The Illinois legislature’s fall veto session has come and gone in Springfield, and with it, the chance to renew a tax credit that encourages private schooling for low-income students.
The Gov. Bruce Rauner-era program Invest in Kids has awarded nearly 10,000 scholarships by enabling donors to get tax credits for funding private school scholarships. Current Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who was initially opposed to the program, said he would have signed the extension had it reached his desk.
Lawmakers chose to let the program sunset at the end of the year.
Now that the program will not be extended, private schools in Bloomington-Normal say they have to work with those investors to make sure they can still provide education to current and would-have-been future recipients of the scholarships.
Sean Foster, president of Central Catholic High School in Bloomington, said the program had close to 30 scholarship recipients each of the last two years.
Foster said the school plans more outreach to donors to help those students who hope to return next year.
“We’ve had discussions over the last few years with people of how we could fund this should this go away," Foster said.
Foster said he also wants the school to find a way to maintain need-based scholarships beyond next year, adding Central Catholic students received about $200,000 annually in aid through the Invest in Kids program.
“Part of our vision is that we continue to increase access. We try to break down any barriers that would be preventing families from choosing to come to Central Catholic,” Foster said.
Shawn Hoffman, principal at Trinity Lutheran School in Bloomington, said he had hoped to take advantage of the program in the future, but chose not to opt in initially out of concern it may be short-lived.
“It was our heart to engage in the program once we knew it would be an ongoing program we could count on long term,” said Hoffman. “I did not want to lose those donations to Invest in Kids if the program was going to go away. I didn't want to be left high and dry.”
Hoffman said the school, which serves pre-K through eighth grade students, raises about $80,000 annually to help with financial-based tuition assistance for families.
The head of school at Cornerstone Christian Academy in Bloomington, Beth Sondgeroth, said the K-through-12 school never counted on funding through the Invest in Kids program as it initially prioritized students who resided in struggling school districts.
“Since that structure has changed somewhat over the years, we have had a small number of students who have benefited from the program,” Sondgeroth said. “We are disappointed to see this program fade away in Illinois while many surrounding states have successfully adopted robust school choice programs.”
Critics of the tax credit program, particularly teachers’ unions, characterized it taking money from public schools.
“Ending the Invest in Kids program is a significant stride in giving top priority to the needs of our public education system and guaranteeing equal opportunities for every student, particularly those from Black, Brown, special education, and LGBTQ+ communities,” said Dan Montgomery, president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers.
Montgomery added donors still will be able to make the same contributions in the future, even without the program’s continuance.
