Illinois doesn’t have to opt into the program for a taxpayer to benefit. A donor in Chicago or Carbondale could contribute to a scholarship granting organization in another state and still claim the tax credit. But then those donor dollars would not benefit Illinois students. Illinois leaders must join the program or Illinois students will fail to benefit.
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.