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Illinois Families for Public Schools 12/22/23 Illinois Families for Public Schools 12/22/23

Vouchers Forum 4.25.23

Illinois Families for Public Schools, the Illinois Education Association, the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the League of Women Voters of Illinois held a virtual forum on Tuesday April 25, 2023, "What You Need to Know about Invest in Kids: Illinois’ Tax Credit Voucher Program."

Illinois Families for Public Schools 12/22/23 Illinois Families for Public Schools 12/22/23

Vouchers Fund Discrimination

Public schools in Illinois can't discriminate on the basis of disability status, gender identity, sexual orientation, language, pregnancy or parenting status, marital status, or religion. But under the Invest in Kids voucher program, public dollars are now going to private schools in Illinois, many of which do discriminate against students in all these protected categories.

Illinois Families for Public Schools 12/22/23 Illinois Families for Public Schools 12/22/23

Who Supports Illinois’ Invest In Kids Voucher Program?

Voucher programs around the country—whether in the form of traditional vouchers, education savings accounts (ESAs),or tax credit scholarships—are supported by well funded and organized groups. These include: Americans for Prosperity (the Koch brothers’ 501c4), the American Legislative Education Council (ALEC), the American Federation for Children (Betsy DeVos’ 501c4), Moms for Liberty and the Heritage Foundation, among others.

What do these organizations have in common? They work openly to discredit public schools and push a privatization agenda, using the slogans of school choice, education freedom and parent rights. Many of them were on the ground working on the April 2023 school board elections in Illinois.

Illinois Families for Public Schools 12/22/23 Illinois Families for Public Schools 12/22/23

Voucher Expansion in the Midwest

The push to dismantle public education via voucher schemes that start small and then metastasize to drain public coffers isn’t just a battle happening in Illinois. It’s nationwide, and it’s accelerating.

Illinois Families for Public Schools 12/22/23 Illinois Families for Public Schools 12/22/23

Voucher Web page

This web page from Illinois Families for Public Schools includes blog posts covering school voucher programs in Illinois.

Illinois Families for Public Schools 12/22/23 Illinois Families for Public Schools 12/22/23

Game Over for School Vouchers in Illinois!

In 2017, as a result of a backroom deal between then Governor Rauner, legislative leaders and the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago, the IL General Assembly created a K-12 voucher program for Illinois in the form of a tax credit scholarship scheme. Known as the Invest in Kids Act, the law allows up to $75 million in tax revenue to be diverted to private schools each year. More than $250 million state dollars have now been siphoned off to private schools in our state.

This program was intended to last for five years and to sunset after the 2022-2023 school year. It was extended for one additional school year already. Voucher supporters and school privatizers want it to be made permanent and expand!

IDRA 12/22/23 IDRA 12/22/23

Ensuring Fair School Funding for All Students.

Policies that base funding on community wealth and ignore the real costs of educating all students hurt everyone, especially students of color, students from families with limited incomes, and students who require additional programs, supports and services.

The Parents' Campaign Research and Education Fund 12/22/23 The Parents' Campaign Research and Education Fund 12/22/23

Vouchers and Other Diversions of Public Funds to Private Schools

Vouchers are state-funded certificates that are used to pay tuition to private schools. Mississippians have been so opposed to using taxpayer dollars to fund private schools that our constitution bans these voucher payments. Savvy folks who have long sought to privatize our public schools now are attempting to circumvent the constitution – and the will of the people – by using tax credits and education savings accounts to funnel state tax dollars to private schools.

The most recent research on the academic impact of private school vouchers finds that voucher students experience significant losses in achievement. Prior research showed that gains in achievement were about the same for low income students receiving vouchers as they are for comparable public school students.

Policy Matters Ohio 12/22/23 Policy Matters Ohio 12/22/23

Fund what works: Public dollars for public schools

Regardless of race, neighborhood, or how much money is in their parents’ bank account, every child should be able to attend an excellent school that has everything they need to learn and grow. Every dollar spent on vouchers makes this vision less achievable. Vouchers take public money and give it to private schools, with real consequences for the 90% of our kids who attend Ohio's public schools.

Save Our Schools Arizona 12/22/23 Save Our Schools Arizona 12/22/23

SOS Arizona Network Blog

This web page from Save Our Schools Arizona is includes blogs on Arizona’s voucher program.

The Parents' Campaign Research and Education Fund 12/22/23 The Parents' Campaign Research and Education Fund 12/22/23

Mississippi Constitution: No Public Funds for Private Schools

The Mississippi Constitution is clear: taxpayer dollars may not be appropriated for private schools.

The authors of the State Constitution understood that strong public schools are unique in their contribution to the wellbeing of our communities and our state – and that the greatest threat to this vital common good is the siphoning of public funds to subsidize the private education of a few, creating a system of unequal schools that would divide and weaken our state.

North Carolina Justice Center 12/22/23 North Carolina Justice Center 12/22/23

New analysis shows many private schools in N.C. have more vouchers than students

This session, General Assembly leaders have placed a massive expansion of the state’s voucher program at the top of their education agenda. Legislative leaders in both the House and the Senate want to triple the program’s size by opening it to wealthy families who have already enrolled their children in private schools. But new data shows that the existing program lacks adequate oversight and is potentially riven with fraud.

Data from the two agencies charged with overseeing private schools and North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarship voucher program show several cases where schools have received more vouchers than they have students. Several other private schools have received voucher payments from the state after they have ceased submitting enrollment data.

IDRA 12/21/23 IDRA 12/21/23

Lawmakers Refuse to Adopt School Vouchers, For Now

One of the primary concerns during the Texas legislative session was Governor Greg Abbott’s pressure to pass private school vouchers by establishing education savings accounts. Proponents argued that vouchers would empower parents while ignoring all that parents and their children would lose. IDRA and other organizations and individuals expressed concerns about the negative impact vouchers would have on families, public schools and communities (IDRA, 2023; Latham Sikes, April 11, 2023a). Vouchers would divert crucial funds away from already underfunded public schools, exacerbating funding inequities and leaving some students without essential resources (PFPS, 2023).

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