Strong public schools that welcome and nurture every child benefit all of us. But, as you know, since January, the Trump administration has been engaged in a massive campaign to destroy our public school system, in line with a larger agenda of undermining the public good and the foundations of a democratic society, including the establishment of a brand new federal voucher program.

There are multiple components to this campaign to steamroll public schools: dismantling the US Department of Education piece by piece in a series of mostly illegal moves, including firing staff, canceling grants and splitting up functions of the Department and assigning them to other federal agencies. It also includes the proposed massive cuts to federal K-12 funding, including the Title I dollars that support schools serving many children from low-income households.

Another key tactic in the attack on our public schools system: Expanding vouchers across the country. Congress approved Trump’s plan to create an unprecedented national voucher program back in July.

As it stands, every state has the option of saying NO to this program. Governors can refuse to have their state participate. The governors of Oregon, New Mexico and Wisconsin have already said their states are opting out, and we need Governor Pritzker to make the same commitment. Keep reading for more about the issues with the federal voucher program, but if you are ready to take action, use this link to call and write our governor!

More reasons emerge for Illinois to refuse federal vouchers as regulation process begins

We’ve already seen what a voucher program looks like in Illinois, and it wasn’t good. We just ended a state-run voucher program in 2024. It sent millions of dollars to private schools, with virtually no oversight or accountability. That money funded discrimination and hurt education equity. IL-FPS documented the myraid of issues with Illinois’ program extensively.

Like Illinois’s now defunct voucher program, the new federal voucher program will also be structured as a tax credit scholarship program. That means that taxpayers make contributions to so-called “scholarship granting organizations” (SGOs) in exchange for a one-to-one credit on their federal income tax bill. SGOs are middleman/pass-through 501c3 orgs that take taxpayer contributions and pay them out as vouchers to cover private school tuition, while pocketing a generous 10% administrative fee.

This complex legal structure is a way to circumvent the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment, since the majority of private schools are religious. It also disguises what is actually an education policy as tax policy. And, since the new voucher law is part of the tax code, the US Department of Treasury and the IRS are writing the regulations to implement it. They recently issued a Request For Comment as they start writing guidance and regulations.

Disturbingly, based on what they’ve said so far, it looks like states are likely to have almost no say in overseeing the SGOs in their state:

If Illinois were to opt in the federal program, we could end up with billion-dollar, out-of-state voucher orgs, like Florida’s scandal-plagued Step Up For Students, running programs here in Illinois. Note that SGOs will be able to use 10% of the funds they process for operating costs, and, since this program could be worth $12 billion, or far more, this is a lucrative opportunity for large, established voucher SGOs.

SGOs will be able to distribute funds not only for private school tuition and fees, but for any “qualified education expenses.” Technically, this could mean vouchers could be issued to cover costs that public school families incur—like afterschool programs or tutoring. However, the majority of dollars will almost certainly flow through SGOs set up to fund private school expenses, especially if, under the regulations, states have no flexibility to set parameters on SGOs operating in their state.

Furthermore, the public school communities most likely to benefit from this tax gimmickry are the ones with the resources to set up a SGO and solicit contributions from wealthy taxpayers, in other words well-resourced school districts that don’t need additional funds in any case.

We simply cannot fund a public good, and what is truly a human right, education, through elaborate tax breaks disguised as charity. The federal voucher program is a multi-billion dollar giveaway to families already sending their children to private schools. Its promoters are touting a flimsy pretense that it will help needy public school students when its very existence is meant to eradicate their schools.

Please take a minute to contact Governor Pritzker’s office to urge him to take a stand against the looming threat that the federal voucher program poses to our public schools. Illinois has been a bulwark in the federal attacks on democracy, justice and freedom. We can't risk our governor being silent or waiting out what is to come for public ed.

The latest attempt to preempt state laws regulating AI...

This past summer when Congress was debating what would be in the One Big, Terrible Bill, they considered including a ban on states’ ability to make laws and regulate artificial intelligence. This unpopular proposal was soundly defeated with a 99-1 vote in the Senate.

Then, last month, Big Tech tried again to sneak it quietly into another large bill, this one to reauthorize defense spending. That attempt failed as well due to well-organized pushback, but now President Trump has issued an executive order to preempt state AI laws. Since an EO can’t change laws, this is, like much of what comes out of the White House, illegal, unpopular and also bad policy.

An actual federal ban on state AI laws, if passed by Congress, could invalidate the strong laws Illinois has on the books already, like the ban on AI therapy—a concern as tech companies expand into mental health services, including in our schools. (Read more about that here.) And as the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy explained earlier this year, the inability to enforce existing laws or pass news ones on AI, is an issue for public education more generally:

This EO will certainly be challenged in the courts. But Big Tech will continue putting pressure on Congress and throwing its (dollar) power around in elections and state legislatures in the meantime. So, it’s important to advocate at every level to allow states to continue to do the right thing here. We’ll have more advocacy opportunities in the weeks (and months) to come on this. In the meantime, you can use this link to write to your congressperson and US Senators, and this one to write to Governor Pritzker about Trump’s attempted ban on state AI safety guide rails.

Thanks for your continued advocacy in these unsettling times!