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 Delia Lopez’ son faced bullying at the local public
school.
“All the other kids were a lot bigger than him. He was very skinny, and he
looked different. He had darker skin; he was quiet,” Lopez said. “So, everyone
bullied him because he was the small kid, because he was ‘this’ or ‘that’, or
‘stupid.’ But really, he was just different.”
She tried working with the teachers.
“The teachers said, ‘Oh, we’ll handle the situation. He just has to learn that
that’s how the other kids are.’”
So she tried getting administrators to help. She was told: “‘Well, ma’am, if you
don’t like it, simply put him in a private school.’”
“And that’s what we did. It was the best advice.”
Lopez moved her son to the parish school at their local church, St. Jude Joliet.
There, she said he “went back to being that outgoing kid again.”
Public school doesn’t work for every child. It may be because of bullying, or
learning style, or individual attention, or quality of the school or faith that
private schools offer the better choice.
But too often that choice is denied to some children because they come from
lower-income families. In 2021, for every low-income student who received a
state scholarship to private school, about four more were seeking help to join
them.
When Lopez had her youngest daughter, she knew St. Jude would be the best fit
for the family’s faith and culture. But then the pandemic hit.
“We are a family of five, and only my husband works. We couldn’t afford college
for the oldest, the bills, sickness and tuition for our daughter.”
“When I came to the office to tell them that my daughter wouldn’t attend here
anymore, they told me about Empower Illinois. It felt unreal that we could
receive help. We’ve never asked for help. We’ve never needed it,” Lopez said.
Help was available because of Illinois’ Invest in Kids Act, which offers donors
a 75% state tax credit when they help low-income students attend private
schools. State lawmakers created the scholarships in 2017.
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A family’s income cannot exceed 300% of the federal poverty level to
participate. While that income threshold translated to a maximum of $78,600 for
a family of four in 2021, the average family income was $38,403 for those
granted scholarships through Empower Illinois, the state’s largest scholarship
organization. More than half of recipients are minority students.
“It’s marvelous, and when we think, as Latinos, the doors are closed for us,
there are no more opportunities. When we knock on the door, someone comes out
and says, ‘Yes, you can do it. There’s help.’ And, well, in my case, it has been
this, Empower Illinois,” Lopez said.
Her daughter is one of 7,600 low-income students in Illinois who depend on
Invest in Kids tax credit scholarships. Another 26,000 K-12 students are on the
waitlist seeking help to attend a qualified non-public school.
Low-income and minority students have suffered the most academically thanks to
remote learning, absenteeism and other disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic.
They most need educational options as a way to catch up.
“Our daughter was able to stay in school the last two years thanks to the Invest
in Kids scholarships, and now she’s in sixth grade,” Lopez said.
Currently the Invest in Kids scholarships are set to end in 2023. State
lawmakers can change that by acting on Senate Bill 3618, introduced by state
Sen. Antonio Muńoz, D-Chicago, to expand scholarship opportunities for
low-income students and families.
The bill would make the program permanent, increase the emphasis on supporting
students already in the program, expand it to pre-K students, increase the
credit to 100% of a donation and allow business donors to target their gifts to
specific schools, as individual donors presently can.
Lopez and her family have worked hard to provide an educational environment
where her kids can thrive, free from bullying, with individual attention and
strengthening their faith. The thousands of other families waiting for
scholarships deserve the same.
Ann Marie Miller, a proud Chicago native, recently graduated with
her Master’s in Economics from George Mason University. Her work has been
featured in the Washington Examiner, Real Clear Policy, and the Economic
Standard. Follow her on Twitter @annmillerecon. |
