Legislators should show some backbone and save Invest in Kids tax credit scholarships

A respected author once said “Competition is always a good thing. It forces us to do our best. A monopoly renders people complacent and satisfied with mediocrity.”

Competition made the United States the most successful and productive industrialized country on this planet. Competition is ubiquitous. Competition is present in every aspect of our lives — big and small, whether sports, business or something as simple as how we shop at the grocery store for our families. Competition teaches us to put forth our best efforts and is a stepping stone towards fulfilling the American Dream. 

Why then, do lawmakers forget the noun “competition” when it comes to children’s education in Illinois?

Competition in education comes through school choice. Next to a child’s health, a parent’s greatest responsibility is to ensure their child has the best educational opportunities available, regardless of family income. Parental choice is not some abstract concept, particularly when it comes to education. Parental choice should be the guiding principle over bureaucracy when it comes to a child’s learning. 

In 2017, then-Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law a historic education funding reform law. Once considered a political “third rail” in the Capitol, lawmakers displayed real legislative backbone by reforming an outdated and inequitable education funding formula. I was glad to negotiate the bill and deliver Republican votes.

Included in this law was a tuition tax credit scholarship program, otherwise known as “Invest in Kids.” This law created school choice for low-income families in Illinois. Families who had lost confidence in their local public schools were able to choose a better fit for their children. Now the public education purists are looking to dismantle the program this year — and if they do, they will do away with competition in K-12 education, pure and simple. 

Ask yourself why this Legislature is only against choice when it comes to K-12 schools. There is no lobbying effort to prevent public dollars from supporting private day care. There is no effort to block the state’s MAP (Monetary Award Program) grants from being used at private colleges. We encourage families to make informed choices for our youngest learners and emerging adults, correct? Then why should parents be blocked from choosing private K-12 education, particularly low-income families who want the best for their child?

The critics clamor that this program takes valuable dollars away from public schools. The law, as currently enacted, is capped at $75 million in credits per calendar year. Let’s put this in perspective. This year, the legislature passed a $44.8 billion budget. That $75 million dollar “tax hit” constitutes 0.17% of this year’s budget.

That budget “hit” currently provides scholarships to 9,656 low-income students. The average scholarship awardee’s household income is $45,000, of which 53% of those are Black and Hispanic students, according to Empower Illinois, a nonprofit that helps families access scholarships. In the Cook County/Chicago region, 66% of the scholarships went to Black and Hispanic students. 

Gov. Pritzker and members of the Illinois legislature, this program is not broken, and it does not need to be fixed. Invest in Kids is providing high-quality choice for parents and will continue to foster desperately needed competition in Illinois classrooms. Do not allow philosophical objections from the public education industry to dismantle or water down a worthy proven program. I ask that the same legislative backbone used in 2017 return to those deciding this law’s fate. 

Jim Durkin is a former Republican state representative who served as the Illinois House minority leader. He is also a former assistant Cook County state’s attorney.

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