It’s state testing season (again!) The window for the Illinois Assessment of Readiness, 3-8th grade testing in reading and math, opens March 4th. The Illinois Science Assessment window also opens March 4th. Weeks of ACCESS testing for English-language learners is just wrapping up. High school students will be assessed on the PSAT and SAT later this month and next.

Public schools are obligated to give these tests under state and federal law, but aside from the SAT, which is required in order to receive a diploma in Illinois, students are not obligated to participate. 

A report from research group WestEd on the Invest in Kids voucher program was made public this week and further bolsters the wisdom of the decision of the Illinois General Assembly last fall to let the Invest in Kids program sunset.

On February 26, 2024, nine state and national advocacy organizations, including privacy, consumer and government watchdogs, sent a letter to the Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul calling on him to follow the lead of New York Attorney General Letitia James and end the College Board’s illegal practice of selling Illinois students’ personal data. Full press release below.

This week Feb 26-March 1st is being marked as Public Schools Week by pro-public ed organizations around the country, including Illinois Families for Public Schools. In celebration, the Willis Tower in downtown Chicago will be lit up Red for Public Ed on both Monday and Tuesday nights. Please help us spread the word on social media!

In late January the Archdiocese of Chicago announced the closing of two schools and blamed the closings on the end of the Invest in Kids program. The Diocese of Belleville also announced two school closings, also attributing the end of Invest in Kids as a factor in the decision. The Diocese of Joliet also announced a school closure and a school consolidation last month and attributed the closure to the end of the voucher program. Below we take a closer look at Catholic school enrollment (and what little is known about their finances) to evaluate these claims.

Parents, students and teachers in Skokie have been organizing for racial justice in their public schools for several years, especially in D219 (Niles Township HS district) and D72 (Fairview Elem district), as the Abolition Coalition of Skokie and the Skokie Schools Equity Collaborative. 

Niles Township has also been one of the hot spots in Illinois for rightwing extremist attacks against public schools and public libraries.

The Illinois General Assembly left Springfield at the end of Veto Session without taking a vote to extend the program beyond its current sunset date, and the program will begin to sunset on Dec. 31, 2023. This was a huge organizing win for public schools in Illinois and a major victory in the national fight to rollback privatization of the public school system. 

Today, the Illinois House adjourned until January 16, 2024 without passing an extension to the Invest in Kids Act. The provisions of the Act begin expiring on January 1, 2024.

This is a huge win for public schools in Illinois. It is also a win for the principle of the separation of church and state and for ensuring public dollars are not used to violate civil rights and are spent with the oversight, transparency and accountability that public spending should require. Public funds must be for public schools that serve all kids.

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.  

Private schools in the 8th Senate District enrolled about 1,300 voucher students last year. Public schools enrolled more than 22,000 students, and 13,739 of those were in underfunded schools.

So, state legislators in the 8th Senate District and 15th and 16th House Districts are representing many families of students receiving vouchers but also at least ten times as many families of students that attend underfunded public schools. Public schools in the 8th District are short more than $47 million in state funding each year ($11M in House 16, $36M in House 15.)