Macon Reporter

State Rep. Sue Scherer (D-Decatur), a graduate of St. Teresa High School, is one of many state legislators who have benefitted from private school education. 

Despite this, Scherer voted on a budget that does not support continuing the Invest In Kids Tax Credit Scholarship program. The program serves nearly 9,400 children by providing tax benefits to donors who fund scholarships for children to attend private schools. Last fall Scherer's alma mater hosted an information session for potential donors on how they can get involved in funding scholarships for needy students. 

“Join us to learn how you can maximize your philanthropic giving and financial goals. You can provide K-12 giving goals,” the school said in a Facebook post. “Provide K-12 scholarships to the private school of your choice and receive a 75% state tax credit with the Invest in Kids Tax Credit Scholarship Program.”

In 2019 alone, St. Teresa received enough scholarships to fund 17 students. The program has grown statewide since then and its popularity is at an all-time high. St. Teresa sends 100% of its students to higher education.

Scherer is one of 35 of Illinois' 177 state legislators who attended private high schools. The private high school graduates include 10 Republicans and 25 Democrats, 15 of whom were raised in the City of Chicago.

Missing from the 3,500 pages of the state’s $50.5 billion budget was the funding needed for the continuation of the Invest In Kids Tax Credit Scholarship Program. The program allows donors to receive a tax benefit for donating to a state-maintained scholarship program for private schools for low-income families. It serves over 9,000 K-12 students who are the beneficiaries of the Invest in Kids Tax Credit. 

“This is not something that’s been covered by the budget agreement. It’s something that still has time, potentially, but it’s not something that’s in the budget agreement,” Gov. Pritzker said at a press conference announcing a budget deal had been struck, Prairie State Wire reported.

Critics highlighted the hypocrisy of lawmakers involved in shutting down the program. Pritzker and other politicians had sent or were sending their own children to expensive private schools while denying the same opportunity to less fortunate students. The Wall Street Journal underscored the power dynamics between teachers' unions, Democratic lawmakers, and the failure of the public education system. The decision to end the scholarship program disregarded the needs of low-income students and prioritized the interests of unions over educational reform. The main reason behind the opposition to the program was the influence of teachers' unions, who wanted to eliminate it because its popularity highlighted the failures of public schools. 

The Invest in Kids program received more than 31,000 applications last year, indicating a high demand for alternatives to underperforming public schools. Many low-income families, particularly Black and Hispanic, supported the scholarship program because their assigned Illinois schools had low proficiency rates in reading and math. The failure of the public education system was evident from the fourth to eighth grades, leading to a high demand for alternatives. However, the unions prioritized their power over student learning and blamed the schools' failures on lack of funding rather than addressing systemic issues. WSJ reports union leaders hold significant influence over Illinois lawmakers, who have received substantial campaign contributions from teachers' unions.