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.
What do comments on the federal voucher program portend for public schools...
As you know, Congress passed a new federal voucher program last summer, and now we’re waiting to see what the details will be like as the Treasury Department writes regulations to implement the program.
They issued a request for comments in November, and Illinoisians submitted dozens of comments expressing opposition to the voucher program. Thank you to everyone who took the time to put one in! You can read IL-FPS’ comment here.
(Mysteriously, the docket says they are accepting late comments; if you didn’t make the deadline, apparently you can still submit a comment. Find our instructions and sample language here.)
Comments in support of vouchers from Illinois organizations so far notably included one from Empower Illinois. Empower was the largest voucher distributor (aka scholarship granting organization or SGO) under Illinois’ defunct Invest in Kids voucher program. Since the program ended, their budget has shrunk, but apparently they didn’t shut down entirely.
Interestingly, the comment from Empower IL reflects their concerns about how regulations of the federal program will treat SGOs that operate across state lines. Is Empower angling to join or form a multi-state voucher conglomerate? The language of the voucher law (See Sec. 70411) says that SGOs must be “located in the state” where they are distributing vouchers to students, but existing large SGOs want to operate as national organizations to maximize their reach; SGOs can keep up to 10% of their contributions for operating and lobbying expenses.
Another comment of note is from the America First Policy Institute, a key source of policy in the current Trump administration; Secretary of Education Linda McMahon was AFPI’s founding board chair. Given their influence and closeness to the Trump administration, AFPI’s comment likely reflects what the regulations will eventually look like. They call for no ability for states to regulate either SGOs or private schools; no academic assessments for students receiving vouchers; no reverification of families’ income after initial eligibility is established; and no use of funds for a public school to provide “any service, program, or activity for which it already receives public funds.”
This last point is further emphasized in the comment from another key policy source for the Trump-administration, the Heritage Foundation, authors of Project 2025:
“[T]he rules should specify, to the extent possible through regulation, that the contributions and scholarships can only be used for private education services and not as a way for public school districts to raise additional spending for assigned school services.”
In Politico’s education newsletter this week, Governor Polis of Colorado, who has said he’d opt Colorado into the program (shortly before his term as governor ends there), said that he thinks the program will be “free money” for states—if there is not waste, fraud and abuse and if it is used for educational services that improve student outcomes.
Given the comments by Trump allies and what we’ve seen in voucher programs around the country (e.g. Arizona), those are huge and unlikely if’s. We (unexpectedly!) agree with Michael Petrilli, conservative education talking head, quoted in that same newsletter about whether states will have control over voucher programs when governors opt in: “For many Democrats, my take is still that it’s going to be a tough sell if they are not allowed to narrow the scope of the program. [...] And it's in my mind pretty clear that the Trump administration is not going to let them narrow the scope of the program.”
We concur. This program has been in the works since the first Trump Administration. The key policy goal it is designed to support is dismantling the public school system, not funding it. All signs point to the regulations shutting out the possibility of governors exercising state oversight of billions of federal tax dollars that will be funnelled through this voucher program.
What can we do?
✶ 1 Call Gov. Pritzker’s office and urge him to commit Illinois to opting out of the federal voucher program! ! All the info you need to make a call is here. And you can share that link or our IG and FB posts to spread the word.
✶ 2 The National Coalition for Public Education has a new whitepaper out, analyzing the many risks that the voucher program poses for states:
“The Federal Tax Credit Voucher Program: A Landscape of Risks for Public Schools and Students.”
Get a copy of this NCPE paper to your state legislators! House members have their emails listed on their webpage. Senators do not; you’ll likely have to call your Senator’s office to find out how to get this to them. Note though that the Spring Session of ILGA will not be in full swing until after the primary on March 17th; there should be lots of in-person opportunities to see your Senator and hand them a hard copy!
A break in the clouds on state school funding?
Shortly, the Governor and General Assembly will be starting the budget process for FY2027. This was the 10-year deadline that IGLA set in law in 2017 for when Illinois was to have achieved full funding for all our public schools.
In the years since the funding formula was modified, the state has made meaningful progress towards equity and adequacy of state funding. But, the hard truth is that we are still billions from where we should be, in particular $5.7 billion from 100% adequacy, and the majority of our schools are not adequately funded.
We are also now facing cuts to federal education funding, along with healthcare funding that supports school budgets. The Trump administration continues to attempt to illegally withhold already appropriated funds as well, most recently the funding for community schools.
Meanwhile, Illinois’ spending on public goods—not just public schools but also social services and higher education—has not kept up with what our needs as a state are. And the limiting factor here is that we are not collecting enough revenue, and the ways we collect revenue are regressive and inequitable because we do not have a graduated income tax. The exact amount of the deficit this coming fiscal year is yet to be determined, but no one’s forecasts are especially rosy.
In light of all of this, we were thrilled to see Speaker of the House Chris Welch said earlier this week that a millionaires’ tax like Massachusetts passed several years ago is on the table this spring. Massachusetts has used its new funding source for increasing state funding for schools and also new programs including “universal free school meals [...] and free community college.”
The most recent, unsuccessful, attempt to modify Illinois’ constitution to allow for anything but a flat income tax was almost six years ago. This Capitol News piece is a thorough exploration of the history and the politics of where we were last week. It’s great to see a state legislative leader push the conversation forward on addressing what our state needs to have thriving public schools.
What can we do?
✶ Call Speaker Welch’s office and tell him you are a public school supporter who wants to see the Millionaire’s Tax on the ballot in November—because the deadline for full funded schools is 2027!
Speaker Welch: (217) 782-5350
Ask when the Speaker will be introducing a resolution to do this. A resolution needs to pass by early May; this is a different, earlier deadline than other legislation has in Spring Session.
As always, thanks for advocating with us! Reach us at [email protected].