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LWVIL opposes continuing our highly flawed Illinois "Invest in Kids" private school voucher tax credit scholarship program.
If the legislature takes no action this session to extend the program, the Illinois voucher program will end. The $75 million spent to support private, mostly religious schools can be used to meet public obligations.
2. Tell your legislators to let the program end. It lacks accountability and transparency. It funds schools that discriminate against students with special needs, that discriminate against LGBTQ parents, and that exclude families with different faith traditions. The LWVIL position is that public funding should support public schools which accept all children.
Legislators tell us they find it hard to end a program, even if they recognize it should never have been started in the first place in 2017. They are deluged with panicked pleas from the 9000 students currently getting the scholarships, and from the private and religious organizations and schools that have quickly grown dependent on state funding. They need to hear from you. Public funding should support our underfunded public schools. All of the 1.8 million children attending public schools deserve the adequately funded education our state constitution promises.
Jan Ressenger says it well in her blog post today, regarding a similar bill in Ohio: https://janresseger.wordpress.com/2023/04/18/37904/
