Since 2018, more than $250 million has been diverted from Illinois' General Revenue Fund and sent to private, almost all religious schools under the Invest in Kids Act. Last school year 478 schools enrolled more than 9,600 voucher recipients. Unlike public schools, private schools receiving Invest in Kids funds have little oversight, transparency or accountability for the funds they are receiving and do not have to follow most of the same laws and regulations that cover public schools. Here are three case studies of Illinois private schools getting Invest in Kids funding that take a closer look at the problems with using public funds for private schools.  

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.

Sources for the examples below are here.

Public dollars should be for public schools—schools that serve all children and families.

That's why IL Families for Public Schools, along with more than 50 state and local orgs in Illinois are calling for the Invest in Kids program to end—just like the IL General Assembly intended for it to do when it was created it in 2017. Call your state rep and state senator and ask them to oppose any extension or expansion of this program. You can read our most recent action alert here and everything you need to know about the Invest in Kids voucher program here.