It's a new year on the calendar, but the fights to defend and improve our public schools continue. Read on for the latest news on the looming threat of the new federal voucher program and a potentially positive development for state school funding in Illinois...and action steps to take on both these issues.

The US Treasury Department and the IRS are now writing the regulations to implement the new federal voucher program and issued a request for comments from the public in November. Below you can read the comment that Illinois Families for Public Schools submitted.

Congress passed a massive new federal voucher program as part of the One, Big, Ugly Bill this summer. The language of the law falls under the Internal Revenue Code, so the US Treasury Department and the IRS are writing the regulations to implement the program and put out a request for comments from the public last month. Comments are due December 26, 2025. Read on for more background and info on how to submit your own comment.

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.

Strong public schools that welcome and nurture every child and young person benefit all of us. But, the Trump administration is engaged in an effort to undermine and ultimately dismantle our public school system—in line with their larger agenda of undermining the public good and the foundations of a democratic society.

The attacks on public schools include attempts to shut down the US Department of Education and withholding and cutting federal education funding. One tool: expanding school voucher programs across the country.

Congress approved Trump’s plan to create a new, unprecedented national voucher program in July 2025. You can read our Q&A about it here: “What to know about the new federal school voucher program”

As it stands, every state has the option of saying NO to this program. Governors can refuse to have their state participate in conjunction with any laws passed by their legislature regulating that participation. In January more than 45 organizations wrote to Gov. Pritzker urging him to opt out of the program. You can read that letter here. 

Take Action

• Write to Governor Pritzker and your state senator and state representative urging them to say NO to the federal voucher program for Illinois. Use our letter-writing tool to send those emails.
• Call Governor Pritzker's Springfield or Chicago offices. Here's a quick script you can use or adapt:

• Call your state senator and state rep to pass legislation to keep federal vouchers out of Illinois. There are two bills currently in the Illinois Senate with Democratic sponsors, one would opt Illinois into the program, the other would prohibit Illinois from participating. More on those bills here. Here is a fact sheet to share with your legislators: No federal vouchers for Illinois!

Join Our Coalition

The following organizations say NO to federal vouchers for Illinois:

AAUW - Illinois ● Access Living ● Brighton Park Neighborhood Council ● Center For Tax And Budget Accountability ● Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights ● Chicago National Organization for Women ● Chicago Teachers Union ● Citizen Action/Illinois ● COFI ● Cook County College Teachers Union ● 44th Ward Action ● Illinois Families for Public Schools ● Illinois Federation of Teachers ● Illinois National Organization for Women ● Indivisible Chicago Alliance ● Indivisible Chicago Northwest ● Indivisible Lincoln Square ● Indivisible Greater West Loop ● Institute for the Public Good ● League of Women Voters of Illinois  ● Learning Disability Association of Illinois ● National Association of Social Workers - Illinois Chapter ● National Council of Jewish Women - Chicago North Shore ● National Council of Jewish Women - South Cook Section ● Network 49 ● Palatine Supports Public School ● PEER Illinois ● The People’s 32nd ● POWER-PAC IL ● Sunrise Movement Chicago ● 39th Ward Neighbors United ● Trans Up Front Illinois ● West Suburban Teachers Union, Local 571

Please reach out if your community organization, independent political organization or union would like to endorse this campaign to keep federal vouchers out of Illinois: [email protected]

Strong public schools that welcome and nurture every child and young person benefit all of us. And—because of that—public schools are one of the foundational institutions in our country that Trump and his anti-democratic lackeys are trying to destroy.

One method of destruction that Congress voted last month to roll out is a nationwide school voucher program.

Congress passed a massive and harmful bill in early July that includes sweeping cuts to essential programs that millions of people rely on every day. From healthcare and food assistance to housing, and clean energy investments, the harm done by this law will be felt in communities across the country—including in our public schools. To help break it all down, Citizen Action Illinois is holding a virtual briefing this coming Monday, Aug 11th at 11am with leading experts from the Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness, Illinois Environmental Council, the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, and Illinois Families for Public Schools.

Despite months of organizing and a concerted last-ditch effort by Democratic Senators to stop it, a federal voucher program ended up in the final version of the reconciliation bill that narrowly passed both chambers earlier this month.

The US Senate could vote as early as Friday on the reconciliation bill that would harm so much of the fabric of our country, including the basics of food, healthcare, and, yes, public schools, in order to bankroll billionaires.

But, the exact contents of the bill on the Senate side are still fluid, and, as of this afternoon, some Republicans aren’t fully on board yet.

There's been lots of public education news in recent days. Below we cover three stories where your action is needed:

• Legislation to create national voucher program advances in the US House
• Fallout from the Powerschool data breach continues, but no movement on student data privacy bill in Springfield
• For-profit virtual counseling services in CPS endanger students' private data