across the country could soon benefit from scholarship funds to help them find a tutor, attend a different school, get special lessons or help with curriculum.
But first, Illinois leaders must say “yes” to the Educational Choice for Children Act and “no” to the false arguments manufactured by teachers unions. The Chicago Teachers Union, the Illinois Federation for Teachers and others have been spreading misinformation, so here are seven facts about the privately-funded scholarships.
1) The scholarships benefit public school students, too
The ECCA isn’t only a scholarship program for students wanting to attend private school. It benefits public school students, too.
Starting in 2017, the scholarship funds can be used by students in public or private schools for educational services such as tutoring, additional educational classes, books or online educational materials, fees for standardized or college admission exams and fees for dual enrollment.
This means public school students who may be struggling in certain academic areas or needing extra help or materials won’t have to leave their local public schools to find the support or opportunities they need.
The most recent state test scores for Illinois show only 41% of students in third through eighth grade read at grade level in spring 2024. In math, 28% were proficient. For 11th graders in Illinois, only 31% were reading at grade level in spring 2024 and 26% performed math proficiently.
Illinois students are struggling. The ECCA offers families a way to provide the academic support their children need without having to leave their local public school.
2) The ECCA takes no money away from public schools
The act does not take money away from public schools. It will not divert federal money or state money from public schools to fund the scholarships.
Instead, the scholarships are funded by private individuals who will be granted federal tax credits for donating up to $1,700 each year. That’s a limited credit that will matter little to a billionaire but that can benefit middle-income givers. Any taxpayer can receive a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit for making a qualified contribution to a scholarship granting organization, which is a tax-exempt organization providing scholarships to students.
That means the cost to the federal government is foregone income tax revenue. There is no cost to states, only the benefit of more help flowing directly to students.
3) Illinois taxpayers can get the tax credit no matter what, so rejecting the program will only hurt Illinois kids
If Illinois fails to opt into the ECCA, its residents can still obtain the tax credit by donating to a scholarship organization in another state. On the other hand, no Illinois students will be eligible for the funds.
It’s not a good look for teachers unions or other opponents of the ECCA. They are standing in the way of Illinois children receiving donor funds for tutoring and other academic services. If they succeed, that money will flow into other states and taxpayers will still get the credit – but Illinois school children will be left unaided because teachers unions oppose any competition to their basic public school model. They worry about member counts and dues, rather than letting families boost their children’s educations.
4) The ECCA provides additional resources to students with disabilities
The funds can also be used for educational therapies for students with disabilities enrolled in the public school system or in a private or home school.
However, most students with disabilities enroll in public schools. In the 2023-2024 school year, there were over 376,000 students with disabilities enrolled in public schools in Illinois.
Nationally, 95% of school-aged students with disabilities were enrolled in regular public schools in fall 2022, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Only 2% were placed in regular private schools by their parents.
Since most families of students with disabilities enroll their children in public schools, the ECCA would allow those families to access funds for additional educational therapies to help their child thrive in their public school.
5) The ECCA returns hope to Illinois students stripped of Invest in Kids scholarships
Illinois bucked national trends in November 2023 when lawmakers made Illinois the only state to roll back an ongoing tax-credit scholarship program. More than 15,000 students were stripped of their state tax-credit scholarships at the end of the 2023-2024 school year, despite the success of the program and a long waiting list.
The Illinois State Board of Education released a report in 2024 analyzing the Invest in Kids program. That analysis showed students with the largest year-over-year learning gains were scholarship recipients.
Scholarship recipients, most of whom were from households earning less than $49,025, were more proficient in reading and math compared to their low-income peers in Illinois public schools. That was despite slight differences in the definition of “low-income” impeding a precise apples-to-apples comparison by the state.
Still, lawmakers killed the Invest in Kids program in November 2023 after teachers unions funneled nearly $1.5 million to lawmakers ahead of session. They publicly opposed the program with misleading information.
If Illinois enacts the federal tax-credit scholarship program, low-income students could once again benefit from tax-credit scholarships to attend private schools or access additional educational support.
6) The ECCA helps Illinois students stay competitive with students in other states
Thirty states and the District of Columbia have at least one private school choice program, according to an analysis from Education Week. Those private school choice programs are either educational savings accounts, vouchers, tax-credit scholarships, tax-credit educational savings accounts or direct tax credits. Seven Midwestern states have at least one private school choice program.
Not having access to a private school choice program puts Illinois students in the minority, at a competitive disadvantage and limits access to educational offerings that could better fit their needs.
Illinois shouldn’t put its students farther behind other states by denying families the scholarship funds. The enactment of the ECCA gives Illinois the opportunity to join the majority of states which already provide their students with funds for additional educational opportunities – at no cost to Illinois.
7) School choice is popular among families and voters in Illinois
Opting into the program should be a political no-brainer for Illinois. Illinois voters were 3-to-1 in support of the state’s Invest in Kids tax-credit scholarship program for low-income students before lawmakers failed to renew the program.
A national poll found 74% of Americans support school choice, and 65% support the ECCA.
Illinois should opt into the ECCA
Illinois families in either public or private school could benefit from the ECCA. It would provide a lifeline to the thousands of low-income Illinois students who lost their scholarship funds at the end of the state’s Invest in Kid’s program.
Taxpayers benefit from the program no matter what. The only question is whether Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Illinois lawmakers will let Illinois students benefit.
