In 2017, the Illinois General Assembly passed the historic bipartisan Invest in Kids Act, which increased annual public school funding through the evidence-based formula and has already provided $1.6 billion in new funding to public school students since the law’s passage.
The Invest in Kids Act created Illinois’ Tax Credit Scholarship Program for children to attend any private school that best fits their needs. The program allows donors to give through scholarship-granting organizations — such as Empower Illinois and Big Shoulders Fund, among others — to provide much needed partial or full scholarships to economically eligible families. In turn, it provides a 75% tax credit to those donors.
To date, more than $300 million in private dollars has been raised, but more importantly, nearly 40,000 scholarships have been awarded to K-12 students across the state. Kudos to members of the Illinois legislature for their foresight in doing what’s right for all Illinois children.
Unfortunately, the part of the law that provides scholarships to children expires after this year, unless the legislature acts now to extend it.
As an educator and co-founder of Village Leadership Academy and It Takes A Village Family of Schools, which serve mostly African American and Latino children on the Near South and West sides of Chicago, I can attest to the benefit this program has provided to families in our community.
Thanks to the tax credit program, families can confidently enroll their children in an education environment where they believe their children will thrive, such as schools that offer high academic standards, exposure to world history and geography, appreciation for cultural differences, development of critical thinking and perspective taking skills, and decision-making in leadership development.
Tax credit scholarships are an investment in our children’s future, our families’ future and our community’s future. It’s not just an investment in education; it’s also an investment in violence prevention, poverty reduction and economic acceleration.
During the last three years, the tax credit scholarship program has helped us provide 88 scholarships worth more than $1 million for students and families. We hope the extension of the Invest in Kids Act will not only provide stability to families by maintaining existing student scholarships, but also connect even more students to this life-changing resource. Currently, there are more than 26,000 children on the waitlist for scholarships across the state, which speaks to the need and interest in the Invest in Kids Act’s Tax Credit Scholarship Program.
We ask all members of the General Assembly to renew this vital scholarship program during the spring session. Better yet, since the pilot program has been an incredible success for the most vulnerable children across Illinois, let’s make the scholarship program permanent.
The Invest in Kids Act was born out of bipartisanship and our diverse legislature coming together to address an important issue for all Illinoisans who are educating our children.
We at Village Leadership Academy, along with our diverse coalition of partners across the state, ask our legislative leaders to act now to alleviate our families’ uncertainty about the future of the tax credit program. In the spirit of bipartisanship, once again act on behalf of all children by removing the sunset from the Illinois Tax Credit Scholarship Program now.
The Invest in Kids Act creates an opportunity for all of us to invest in our future — our children. We need our state legislators to fortify this opportunity for and investment in Illinois’ children.
Anita Andrews-Hutchinson is co-founder of It Takes A Village Family of Schools and Village Leadership Academy.
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