Illinois lawmakers face two choices on Invest in Kids Act: support schoolchildren or support teachers unions – Wirepoints

By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner

Thirty-two state lawmakers have stepped up their efforts to save the Invest in Kids Act, Illinois’ tax credit scholarship for more than 9,000 students. 

The House members, all Republicans, have signed a letter indicating their support for the program, which, as we’ve reported, is in danger of being killed by anti-school-choice lawmakers. Lawmakers will decide this month whether or not to extend the program as part of the budget negotiation process.

Those who’ve signed the letter support the hopes and dreams of the scholarship students from low-income, working-class families. For details of the program, see Empower Illinois’ 2022 Impact Report.

Those who refuse to show their support are effectively giving in to the teachers unions, which strongly oppose Invest in Kids and are actively pushing to end the program (see IEA’s stop vouchers in Illinois). 

That refusal includes House Democrats who were asked to sign the letter but wouldn’t. Given Democrats’ lockstep support of the teachers unions, it’s unlikely any would sign anyway.

The refusal also includes eight Republican House lawmakers who have not signed: House GOP leader Tony McCombie, as well as Jeff Keicher, Dave Severin, Charles Meier, Norine Hammond, Wayne Rosenthal, Michael Marron and Amy Elik. (Wirepoints is unaware of any similar letter making the rounds in the Senate.)

These unsupportive legislators should be called out because school choice should be a slam dunk for both Republicans and Democrats. As the WSJ reported Tuesday, “The program is popular with voters. In May 2021, an ARW Strategies poll showed 61% of Illinois voters approved the tax-credit program, including 67% of state Democrats. 71% of black voters and 81% of Hispanics statewide approved of the plan.”

Not to mention, states around the country like Indiana and Iowa are greatly expanding their school choice programs and making them universal.

Here are just a few facts, as a reminder, about the education system that the anti-school-choice lawmakers are defending:

1. A system where only 12 of every 100 black students statewide can read at grade level and where just 14 of every 100 Hispanic students can do math at grade level.

2. A system that automatically moves children, including struggling black students, from grade to grade regardless of whether they can actually read or not.

3. A system that graduates children to get them out of the system even though a vast majority enter the workforce not proficient in reading or math.

4. A system that consistently rates virtually all teachers as “excellent or proficient,” far out-of-sync with students’ results.

5. A system that already spends the 8th-most per student in the nation and the most in the Midwest, and yet largely fails its students.

Read more from Wirepoints:

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Silverfox
10 months ago

And Cardinal Cupich and the Catholic bishops of Illinois are where ? Haven’t heard a peep from them.

Pat S.
10 months ago

Given that choice, kids or CTU, their decision is obvious, unchallenged and unchanging.

Though pols and CTU will scream from rooftops that everything they do is for the children, we all know better. If they were truthful, kids could read and comprehend at or above grade level.

An ignorant population doesn’t ask the right questions OR realize they are being duped.

All appears to be part of an evil grand plan.

Pity the children.

Last edited 10 months ago by Pat S.
Willowglen
10 months ago

All that matters to me is the 9 percent reading proficiency for black students in 11th grade, The slightly higher percentages in earlier grades really don’t matter if the end result is less than 1 in 10 black kids being reading proficient. Has anyone really contemplated the future for a group of people, ninety percent of whom can’t read competently? Even if some play catch-up with remedial work, the 9 percent figure is so low as to be shocking. It is a knowledge economy – isn’t anyone just panicking? I learned a lot watching the first season of the documentary… Read more »

Marie
10 months ago

The kids didn’t vote for these teachers or give money to lawmakers campaigns, the unions did, so guess who they’re gonna support. It’s really just that simple. Remember you live in Illinois.

Hello, Indiana
10 months ago

Not surprisingly, the NEA was cited as the nation’s largest union.

jajujon
10 months ago

American Federation of Teachers president Albert Shanker once said, “When school children start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of school children.”

Illinois politicians, licking the boots of the teacher union, might well have said, “When school children start making political contributions, that’s when we’ll start representing the interests of school children.”

nixit
10 months ago

The groups against this all saying “let it sunset” are the same groups that were against the sunsetting of the 5% state income tax rate in 2015. They only love profitable sunsets. The purpose of the sunset was, if the plan wasn’t working as intended, you wouldn’t need to votes to reenact it. Of course, if it was an unmitigated disaster, they could’ve ended it earlier. But the program is working as intended, is beneficial to all parties involved, and doesn’t cost much in the grand scheme of things. All the public education advocates already won. They consume 99% of… Read more »

Last edited 10 months ago by nixit
nixit
10 months ago

Repeat: Invest In Kids is but a tiny fraction of the K-12 state budget. It’s even smaller if you factor in what the state pays for teacher pensions.

If this were a multi-billion dollar program, I’d get the pushback. But it basically amounts to a rounding error in a budget full of rounding errors and underestimations. There are bigger battles to wage.

Melissa
10 months ago

Take a look at the Treasurer’s Report for sd25.org and see that they have taken property tax money and invested it in Bank of China.

Da Judge
10 months ago

Will Illinois still invest in kids?

I thought Illinois only invested in its highways so people can hastily flee the state.

I voted with my feet over 20 years ago and left Taxistan.

Best financial decision I ever made!!

Former Illinois Wimp
10 months ago

You don’t have to fight endlessly to protect your children from government.
Start with the following 5 criteria and find a better state.

  1. Little or no snow.
  2. Low combined state/local taxes (sales, property, income).
  3. Solidly red (GOP).
  4. No looming pension crisis.
  5. No border with Mexico.

Meet these criteria now and you likely won’t ever have to move again. You can live out your remaining work years with reduced stress and stay put for a peaceful retirement.

John Proud MAGA
10 months ago

support schoolchildren or support teachers unions

In Illinois, that’s an easy choice for politicians. Kids don’t vote, but the teachers union sure does. Case closed.

ron
10 months ago

Parents do vote for their kids best interest, but it seems that more teachers send their own to private schools

Hello, Indiana
10 months ago
Reply to  ron

The drug dealers don’t use their own products. Just saying.

Truth Seeker
10 months ago
Reply to  ron

As do elected public officials. Can we say hypocrites.

Jay
10 months ago

Unions in and of themselves aren’t the problem. The CTU’s main thrust is to keep the jobs of the constituency that pays union dues. And unfortunately that doesn’t jive with anything that will help schoolchildren. It should be blown up, the detritus scraped off the pavement to the slop bucket, and restarted from scratch. Outsourced, maybe. And the heads of the union should be jailed.

Rick
10 months ago
Reply to  Jay

Any unionization of a government paid employee is in and of itself a problem a big problem. Private sector unions are a whole different thing.

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