Read on for news on primary ballot questions about the federal voucher program, dozens of advocacy groups calling on Gov. Pritzker to refuse vouchers for Illinois, and the latest on federal funding with public schools under siege due to federal immigration agents...
Vouchers may be on your ballot!
The primary election in Illinois is March 17th, and early voting has started in many places. In addition to state and federal offices, about 10% of Illinois voters will see a non-binding referendum question about the new federal voucher program on their ballot.
Concerningly, the wording of these ballot questions, asking whether Illinois should opt into the program, is misleading. It asks voters about “privately donated” funds for scholarships, but the federal voucher program will be diverting public tax dollars to vouchers, most of which will benefit private, religious schools in violation of the principles that underlie both the US and the Illinois Constitution.
☞Take Action: Read (and share!) this fact sheet on the referenda from IL-FPS and the League of Women Voters: Vote NO on School Vouchers for Illinois!
Chalkbeat Chicago reported today that the questions on the voucher program were organized by the rightwing, anti-public school group, Illinois Policy Institute. Any level of government may have advisory questions added to ballots at the initiative of elected officials or voters. The voucher questions are mostly countywide, but a few will be specific to townships. Here’s a list, and you can also look up your county’s ballot measures on the State Board of Elections website.
Capitol News Illinois has a list of local election authorities, and yours should have a sample ballot available for you. (CNI also has a helpful set of more general election resources with info on early voting, etc.)
Advocates call on Pritzker to say no to school vouchers and yes to fully funded public schools
On January 27th, IL-FPS and 45 other advocacy groups sent a letter to Governor Pritzker about the new federal voucher program, calling on him to opt Illinois out of a program that will harm our public schools.
Although we have not yet received a response to the letter, the Governor has told the press that he is waiting for the federal government to issue regulations implementing the program before deciding whether Illinois will participate. Four other Democratic governors have already said their states won’t be part of this, Oregon, New Mexico, Wisconsin and Hawaii.
Although regulations aren’t finalized, it is not too early to understand how this program, a policy priority of the Trump administration, will harm public schools.
The federal voucher program will be set up like Illinois’ now defunct voucher program, as a tax credit scholarship program. Taxpayers will get 1-to-1 credits of their federal tax bill for their contributions to “scholarship granting organizations” (SGOs), which distribute those diverted funds as vouchers, covering education costs for private school students.
The twist in the federal program is that SGOs could also pay for some costs for individual public school students as well.
Some of the biggest proponents of keeping Illinois’ state voucher program from sunsetting back in 2023 are now touting the benefits that the federal program theoretically could have for public schools—including the Illinois Policy Institute, the Urban Center (run by former employees of Empower Illinois, the largest SGO under Illinois’ program) and Agudath Israel of Illinois. This alone should raise red flags; these are not groups that are invested in the success of public schools!
Regulators already announced back in November that they anticipate governors will not be able to pick and choose which SGOs operate in their state. So, if states must simply allow any and all SGOs to operate, there will be little room to ensure that funds will go to students at underfunded public schools, rather than private school students—or even well-funded public schools. Arizona created a tax credit scholarship program more than two decades ago for both private and public schools, and the dollars that did end up supporting public schools went disproportionately to wealthy communities.
Illinois’ public school funding is already inequitable; low-poverty schools get more than high poverty schools. The Education Law Center gives us a D for funding distribution.
If we want a passing grade for fair funding, we need Illinois to put money into fully funding the evidence-based formula, not opting into a tax gimmick that does nothing for sustainable, stable, equitable funding of public schools.
New legislation introduced in Springfield would do just that. IL-FPS joined a press conference on Monday with the legislative sponsors, Sen. Graciela Guzmán and Rep. Will Davis, alongside teachers, administrators, parents and community members, to announce SB3701 and HB5409. These bills would make good on the state’s decade-old promise to fully fund schools by 2027. The Sun-Times has more coverage here, including about sources of progressive revenue that could bridge this multi-billion dollar funding gap.
☞Take Action: Call the Governor’s Office and ask him to commit to no federal vouchers and full funding of our public schools with sustainable, progressive revenue!
Fed education funding mostly preserved, but public schools are under siege by the Department of Homeland Security
Last week Congress finally passed—and Trump signed—a set of bills funding most federal departments and programs for FY 2026, including K-12 education. The proposed massive cuts to many Title programs—estimated at $300 million for Illinois alone—did not come to pass. This is truly due to broad organizing and pressure, on the US Senate in particular, from public school supporters. Unfortunately, the legislation only somewhat reined in the administration's plan to dismantle the US Department of Education.
Education Week: Congress Has Passed an Education Budget. See How Key Programs Are Affected
Congress did not, however, pass a full year of funding for the Department of Homeland Security, only a two-week extension due to Democratic demands on immigration enforcement in the wake of national outrage about DHS occupation of Minnesota, including the murder of two US citizens by ICE.
Schools around the country have been harmed by the Trump administration’s removal last year of schools from the list of sensitive sites where immigration agents can’t operate. As a result, families and students have been targeted at school dismissal and arrival times. Even in Illinois, where we recently strengthened protections under state law for immigrant students and families in public schools, a suburban dad, Silverio Villegas González, was killed by federal agents last fall after dropping his children off at a Franklin Park elementary school.
In the Twin Cities and elsewhere in Minnesota, the federal occupation has resulted in mass absences, with many schools implementing remote learning. Now some Minnesota school districts and their state teachers union have filed a federal lawsuit to keep agents away from schools. In the justifiably all-caps words of W. Kamau Bell: “ IF A SOCIETY CAN’T ALLOW SCHOOLS TO BE SAFE PLACES FOR LEARNING THEN A SOCIETY CEASES TO EXIST.”
☞Take Action: You can use this tool from the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools to contact your US Senators and Congressperson about keeping ICE and any immigration enforcement away from schools.
Thanks for your continued advocacy on behalf of public schools and public school students during these dark times!